Hi,

I have been following this forum and have placed an order with Mato for a TigerI. It will be my first tank ( I have RC airplanes, helicopters and some cars though). It is a preorder and I had selected Canadaian Post. After reading the forum though, it seems like this may have been a mistake. I was wondering what the experiences some of you have had with the Canadian Post shipping to the US? Thanks for the help. This forum has been very informative.

Carl

You should not have any problems with a parcel shipped by Canada Post to the US. I sell a lot of things on ebay and have sent over two hundred packages by this method from Canada to the US. For the most part they all arrive in the time listed by Canada Post and in good shape. I have had the odd one take a little longer than it was supposed to but in the end it got there just fine. As long as it is addressed properly and has the proper customs paper work things should go smoothly. One thing I found that slowed down packages is if there is a backlog at US customs but even then it only takes a couple of days to make it through. Another thing to think about is people always post about their bad experiences with packages from Canada not the good ones where everything went as it should. For every time there is a mess up there are hundreds of packages the made it with no problems on the same day.


Wayne Reid

Ontario,Canada

i ordered from mato thru canada post to myself in canada and those weekends really make the time longer.

Purchased from Mato and used Canada Post for delivery here in Virginia, with no problems. Good communication and received delivery in short time as estimated.[sm=shades_smile.gif]

Sounds like it might not have been a bad decision after all. Thanks for the quick input!

Canada Post and the USPS can not be beat. Remember how many packages get handled, and yes a few do go AWOL, and you hear about, because people are genuinely PO'd. But for each bad experience there are probably 500,000 good ones.

Like I've said in my other posts on the subject, I'm sure it works fine within the border. My troubles came with getting it across and then having it get lost locally. Now locally that would be a USPS problem right? Well, I would think so, but twice in a row when the majority of my packages come USPS and 99% error free. All I know is my packages cross the border much faster with UPS now and wind up at my door quicker. As I said before, small package experience was fine, just tank sized stuff did I have issues with.

Being an American living in Canada I have had many experiances shipping back and forth between the U.S. and Canada. I have found no fault with either USPS or CanadaPost except that the rates are a bit high shipping domestic thru Canadapost, and only a bit more than the USPS would charge between the two countries. I have found that UPS charges originating in Canada to be way out of line. Also, UPS sometimes takes the oppourtunity to charge insanely high brokerage fees for cross border shipping. I'm talking on the order of $50 for a $25.00 item. Call it arbitrary, unfair or whatever else you like, but it will be a snowy day in hell before I cross border ship with UPS by choice again.

Matt

So far I have not had any problems with Canada Post.

its really expensive i noted.
ups from Columbus OH to ND - 3.50
*removed 5 of the 15 dvd's*
forwarded to Vancouver - 16.50.....

Oh Boy ... another opportunity to warn people away from even thinking of using UPS to destinations in Canada.

They are just a lousy company .. plain and simple. UPS will levy a "Customs Brokerage" charge on each item from the US. The amount varies based on the value of the item. The lowest I have been assessed is $25 and that was on a single transistor used in radio broadcast transmitters ... value on the part was $7 US funds. I needed the part desperately to repair a sick sounding transmitter, so I very angrily paid their blood money on a part which had no duty owing.

Next was a purchase on EBay as a part of my wife's birthday presents when I specifically asked the item to be shipped via US Postal Service, NOT UPS. The clown on the other end made a bad decision, screwed up, and sent it via the dreaded UPS. This time it was assessed at $45 on a $20 item. Wife's birthday was the next day and I just didn't have the time to stand up and fight the buggers. Again, it was an item where there were no duty surcharges. When I complained to the seller, he explained UPS was convenient because the driver would come to his place of business and pick up the outgoing item. He would have had to take it to the Post Office, and that was too much effort.

The last straw for me came a few months ago when I ordered something else from an auction on EBay .. a collector's plate of a nice Rainbow Trout. It looked great and the owner was made aware that UPS rips off its customers under the guise of making it seem like they are doing extrememly complex work as if they were clearing the paperwork to allow importation of a suitcase-sized atomic weapon. This time it was another $25 "Customs Brokerage" charge. This time, I had the time to look into this more deeply and found I had the following choices:

1- Refuse to accept the parcel and it would be sent back to the shipper with a notice that I had refused delivery....that would have meant negative feedback on EBay and I'm new enough to EBay that I didn't want to start getting people saying I was a deadbeat.
2- Take the paperwork over to Canada Customs and clear it myself rather than use their "service." They only work limited "usual business hours" and close at 4 PM. I had to leave work 2 hours early .. and take the pay cut and then go over and run it through the system. That only took about 2 minutes to complete and cost me zero except the lost pay and an extra day's delay in getting the package into my hands....oh and I almost forgot to mention the damage done to my circulatory system by the elevated blood pressure.

Understand something, Canada and the US are each other's largest trading partners. We have had Free Trade between the two countries for about 2 decades. Almost nothing that enters Canada from the US ... of US manufacture ... has any form of duty applicable. Sam thing for items going to the USA. There is no favored industry protectionism in the form of government surtaxes (duties) to prop up an industry that can't make it on their own merits.

Like many places, we have sales tax ... some people are highly confused and think that sales tax is Customs & Excise "Duty" which it is not. You pay sales tax on anything you buy, and doing it by mail order is no exception.

