Bartertown.com

How does shipping to Canada work?
Do you have to fill out special forms?
Is it more expensive?

You can ship through USPS to Canada through the USPS Click and Ship website or through your post office.
Yes, there are a few additional fields/forms to fill out.
It is generally very expensive (about twice as expensive as you are used to for US shipping).

Oh it's expensive all right. This is why I always ask my US trading partners ahead of time to go down to the Post Office (or online) and check the shipping costs BEFORE agreeing to me. If I placed a Backout for the amount of people who realized the shipping cost - this site would be down for weeks from the spam.

Seriously though. It's not your simple 5 dollar box - fit it in and you're good to go. A decent army will run you 50+ depending on how many boxes and the weight.

I once traded a fairly large army and the person paid 75 dollars to ship the contents (contained two boxes and a lot of metal).

ALSO

Unless you fill it out as a gift (which you should never do) or lie on the forms re: value (which you should never do) the probability of the Canadian paying import fees is almost 100% of the time. Meaning, if the Canadian trader does not know this, they may PM you saying "I had to pay fees, I am angry". In reality, they should know this already but I have had a few members contact me regarding it.

All packages coming into Canada must pay import fees. This is a % of the package contents + a 9.99 processing fee. The % changes based on the province (so Ontario it's 13%). Anyone who claims "Oh I've never had to pay" is either extremely lucky, or the sender labelled it as a gift and/or lied on the form re: the value of the contents. I've had this a few times and I'll admit it is a nice thing since I didn't have to pay fees - BUT, it is illegal for you to do so (so if you do, make sure you know the person very well). When you are getting an army worth 1 thousand dollars, that 13% isn't exactly the greatest thing to pay lol.

Don't forget packages can take up to 3 weeks (depending on time of year) to cross the border. Usually it takes 3-5 business day, but it has been known to take longer. Longest I have waited was a month (this does not include the time I waited almost two months because a USPS employee thought "London, Ontario, Canada" meant "London, UK" and sent it across the pond).

It pains me to say - currently the US/Canada mail system is stupid and expensive to deal with. This is why you see a lot of people not wanting to trade with us Syrup lovers.

BUT, if you look past the expensive cost, the probability of your trading partner paying import fees, and the wait - then it isn't much different than anything else

Thanks guys.
Sounds like too much effort.

That's usually the end of it yup. If you do decide to (like the member is willing to pay the cost of shipping or something) then this guide may be helpful: http://www.bartertown.com/trading/viewt ... 1&t=123125

I wouldn't say that it's not worth it, and there are creative solutions to some of the problems.

If your trade partner is within an hour or so, there are mail depots on the US side that he or she can open an account with to receive the package (usually for $5/package). Then, it's a simple matter to drive down and pick it up.

I also find that duty/taxes on packages sent US mail is less than 50% of the time.

If the contents is labelled as Used Toys (which let's be honest, they are - as long as nothing is sent in the original packaging) then I find customs is good. However, labelling it as miniatures falls under collectibles (think porcelain dolls) and is subject to taxes. If it is labelled as Warhammer or Warhammer models then it is up to the customs agent to label it however he thinks it must be labelled and usually in turn you pay taxes.

I once had a guy send me models as a "Demo product" and all taxes were waived.

I find it depends on how the person labels the contents.

Toy parts (which, if the models aren't assembled technically are I guess?) has gotten through without tax.

The biggest thing is if you label it as used, then do not include any boxes. If the customs agent opens it and sees a box of goods, then you will be taxed on the entire package, not just whatever is in a box.

When I ship I always put "Used Toy Soldiers" and "Used Toy Monsters/Tanks".

Yeah, Used Toys are my go to move.

So, what is Nafta? I thought that something about free trade would mean no tariffs? Or is it only for people that ship in container sized quantities?

*IF* the change is made, then it will raise to 800 before taxes (currently it's 20).

But there is a LOT of hate regarding it.

carldooley wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:13 pm

So, what is Nafta? I thought that something about free trade would mean no tariffs? Or is it only for people that ship in container sized quantities?

Nafta is about big business. It's about corporations/companies shipping things across border for consumer use. It's not about us little guys.

I'd like to add on a comment to the rest... If I'm shipping models, I always use "Used Toy Models" as my description (when appropriate - not for books, etc). I've NEVER had someone tell me they paid fees when I did that.

They ARE models. They ARE used. They ARE used as TOYS (we play games with them... can't get more toy-like than that without being an actual toy).
If you're selling NIB stuff, talk to your partner. Removing it from the box makes it "used." Unless they want to resell it as new, there's no reason for them NOT to want you to do it that i can think of.


Eric

Yeah Nafta is for the big guys but we (little Canadians) can piggyback on it if it does pass (to an extent). We shall see. I'm not sure the new changes they are trying to make will be beneficial for anyone but those who are in favour of it

What is relevant to shipping to/from Canada is the mail order exemptions: basically stuff going to the US has to reach $800 before requiring sales taxes paid. Going the other way, its $40 CDN (maybe $20 ?), and a $9.95 charge from Canada Post to collect it. Getting that changed is on Ebay and Amazon's wish lists, but on the other side is all the B&M stores.

Shipping south, there's actually a private courier company ChitChats.com that will run your stuff to the US and then ship USPS. Costing USPS Postage + 0.85 cents.

Canada-to-Canada, there is currently a pilot program for flat rate boxes: https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/blogs/ ... ailandmore - theres only 50 stores where you can get them.

Package handling places on the border are your best bet. Canada customs generally doesn't hassle you until you hit $200 on a back-n-forth package run (be prepared to pay anyways since its not a rule), and in Blaine, WA the package place I use only charges 2 USD.

Whatever you do, don't use UPS or FedEx. They call the collection "brokerage" and charge $20 to collect.

The other biggest thing to remember is; you're paying postage twice.
Once from the US border to the border of the other country.
Then postage from the border to the delivery address.

This is for all countries.