Some IAP members won't ship to Canada!

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Mack C.

Mack C.

Passed Away Sep 29, 2018
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Location
Brooklin, ON Canada
In the past week or so I have seen IAP members posting in the Deals, Trades, etc. with the notation or words to the effect "No shipping to Canada".

I'm at a loss to understand why. It's not as if we are a Third World country, where your goods disappear into thin air.

Mailing to Canada is as simple as taking your parcel with a Canadian address to the USPS, and sending it on it's way. Most Canadians understand that mailing to Canada is somewhat more expensive than mailing in the US, but we generally are ready, willing, and able to pay the aditional cost.

Would anyone care to comment why "No shipping to Canada"!
 
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Mack C. said:
In the past week or so I have seen IAP members posting in the Deals, Trades, etc. with the notation or words to the effect "No shipping to Canada".

I'm at a loss to understand why. It's not as if we are a Third World country, where your goods disappear into thin air.

Mailing to Canada is as simple as taking your parcel with a Canadian address to the USPS, and sending it on it's way. Most Canadians understand that mailing to Canada is somewhat more expensive than mailing in the US, but we generally are ready, willing, and able to pay the aditional cost.

Would anyone care to comment why "No shipping to Canada"!
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I'm guessing that they don't understand about customs and probably think there are tons of forms to fill out. Other than that, I can't think of a thing.

I mail things to Canada all the time, usually from within Paypal, and it takes the same amount of time and effort to print a label to Florida as it does to Montreal.

I'm guessing that if someone in Canada wanted to buy a pen, they would figure out a way to get it in the mail! :wink:
 
No shipping to Canada I do not understand! I get a stack of the custom forms from the post office and fill them out at home when needed, I hand the package and form to the postmaster, pay the shipping and I'm done, very easy and painless!!!
 
The only point I can make Mack is that things do go missing once in a while (just like in the US). But the biggest problem is the shipping times, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

For the people who do ship to Canada, Thank You, but if anyone does ship north please tape the packages VERY securely.

Bruce
 
I ship to my friends in the Great White North! Do not despair!!!


I don't hardly look in the classifieds anymore...sorry. Just wanted you to know that there are folks that will take care of your 'needs'.






Scott
 
I have sold and shipped to Canada twice (not pen related). Both times were very bad experiences. Product arrived beat up or lost...and I pack well. Both time the buyer was not very understanding.

I would probably try again if needed, but I would probably try to avoid it based on past exxperiences.

Seems like it ought to be a simple thing. But, somewhere along the line things always go haywire for me.
 
Mack,
I sent a package to Canada via USPS priority International mail on Feb 1st.
Cost me $12.95.It was heading to a suburb of Toronto,ON from Detroit MI.
As of right now the package has not been delivered nor returned.
Tracking is absolutely useless as it only tells me that I dropped it off at the local post office.
The postal clerk helped with the forms so I doubt there was a problem there.
I guess I will have to attempt another package and see if I can improve my batting average to .500.
I have called the 1-800 number from the Post Office and they reiterate that the package was accepted at my local post office.
 
I ship to Canada and Australia quite often, over the past few months shipping to Australia in any thing other than a flat rate box is a bit of extra paperwork, but Canada is easy, and yes it usually takes about 10 to 14 days to arrive, TOO Either place ?????
 
I mail parcels to Canada all the time to family. Custom forms are not intimidating, but I do always check "GIFT" for the types of items I send -- because they are usually gifts. My family on occasion orders mail order that charge outrageous shipping to Canada, so they ship to me at a fraction of the cost, and I return ship to them at a reduced rate -- even with the double shipping, it is often less than when some companies charge. Delivery time varies drastically for First Class air mail -- sometimes a week, sometimes 3, but I've never had one lost yet, and never had a problem with Canadian customs or duty.
 
I do ship to Canada.

My only gripe is the shipping time with Priority Mail and lack of tracking. My packages usually take about 3 weeks to show up, and it stresses me out not knowing if they're lost or not, and no way to track.

Express mail is faster and has tracking but costs about $30 for a small flat rate box.
 
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I was asked yesterday if i would consider shipping a adjustable pen mandrel i had on trade, and I emailed him back and told him after checking on the computer the flatrate box will ship ok and on the trade he can ship in a similar box with trade for some blanks,So when i get the address i will ship it to Canada
 
I have shipped to Canada too with no problems. Did not have much of a form to fill out and did not cost as much as I thought. It takes a little longer, but it gets there. I did this with some scroll work.
 
