Not sure how to Proceed (Trader52)

Elzanith · Post by **Elzanith** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:48 am

dietrich43 wrote:I just completed a US/Canada trade and I think it took 3 weeks for my package to get there and another 3 weeks for his to come back. It was long enough, that I had forgotten the trade (it was mostly bitz going both ways), so it was a nice surprise to come home to terminator lightning claws.

well im Canadian so hopefully i can clear up why things take so long.

1. Canada post will take A MINIMUM OF 3 WEEKS to get to the us, due to the fact they are the worlds worst postage system.

2.To be honest i have found its cheaper and 80x faster to use fedex on all my deal its costs maybe 10 - 15 bucks but it takes 5 days to get to the us and your package is undamaged. well Canada post is about the same price but that much slower.

3.the us postal system is just as slow to get to Canada it takes 3 - 6 weeks most of the time, how ever this is no excuse for a person to not reply to your messages.

4. If both sides are sending something besides bitz i recamend Fedex since its safer for the mini's and both traders since you can track the location, unlike with Canada post or usps.

5.as a warning to everyone Canada post will damage packages, i have had things DESTROYED in transit with them so if your worried about it breaking, for the love of god send it fedex! this go's to anyone sending to or from Canada.

AJCarrington · Post by **AJCarrington** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:17 pm

A couple of comments regarding courier services vs postal services in cross-border deals:

- for customs declarations, it is critical that each item be listed as not having an individual value of more than $25

- the package must be declared as a "gift"

- by doing so, one can avoid the brokerage charges that the courier company will charge to clear customs

- this works fine for gifts (obviously), but if you've sold items to another party, then technically, they're not gifts

- I'm pretty sure that "trades" are deemed by Canada Customs as "not gifts" as well - thought there was a previous post here on BT (not sure about US customs)

Learned most of this last Christmas looking into sending gift packages back to family in Canada. My specific experiences were with UPS, but the same principals also applied to Fedex. With regards to the custom limits for each item, I called UPS Canada and spoke to an agent who specifically dealt with customs issues; you can get a variety of different answers depending upon whom you talk to. Also, I think that if the total value of the package is less than ~25, you can avoid the brokerage charges as well.

Hopes this helps.

Regards,

AJC

brettness37 · Post by **brettness37** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:11 pm

Elzanith wrote:
well im Canadian so hopefully i can clear up why things take so long.

1. Canada post will take A MINIMUM OF 3 WEEKS to get to the us, due to the fact they are the worlds worst postage system.

2.To be honest i have found its cheaper and 80x faster to use fedex on all my deal its costs maybe 10 - 15 bucks but it takes 5 days to get to the us and your package is undamaged. well Canada post is about the same price but that much slower.

3.the us postal system is just as slow to get to Canada it takes 3 - 6 weeks most of the time, how ever this is no excuse for a person to not reply to your messages.

4. If both sides are sending something besides bitz i recamend Fedex since its safer for the mini's and both traders since you can track the location, unlike with Canada post or usps.

5.as a warning to everyone Canada post will damage packages, i have had things DESTROYED in transit with them so if your worried about it breaking, for the love of god send it fedex! this go's to anyone sending to or from Canada.

This post is just wrong. I live in the same city as you and have had none of these experiences. I've had packages take up to 10 days, but it's usually less than 5 going there, and I've had packages arrive as quick as 5 days, but it's usually around 10-14 coming from the US.

How the package fares in transit depends on how it has been packed. Tracking is readily available on both sides of the border, and has been for around a year.

starslayer · Post by **starslayer** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:20 pm

Hold on a second. Just because YOU personally did not have those experiences does not make them wrong. Ive sent & received several packages from Canada. Some took as little as 10 days, some took over 6 weeks. It varies. Its not cheap though. I usually avoid all deals out of USA,to avoid the hassles anymore.

( 832 ) · Post by **MagickalMemories** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:38 am

AJCarrington wrote:A couple of comments regarding courier services vs postal services in cross-border deals:

Wait a minute.
We need to clear up a few things in that post...

AJCarrington wrote:- for customs declarations, it is critical that each item be listed as not having an individual value of more than $25

It is critical that each item be listed at it's CORRECT value, regardless of amount. Not to do so is a federal offense (in the US, anyway). You should not list something at less than $25 if it isn't, unless you want to risk time in a federal pen.

AJCarrington wrote:- the package must be declared as a "gift"

- by doing so, one can avoid the brokerage charges that the courier company will charge to clear customs

The package should ONLY be listed as a gift if it is a gift.
See above re: Federal offense.

AJCarrington wrote:- this works fine for gifts (obviously), but if you've sold items to another party, then technically, they're not gifts

- I'm pretty sure that "trades" are deemed by Canada Customs as "not gifts" as well - thought there was a previous post here on BT (not sure about US customs)

Neither trades nor sales may be (legally) referred to as gifts. You are trading one item for another. That is not a gift. Now, if you PIF someone in Canada, then THAT is a gift, even if they cover (exact) postage costs.

Eric

Stanislav · Post by **Stanislav** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:45 am

Quick question going along with an earlier post...is there tracking available in Canada now? Not disbelieving, asking. Is it only through UPS or FedEx? How about USPS? I appreciate any CORRECT answers. Thanks guys.

As for Customs, MM is dead on. I once did a package to Sri Lanka where the mini painting business told me to only claim the value at like $5. I had sent over $300 worth of models. Not worth the problems it could cause.

brettness37 · Post by **brettness37** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:47 am

From Canada to US, there is DCI, though not real tracking. From US to Canada the Customs form # is used as DCI, but you can use it to track through Canadapost's website.

