Buy from Canada.ship to USA?

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Buy from Canada.ship to USA?
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flag tolemo
Posted: May 31, 2014 at 21:18 Quote
I swore off buying from Canada on eBay years ago because of a lot of dissatisfaction with the whole process. Is it good now to buy something from Canada on pinkbike and have it shipped to the USA without hassle? ...High shipping costs...slow delivery, etc.
flag Cackerman
Posted: Jun 1, 2014 at 21:50 Quote
We Canadian's get f***ed on the prices of just about everything. Shipping is no exception. Courier companies have figured out new ways to f*** Canadian's, by charging brokerage. Brokerage, we are told, is the submission of the customs documents. Brokerage is $50 plus 1% of the value of the item (varies a bit). Now, since the shipper is the one that fills out all the paperwork, brokerage--as far as I can tell--is essentially faxing/emailing a document that was already filled out to customs. So, they will charge $125 to fax the form that the shipper filled out on a $1000 bike. The kicker is the brokerage is not charged up front when the shipper is paying for shipping. Brokerage is charged when the package is delivered to the receiver. And if the receiver refuses to pay brokerage, the shipping company will come back to extort it from the shipper (in most cases).

If you are looking to have something shipped, use Canada Post / USPS, and the process is pretty easy. If the item is too big to ship Canada Post / USPS (like a bike or a big frame), then no, you won't be able to get it shipped to you without hassle.
flag tolemo
Posted: Jun 3, 2014 at 7:08 Quote
Thanks for the heads up.
flag Queenofmountain
Posted: Jun 3, 2014 at 18:48 Quote
Do you have any tricks though when you ship your bike for your own self ? Im going away from Montreal to the US for the Summer and I thought of shipping both my bikes via USPS rather than paying terrific airplane fees for extra oversized luggage.
Any one have any thoughts ?

thanks !
flag foobajoob
Posted: Jun 4, 2014 at 10:52 Quote
I bought a set of brakes off of someone in the buy/sell section who was in Canada and had no problems with shipping. He sent them through Canada Post/USPS as Cackerman mentioned and they arrived in less than a week, Ontario to California.
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