I ship to Canada USPS every week, other than delivery times being any where from 12 to 20 days I've had no problems.
 
I'm with you Mack, I don't understand any reluctance to ship internationally and Canada isn't really international to me... the USPS forms to ship out of country are relatively simple to use and the postal services in most countries work relatively well.... I know some of the third world countries are questionable, but Canada has been civilized and around as long as the USA - maybe longer... 'course my background is in international shipping and even though I've been out of the business for a few years, it's still not difficult.... try coordinating a shipment from Taiwan to Peru, or Australia to Brazil when you are sitting in Houston and everything has to be done by email or telex (in years back before email)... that's when the business gets to be fun... Venezuela has some pretty exotic taxes on their imports... especially if it's oil field related... At one of my jobs, we specialized in shipping hazardous materials, most specifically oil field explosives from the USA to countries all over the world... I could ship the explosives into South Africa easily, but not the detonator cord... without which the explosives were useless... shipping flare cartridges to Singapore... even with permits, they just seized the goods, destroyed them and said thank you.... same flare cartridges to Egypt... required arranging a police escort from the airport at Cairo to ocean port at Alexandria... a 6 lbs shipment cost a couple of thousand dollars to deliver. Canada is a piece of cake.


Mack C. said:
In the past week or so I have seen IAP members posting in the Deals, Trades, etc. with the notation or words to the effect "No shipping to Canada".

I'm at a loss to understand why. It's not as if we are a Third World country, where your goods disappear into thin air.

Mailing to Canada is as simple as taking your parcel with a Canadian address to the USPS, and sending it on it's way. Most Canadians understand that mailing to Canada is somewhat more expensive than mailing in the US, but we generally are ready, willing, and able to pay the aditional cost.

Would anyone care to comment why "No shipping to Canada"!
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All I can say is the folks who are unwilling to ship to Canada are missing out on opportunities due to lack of understanding. I ship weekly to Canada and do everything online. I have timed how long it takes me to do the entire order and found that I can do one with many different items for the custom form in about 2 minutes versus 1 minute for doing US addresses.
 
I'm sorry but the arguments that packages arrive beat up or lost just isn't an excuse.

I can't recall one single package that I sent across the border in 5 years that was dmaged or lost. I can however, recall MANY instances where sending a package to "safe" destinations" within the states arrived looking like they were put through a huge meat grinder OR never showed up at all!

Like Curtis said, some folks are just going to lose out.
 
I have family in Canada and ship there often. Use the green customs form. Fill out address,description, value, and gift hand it to the postmaster, and you're done. Another point. The package has to clear customs, it doesn't go straight to your destination. IIRC there are 2 or 3 clearing houses in Canada it goes there first. For me the longest I have had a package take is 2 weeks and have never lost a package. My secret, use a good box and a lot of tape, use an ink that won't smudge if it gets wet and put a piece of tape over the address to protect it. I once used a rollerball to address a package and a raindrop hit it, I wiped it off and the address was no longer readable.
 
I had a look in the recent posts in the Deals section, and while many say 'shipping included in the US', only one said they don't ship outside of Canada - and I don't think he's a vendor.

I think you'll find that nearly all of the vendors will ship to Canada, because they do so often and realize that it's not that much harder. It's the every-day member, who likely hasn't shipped to Canada before, that's likely to be afraid of it. Luckily, many have chimed in to show that it's NOT that much scarier to ship to Canada! :)

Hopefully posts like these will show that while shipping up North is more expensive, if we're willing to pay the higher shipping costs, people shouldn't fear sending a package to Canada...it's not that much harder, I don't think - just takes longer. Generally, we're very patient, as we're USED to waiting weeks for a package to arrive (unlike you lucky Americans who are used to a fast delivery)
:smile:
Andrew
 
maxwell_smart007 said:
I had a look in the recent posts in the Deals section, and while many say 'shipping included in the US', only one said they don't ship outside of Canada
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Hi Andrew; I have no quarrel with vendors that do not ship to Canada. That is their business, and they can do as they wish. Like Displaced Canadian my daughter resides in MI, so I have things sent to her, and wait for their regular visit to get my parcel.

I was really referring to penturners that have things to sell and specify "shipping in the US only". No need to mention their names since it would serve no purpose.

