Selling to Canadian buyer

Why do most sellers not want to ship to Canada?

because they are lazy?

Is there a level of risk selling to a Canadian buyer?

If through paypal, not really. No greater risk than selling to someone in the US. You can still get insurance for a packing through USPS.

hang your cross wrote in post #16715211
because they are lazy?

Hey! We're not lazy, we're apathetic.

I have never shipped to Canada before... I have a guy in Canada that wants to buy my lens.

My experience from the Canadian buyers I have encountered in the past have ranged from some not being upfront about location, all requested I not be truthful on the customs forms (a deal breaker for me), and most interested in the item until the subject of covering the additional shipping cost comes up.

This is my experience only, and I'm not trying to paint everyone in the same light, but for me, the hassles & runarounds of the past translates into a current personal policy to not ship out of the US.

Border patrol sucks. Canadian customs checks everything and charges HST (sales tax) on everything that comes in regardless of the amount claimed.

I've been living in Toronto for 20 months now and have packages shipped to me all the time. About 8-10 months ago, my dad sent me a Canon Pixma Pro-100 printer when they were on sale at B&H for $100. I had the printer shipped to my dad in Miami (free shipping from B&H). He prepared a new package to ship to Toronto, completed the customs declaration form and claimed the value of $100, included the receipt, and was exempted from HST because of the low value. When I received the package, Canadian customs had opened the package, placed a new value of $500 and charged ME an HST of $53 COD upon delivery.

My parents sent me a watch case for Christmas. It's a nice wooden case with 4 rotating watch holders for automatic movements to keep them running. They bought it off Amazon and had it shipped to them in Miami. They re-packaged it, included some other gifts for my wife and daughter and sent it up. Again, they completed the declaration form and placed a value of $250. They pre-paid the HST through UPS since the amount exceeded $100. When the shipment arrived, Canadian customs had opened the package and assessed additional value. UPS collected an additional $48 from me for the increase in the value. Other shipments have been fine, but for some items, it seems they just randomly select them and assess tax.

We move back to Raleigh, NC this summer. It's been nice here, but the shipping situation really sucks. I just have stuff shipped to my NC PO Box whenever I can - small items, lenses, etc.

It's really easy, I've been shipped to Canada before. If you ship via priority large you can even print/fill out the custom forms at home.

Buyers always want USPS over UPS so they wont get the additional charge.

as a canadian buyer, I know for sure the cheapes is USPS. They don't charge ridiculous amount like UPS and fedex does Once it hits the border, CanadaPost takes the relay for the package. The same USPS tracking number updates also on Canada Post website.

As for border fees, they charge tax on almost all packages no mather the amount claimed or gift note, etc (recently I got charged on almost all my orders) but the last lens I bought here was a surprise, not any border fees/tax. Guess I was lucky

I have always been confused about the process. I have looked into the cost, but then the forms and things kind of clutter the process. As a result, I give preference to US buyers since it's less headache for me. So i guess the main reason is that I 'm selfish

As long as all of the paperwork is filled out completely and correctly, I've never had any issues receiving things from the US sent by USPS. I've regularly purchased from the US by mail order since 1997 (when I moved away from a border town). USPS is by far the best way to ship to Canada. I have had troubles with FedEX, Purolator, and UPS. The worst way to ship to Canada, IMO, is UPS.

If the declared value of an item is $100, and Customs finds a $300 item in the box, they'll tax @ $300 versus $100. For good measure, a hardcopy receipt should really be included inside the package. This decreases the chance that Customs will assign a different value to the item being shipped (but they might still do it if they don't believe the receipt).

In the event a package is being shipped from one business (Jane Doe Photography) to another (John Doe Photography), the Canadian value of the item is often what is taxed: especially if resale of the item on Canadian soil is a suspected possibility.

Gifts can have tax applied as well. Packages that appear to have been forwarded undergo more scrutiny. NAFTA only covers duty on items manufactured in North America.

Basically, ship via USPS, and don't fib on the paperwork. A Canadian buyer should be prepared to pay extra in shipping and pay all taxes and duty. If the buyer wants you to lie on the paperwork, don't deal with that person. If someone wants you to scam customs, that same person is willing to scam you (IMO).

I do have to admit that I'm a little confused about what I'm paying for shipping now. I'm now often paying two or three times the shipping that I did back in 2008/2009 for similar items.

dharris wrote in post #16715194
Why do most sellers not want to ship to Canada?

They're all jealous of our poutine, maple syrup, and Quebecois strippers.

hang your cross wrote in post #16715211
because they are lazy?

Pretty much sums it up. There's a customs form that takes all of 3 minutes to fill out. We do the same when shipping south. Just boils down to what's easier for the seller.

dharris wrote in post #16715194
Why do most sellers not want to ship to Canada?

Because they're afraid Rob Ford would roll it up and smoke it.

Because they're afraid the merchandise will freeze.

Because....

We could have a whole new thread going on here....

Seriously though, it's just different than in the states and there are different processes and people typically don't like different. if it's all the same, I'd rather sell locally than to ship and I'd rather ship domestic than ship international.