AJCarrington · Post by **AJCarrington** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 4:44 am

Thanks for Eric for his comments, I can see how they could be interpretted.

The intent of my post was to indicate some of the issues related to the costs charged by courier companies when clearing the border. I was simply trying to pass on some of the info I learned this past holiday season (when I was shipping gifts back to Canada). I did not mean to suggest that one should alter the value(s) of items being shipped and/or the nature of the shipment (gift vs trade vs sale) to minimize costs.

AJC

Alkatchoff · Post by **Alkatchoff** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:03 am

I'll toss in a 'give it a bit more time' recommendation.

In my experience with Canada Post over the years, I've found the service to be fairly erratic.

Case in point, I sent a package to the US the day before a MASSIVE storm here (one of the biggest snowfalls in years), and it was received a week later. I sent another similar-sized package to the US last month (in decent weather), and it took almost a month to reach its destination.

Because of this, I'd urge people trading over the border to be patient - I know it's not pleasant to wait, but it just can't be helped sometimes.

I'm not gonna touch the 'how to mail to Canada/potential mail fraud' idea, because I'm of two minds on the subject. I've had to pay close to 100$ for a trade before thanks to Canada Customs,and I wasn't pleased, but I can't really advocate mail fraud either.

The only 'legal-ish' solution I've found is to work out deals for smaller amounts of stuff. Customs doesn't seem to bother with anything worth 75$ or less, so I try to keep my deals around that amount now.

( 832 ) · Post by **MagickalMemories** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:29 am

AJCarrington wrote:Thanks for Eric for his comments, I can see how they could be interpretted.

The intent of my post was to indicate some of the issues related to the costs charged by courier companies when clearing the border. I was simply trying to pass on some of the info I learned this past holiday season (when I was shipping gifts back to Canada). I did not mean to suggest that one should alter the value(s) of items being shipped and/or the nature of the shipment (gift vs trade vs sale) to minimize costs.

AJC

The way you wrote your post, *I* didn't think you were advocating that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have posted the part about trades not being gifts.

I just wanted to make certain that someone less knowledgable didn't interpret it the wrong way.

Eric

Headhunter · Post by **Headhunter** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:06 pm

Ok here's an update. I just tried to send Trader52 another email for status to traderaccount@hotmail.com and this is what I got back.

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. traderaccount@hotmail.com
Reporting-MTA: dns;bay0-omc2-s4.bay0.hotmail.com
Received-From-MTA: dns;BAY115-W43
Arrival-Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 07:34:35 -0700

Final-Recipient: rfc822;traderaccount@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable

So I suspect he closed is hotmail account, so now [/b]i can call his a Bad Trader and feel comfortable with it.
Sorry I cant see how a package to Canada should take longer that a package from Europe or AU (whcih all took pack on the same day) He recieved my package within 5 days. The mail system excuses is just that. Sorry if I am a little upset but you know I am a single parent and stuggling as it is with the economy I don't need some pansey stealing anymore money from me than the government already is. I have had 4 transactions on Barter 2 bad and 2 good so we are batting 50% here. From this day forward I will only deal through Paypal, atleast they will give me some security in my investment.

Headhunter · Post by **Headhunter** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:07 pm

sorry I guess I dont know how the B function works.

peacemystic · Post by **peacemystic** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:15 pm

Hey
No sure about the Hotmail address thingy,but as i said posting to Canada is a funny thing,i still have not recieved my items from the trader i'm dealing with in Canade(i have no doubt he has sent them).
even though i recieved the package from Australia maybe 2 weeks ago now(posted about the same time)
But i can understand you getting worried after the email account deal,i'd be alittle worried aswell.

Cheers
Steve

Headhunter · Post by **Headhunter** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:43 pm

Headhunter wrote:Ok here's an update. I just tried to send Trader52 another email for status to traderaccount@hotmail.com and this is what I got back.

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. traderaccount@hotmail.com
Reporting-MTA: dns;bay0-omc2-s4.bay0.hotmail.com
Received-From-MTA: dns;BAY115-W43
Arrival-Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 07:34:35 -0700

Final-Recipient: rfc822;traderaccount@hotmail.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable

So I suspect he closed is hotmail account, so now [/b]i can call his a Bad Trader and feel comfortable with it.
Sorry I cant see how a package to Canada should take longer that a package from Europe or AU (whcih all took pack on the same day) He recieved my package within 5 days. The mail system excuses is just that. Sorry if I am a little upset but you know I am a single parent and stuggling as it is with the economy I don't need some pansey stealing anymore money from me than the government already is. I have had 4 transactions on Barter 2 bad and 2 good so we are batting 50% here. From this day forward I will only deal through Paypal, atleast they will give me some security in my investment.

WOW I really need to start proof reading my post, I look like a druwling vegetable...LOL

( 832 ) · Post by **MagickalMemories** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 4:04 pm

Okay.
This sucks.

I just don't WANT to believe that about someone who has a 32 rating, but I admit it really is looking bad for him.

The only thing I disagree with on your post is:

Sorry I cant see how a package to Canada should take longer that a package from Europe or AU

That is an absolutely normal occurance.

Oh, and I'm not disbelieving you, just curious... Are you certain that address is typed correctly? One typo can make a big difference.

Good luck, man.
Keep us posted.

Eric