A couple of posts said words to the effect, so many $$'s includes shipping to the US only. Now did that mean " shipping to the US only" or the price changes to ship anywhere but the US.:confused::confused:

A matter of semantics I suppose. I was really hoping that my post would get some comments from some that ship often to Canada outlining how really easy it is to ship to us. And those I did receive.

So for any penturners that post items for sale in the Deals, Trades, etc. gives us Canadians a chance at your stuff as well. Most of us have a PayPal account, and there isn't a great deal of paper work to go through.

Thanks for your time and comments everybody!!:good:
 
I ship to Canada using First Class International for items up to 4 ounces.
It costs me more time and energy because I can't use a Kiosk as I can when mailing within the CONUS
however it's worth it to serve those across the border.
 
I ship to anywhere in the world and as many folks on this forum have found out, if you are dealing with a company that will not ship to you, you can have it shipped to my shop and i will reship to you anything that is legal to be shipped. That offer was made several years ago and still stands today, there is no charge for this other than what it costs me.
 
Well

For a vendor like myself who likes to include shipping in the price - it's a pain in the toosh.

It usually costs more, and more than one Canadian complains about the additional shipping. In fact, at least one won't buy from me at all because I add a charge for shipping up North, even though my product with shipping included is still cheaper than he can get it there.

Unless you pay a lot more there is no tracking available.

Insurance costs more.

You need to wait about three weeks before you can send an inquiry through customs. Canada post is slow and I have had buyers in Canada open "did not receive" complaints with PayPal before I can even send an inquiry to Canadian customs to see if they have the package.

Paypal charges an extra 1.5% fee for international transactions.

Worldwide shipping is all of the above plus, some countries have really bad records for delivery with a few being so bad I can't even insure the item. With payment via paypal that means the risk is mine unless I trust the specific customer to not open a dispute if the item isn't delivered.

That being said I do ship most items to Canadian buyers and worldwide. When I sell at eBay I usually do not ship international other than Canada, UK, Oz and a few European countries.
 
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Mack C. said:
maxwell_smart007 said:
I had a look in the recent posts in the Deals section, and while many say 'shipping included in the US', only one said they don't ship outside of Canada
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Hi Andrew; I have no quarrel with vendors that do not ship to Canada. That is their business, and they can do as they wish. Like Displaced Canadian my daughter resides in MI, so I have things sent to her, and wait for their regular visit to get my parcel.

I was really referring to penturners that have things to sell and specify "shipping in the US only". No need to mention their names since it would serve no purpose.

A couple of posts said words to the effect, so many $$'s includes shipping to the US only. Now did that mean " shipping to the US only" or the price changes to ship anywhere but the US.:confused::confused:

A matter of semantics I suppose. I was really hoping that my post would get some comments from some that ship often to Canada outlining how really easy it is to ship to us. And those I did receive.

So for any penturners that post items for sale in the Deals, Trades, etc. gives us Canadians a chance at your stuff as well. Most of us have a PayPal account, and there isn't a great deal of paper work to go through.

Thanks for your time and comments everybody!!:good:
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I have had no problems shipping to Canada. Now to address your statement U.S.only. I have posted adds in the past with Free Shipping* ...*International additional cost

Maybe some one is not making it clear

Just a thought
 
I originally didn't ship anywhere except to the US, and it was simply because I didn't understand the process (and I'm a stickler for not doing something until I fully understand it, or at least have enough guidance to give it a try). So, I have expanded out to include Canada and Australia, and will probably add more as my knowledge and confidence grows. At least for Canada and Australia is just a matter of using a Priority Mail box (free from the USPS) and filling out a postcard sized customs form. I'm sure some others are as simple as well and I'll discover so in time.
 
Same

76winger said:
I originally didn't ship anywhere except to the US, and it was simply because I didn't understand the process (and I'm a stickler for not doing something until I fully understand it, or at least have enough guidance to give it a try). So, I have expanded out to include Canada and Australia, and will probably add more as my knowledge and confidence grows. At least for Canada and Australia is just a matter of using a Priority Mail box (free from the USPS) and filling out a postcard sized customs form. I'm sure some others are as simple as well and I'll discover so in time.
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It is actually exactly the same to ship SFRB anywhere in the world - same form - same information on it. There is a different form and it is handled a little different if you go to a Medium or Large Flat Rate Box, but it is no more difficult.
 
