Shipping from US to Canada

[upscale]

I'm hoping someone has some recent experience with this.

I'm considering buy a Festool Dominio and CT22 vacuum kit. Current prices in Canada run approximately $1600+ in Canada. Exchange prices are not too dissimilar at the present, so now may be a good time to act.

Has anyone recently ordered something this expensive from the US to Canada and if so, what kind of brokerage/border/extraneous charges did you have to pay? And, was it worth the effort?

Or there's the alternative. I can't go down there and pick this combo up myself. But, if anyone is driving down there sometime in the near future, I'd be willing to pay them a suitable fee to pickup up the above tools. I live in Toronto, Canada.

Anyone? Thanks.

[Doug Miller]

Brokerage charges depend on the carrier.

UPS is well-known for charging truly outrageous brokerage fees, sometimes exceeding the value of the item. They've been the subject of at least two suits in Canadian courts over that issue.

AFAIK, Canada Post charges a flat rate of C$5 for brokerage, regardless of the value of the item.

Import duties are, of course, in addition to the brokerage fees. For Americans returning from Canada, U.S. law exempts the first (n) dollars from duties, with the value of (n) depending on how long one has been in Canada -- and if it's long enough (over 72 hours IIRC), family members traveling together can combine their exemptions. I believe Canadian law has similar provisions for Canadians returning from the U.S., but check with your Customs agency to be sure.

[Chris Friesen]

You'll need to pay GST. You may have to pay PST depending on the province.

Duty is tricky...depends on the country of manufacture. I suggest contacting the CBSA. If you're lucky it'll fall under the Canada-European Free Trade Association Free Trade Agreement.

Brokerage depends on the shipper...generally the ground couriers are brutal, post office is reasonable.

Chris

[FrozenNorth]

Avoid UPS and FedEx, they will nail you on brokerage fees.

I recommend USPS, or DHL. Used both but admittedly on much smaller items with no problem, and either reasonable, or no fees.

[upscale]

On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:44:44 -0600, Chris Friesen

I have past experience with both UPS and Fedex. As you say, brokerage charges are brutal and I avoid them like the plague and there's no way I'd place a shipment of this value using either of them. I almost always request USPS shipping if it's available, but I don't know if they would handle a shipment of the size and value that I'm contemplating.

Guess I'll make some inquiries.

[Luigi Zanasi]

Like Doug says, insist on getting it shipped via US/Canada Post. You might have to pay import duties since the Festool is made in Europe, I believe. 6% or 0% tariff on tariff item 84.67: "Tools for working in the hand, pneumatic, hydraulic or with selfcontained electric or non- electric motor" depending on country of origin. To that you will have to add GST and PST collected by the border services agency.

Do your arithmetic & see if it is worth it.

Luigi

[dpb]

[e-mail] wrote: ...

...

Check on the size of the fixed rate boxes -- if it'll go in, it'll ship at fixed cost irrespective of weight (at least they say so, I suppose if you filled the largest box they have w/ lead bricks so it couldn't be carried w/o a forklift they might balk...)

Just shipped a fairly heavy bulky old door closer to be rebuilt for less than UPS by probably at least 30% (w/ delivery confirmation/tracking).

Now whether they do this for shipment to CAnuckstan besides in US-istan you'll need to check on, too...

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[Chris Friesen]

I shipped a dozen or so boxes from Saskatoon to Ottawa, containing among other things a computer worth several thousand dollars. (Hard drive removed and transported personally.)

I see no reason why they wouldn't be able to handle a Domino and CT22.

Chris

[Robatoy]

USPS doesn't have tracking.

[dpb]

Robatoy wrote: ...

Au contraire...

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[-MIKE-]

I think it depends on what you consider "tracking."

UPS does status updates every time the package is scanned, telling you where the package is with the date and time, every time the package changes location or destination. Like, "arrived in Memphis," "en route to Nashville," or "out for delivery."

IIRC, USPS only does delivery confirmation, or delivery attempt notification. You don't get any notice between the time it left the origin of scan and when delivery is attempted.

[EXT]

You have to be specific. If you have it shipped by the cheapest ground route, you will pay excessively for brokerage. If you choose next day air, the fee is expensive but includes brokerage (check their websites) and will often be the fastest and cheapest method overall. The USPS is still the cheapest but slowest route, normally $5.00 CDN for brokerage, sometimes up to $7.00 CDN for higher value shipments. You will still be dinged for taxes and possibly some duty. Believe me, I have done a lot of importing and know the ropes.

[Robatoy]

There are US companies who will not ship USPS to Canada because "they cannot track"... to what extent, I don't know. Maybe they can't after it crosses the border and can't prove a parcel has arrived.

[upscale]

Tracking while nice is not that important in this case. I'd be stressed as it is watching my baby make it's way to my door, so I'd just as soon not watch the delivery process.

I'm seriously considering ordering from Jamestown Distributors.

They're located in Rhode Island which is reasonably close geographically speaking and the order would be paid for with Mastercard so that would give me some protection should it 'disappear' somewhere en route. For international shipping they have USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail as options.

Reviewing the Canadian ordering possibilities, it works out to about $1830 before taxes, so I don't think I can go too far wrong money wise ordering from the US. We'll see. Should I actually make the purchase, I'll keep track of costs and delivery info as it appears should anyone else be considering a purchase of a similar magnitude.

Take my word for people in the US. You guys have a lot of conveniences that just aren't available anywhere else in the civilized world. Do you know how many times I've tried to order something from Amazon.com and been told that it's not available to Canadians because of contract agreements?

[dpb]

Perhaps, I don't know for sure about the limitations past the border. I wonder how much is misconception as opposed to reality; it seems like certain other businesses USPS is the one people "love to hate" and much of what I hear I know is simply flat wrong; if it were significant I'd check w/ USPS itself.

We're rural, rely on USPS for almost everything as UPS and others are simply too unreliable about leaving stuff anywhere in the county or not delivering at all to trust. Plus, w/ the fixed-cost boxes you can generally beat or equal the price.

Again, in US; don't know for absolute what happens when they get stuff to the border any longer. When were doing coal analyzers and shipping parts, etc., to SaskPower was too long ago to be applicable now, unfortunately. Then, even UPS tracking was rudimentary as compared to now.

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[HeyBub]

Can't you just drive it across via any on the hundreds of un-manned border stations?

That's what I do with guns.

[Robatoy]

Whenever possible, I ask for USPS shipment. It works great for me, and I get a lot of routerbits and abrasives that way. The only time I don't get USPS service, is when the shipper won't. I use Canada Post Parcel service all the time.... that in itself is comical as Canada Post owns Purolator Courier.

[upscale]

Don't own a car. While I do have a driver's licence, rental, gas, and travel time is just too much hassle. I can put the several hours it would take for travel time into doing my regular job and more than make up the money.

A while back when they were trying to organize the speedy cross Lake Ontario boat service that was going to run between Toronto and Buffalo, I would have used it for this exact purpose. But, it never came to be. Too bad.

[Doug Miller]

Not *quite* correct -- there is a weight limit of 70 pounds.

FWIW, it's physically impossible to exceed that limit in the smallest flat rate box, no matter what you put in it. And the largest one, even filled with lead, would still weigh less than 350 pounds.

[clare]

Whatever you do, don't use "brown" - the brokerage will kill you. I generally have it shipped USPS - cost you something like $5 plus GST (on the purchace price)