So UPS has some sweet deal going ... charge Brokerage fees on everything and anything that crosses their doorstep from the USA ... a giant ripoff.

Be very aware of this when you purchase something from the US and think about using UPS.

Now, I absolutely refuse to buy anything from a supplier who uses only UPS to ship items.

My experience with the US Postal Service has been universally excellent. If I get something using their service, it just shows up at the door ... via courier I might add, and it is just like someone mailed from the other side of town. Sometimes a little slower than I'd like, but so be it.

I trust this has been somewhat helpful if you are considering using UPS.

Regards,
Lee

I would have to disagree Lee Smith. I wont buy from a seller unless UPS is a shipping option. When I order from Mato I use the UPS option and get my package just fine, in fact the last time I ordered from mato I got my package 1 day AHEAD of schedule. USPS I wouldnt trust them with anything more than a Letter. They get my Bills to me just fine. Have them delivery a Parcel and forget it, it ends up 2 Towns or 3 states away from its destination. USPS lost 3 items of mine in the last 6 months I am tired of making claims on packages that I should be getting.

Not to discurage anyone from the USPS. I have heard some stories about UPS that makes me wounder sometimes. []

I suspect because you live in the USA, you are not subjected to the "Customs and Brokerage fees" the UPS charge. I will concur with everything that Lee Smith says. Canadians are subjected to absolute gouging by UPS in respect to these fees. Like Lee, I tell people to ship it USPS. I explain to them that a $5.00 item can be subjected to a $25 handling fee. This has happened to me more then once. One vendor was nice enough to issue you me equal credit for the UPS and told me he would USPS for all his orders going into Canada from now on. You may not have experienced this ah64, but I can tell you Mr Smith is being truthful. Do not use UPS to send anything into Canada unless it is valuable enough to absorb a $40.00 fee.

Note. In at least 400 ebay transactions, USPS and Canada Post have lost 0 items for me. They may take a couple of weeks to get them to me, but the trick is to order enough so that a new package arrives at the door every week!!!!!!! Like my wife says, it is always Christmas morning around our house

Yeah, as a Canadian, I try to avoid having anything sent via UPS, due to the extreme price gouging for brokerage.

BUT, UPS only gouges you on "Standard Service" shipping. If you ship things via their upgraded services (which means you're going to get it faster anyway), they do the brokerage for free. It's pretty whacked that (depending on weight and size) you can pay slightly more for shipping, get it faster, and save a buttload on brokerage!
See http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shi...clearance.html

My first instinct is still to use USPS though...

D.

oh ya that airborne in the usa goes thru DHL into canada, and you get a surprise in the mail when your custom fees have been delt with by some company for you + 10 fee

I made the mistake to break my friends nitro truck on his setting it up. Because it was so new I couldn't get parts locally yet in Canada so I ordered thru the states. They sent UPS which was the first time I had ever dealt with them. Now get this, 20 bucks worth of parts ended up costing me over 120 bucks by the time UPS was done. Didn't even have the decency to be the least bit gentle!

One other mistake (this time a couple computer cases) and I will never EVER be caught again. If theres even a chance of it coming UPS I won't make the deal.

Now USPS is fine other then Canada Post nails you with a 5 bucks a package fee, plus any taxes owing. But very rarely do I have to pay it. Most times they just deliver the package and say have a nice day. Just wish they could be a bit faster... I just traded a rc truck for a truck and even tho I shipped a week after he did I am still waiting 2 weeks after it was delivered to him. Why the hold up? the darn border! But there not much that cane be done about that. Some days its quick and others its brutal...

I have to agree with my fellow Canucks here...

My experience with UPS and FedEx, apart from one good experience (CD's from HP by FedEx) its all been BAD. USPS has necer failed me so far, asnd if you know a few of the 'tricks' the Canadian customs assessments are not a problem, One thing when buying my DVD's is to buy about three, but make sure they are under $20 Cdn (I use http://www.xe.com/ucc/ for my up-to-date conversion values) That way I get no $5 assessment fee, no taxes (14% here in Ontario) and get the discounted shipping on additional items.

Additional items are that when you do have an item thats assessed, the flat fee is $5 plus those taxes (Ontario is the highest at 14%) but thats paid only on the value above $20 Cdn. If its wrapped as a gift (inside the main wrapping, with an occassion card) the allowance goes up to $60. Might be worth your friend sending you a 'gift' for that special occassion, eh? There are other tricks... you just need to know them.

Also... make sure there are NO extra price tags on the item... 'cause Customs will use the higest one they can find. I had a Verlinden fig set I bagged for $10 US get assessed at $40 US cause the fool seller forgot to pull the store tag on the box. I got my taxes back by submitting a copy of the eBay sales receipt, but the $5 assessm,ent fee is NOT refundable (the seller kindly gave me a refund equivalent to that amount)

The other pain is that USPS and Canada Post do not integrate the tracking into each other's systems. Once it crosses the border, its GONE unless you paid for a tracking number, and you only see when it arrives. No notice that its crossed the border, nothing in the other country until the package is flagged as arrived, and sometimes not even then. I ALWAYS ask my buyers to tell me when their package arrives so I can tick the parcel off my 'in transit' list.

If its inbound to Canada... use USPS if you can. Outbound, heck, thats the buyer's choice. He wants to pay $50 for UPS when $10 to Canada Post will do, thats fine by me.

'Nuff Said