Shipping across the border either way is no problem. The real problem I have is that it is more expensive to ship within Canada than it is for me to ship to the US. That really burns my butt but that's a whole other topic.
 
jaywood1207 said:
Shipping across the border either way is no problem. The real problem I have is that it is more expensive to ship within Canada than it is for me to ship to the US. That really burns my butt but that's a whole other topic.
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The problem for us is that is not true shipping from our side of the border...it is not cheaper to ship across the border than within the country.
 
I know that you are not talking about me :biggrin: because I don't have a web site or anything to sell at the moment. That said, IF I did, I would not ship without tracking, insurance, and signature acceptance because of one reason - some local USPS just do not seem to care. When I lived in Japan, my daughter would often get items for us and ship it to Japan, But she would usually drive 25 miles to a different USPS Post Office from where she lived to mail it to us. I have friends in other small rural town locations that have similar problems, but the next town over - no problem.

Using UPS, FedEx and DHL for a personal package deliver is too expensive. I could order from large companies and they evidently get a good discount and ship overseas/internationally reasonably. But every time I called FedEx or UPS (and I live 40 miles from FedEx headquarters) I would get very high rates, too high to ship.

I would ship but I would do what I could to guarantee that the package would get there. I would not take a chance on "hopefully".

For you fellows who include Canada and Australia, let me give you one other country that is safe for deliveries and trustable for sales - Japan. Those folks are GOOD at finding people and you will not find any nation of people in the whole world as a whole more honest when it comes to goods and money. Singapore is a close second - because of the government.

On the other hand, I have friends in countries all around the world and get horror stories from a few countries on packages delivered without the contents.
 
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i ordered bread knife blades on a mon,tues they called and said we have none here, but for 7dollars more we can ship from tronto. pkg arrived on friday that week. from tronto to the middle of florida in 4 days,intact,must be some kind of record,
 
I have shipped merchandise into Canada on 3 occasions. All three were a disaster. I would not hesitate to ship again, under 3 conditions.

1. The customer pays for tracking (in Canada)
2. The customer pays for insurance.
3. I am responsible for proving that the package was shipped. Nothing else.

If the package arrives damaged, file the insurance. It is not my problem!
If the package is late, I am sorry, but I mailed it as agreed.
If there are VAT or other import costs sorry, it is your country, not mine.
If the package arrives but the merchandise is not in the package, sorry. It was when I shipped it.
If the package never arrives sorry. I shipped it.

Yup, I would ship to Canada!
 
One of the biggest things that burns my butt is that there are quite a few people who are willing to ship to Canada, but to do so they charge a $10.00 service fee above and beyond the extra shipping price. I have had this happen more times then not, and what I get for an answer when I question it is,"it takes time to fill out the custom forms, so who am I to expect them to not get paid for their time". These are the people that I don't do business with, because I know how much time it takes to fill out the custom forms compared to what you have to do to mail a regular parcel in the states. And personally I think that if I'm nice enough to pay their asking price and the extra postage costs, that they should be honest enough to not charge me any extra to sell it to me.
Len
 
Smitty37 said:
jaywood1207 said:
Shipping across the border either way is no problem. The real problem I have is that it is more expensive to ship within Canada than it is for me to ship to the US. That really burns my butt but that's a whole other topic.
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The problem for us is that is not true shipping from our side of the border...it is not cheaper to ship across the border than within the country.
Click to expand...

I know that. Canada postal service is the problem and their rates.
 
I'm sure that most of us Canadian members will agree, we know it costs more, not only to ship to Canada from elsewhere, but when we ship across Canada too.

Also, I believe, well at least from my point of view, that when we Canadians pay for shipping, we generally understand it is slow, I believe that's likely because 80% of the cost so shipping includes Storage by CP...

As for the other non-Canadian members here, personally, I have no recollection ever having any issues with items shipped to me, and everyone has been phenomenal to deal with. It's part of why I keep checking in here several times a week!
 
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Lucky2 said:
One of the biggest things that burns my butt is that there are quite a few people who are willing to ship to Canada, but to do so they charge a $10.00 service fee above and beyond the extra shipping price. I have had this happen more times then not, and what I get for an answer when I question it is,"it takes time to fill out the custom forms, so who am I to expect them to not get paid for their time". These are the people that I don't do business with, because I know how much time it takes to fill out the custom forms compared to what you have to do to mail a regular parcel in the states. And personally I think that if I'm nice enough to pay their asking price and the extra postage costs, that they should be honest enough to not charge me any extra to sell it to me.
Len
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I've never heard of this on the forum. Are you tossing out a comment about companies in general or does this pertain to IAP members and member/vendors shipping to Canada?
 
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