[BIG POPPA]

Recently I got one from Canada fairly quick. Just a few days from Vancouver BC (Being in Seattle). Now I'm waiting for a package from the Toronto area. 10 days now. What should be the norm?

 

[Landis]

Quote:

I'm not sure how trading items is breaking any laws. Both sides purchased their items legally through a regular retailer and paid their respective country's taxes . Both items have seen use. Said items are now being traded.

Trading is another story, as you mentioned purchasing or trading, I assumed purchasing which you would need to label as such.

 

[beamthegreat]

Canada Post is way better than UPS. For every 5 items I shipped with UPS, 1 gets lost, 2 gets damaged, and the remaining survives the trip. It takes about 1-2 month to ship overseas even though UPS states that it takes about 2-3 weeks on their websiteand the brokerage fees are way too expensive. There insurance also suck. I once got a 52$ broker fee for buying a 300$ earphones. And from my experience the Purlalator and Fedex are the best shipping companies even though they are a little more expensive than UPS or Canada post. 

 

[Bob_McBob]

Quote:

I didn't want to start up a new thread so figured I'd just dredge this one up. I might be purchasing or trading headphones with another headfier soon (I'm in Canada, he's in the US). If we simply send by Canada Post and USPS respectively and mark the items as gift, there shouldn't be any taxes/fees either way correct? What if we insure the items? (let's say a moderately big number, like $300)

 
When importing into Canada, the gift declaration is only useful for items valued and insured below $60.  If you have a package insured for $300, they will use this value to calculate tax and duty.  Mailing to the US, other head-fiers could chime in, but I've never had a package sent down by regular mail there charged anything, regardless of value or gift declaration.  Wish it were like that up here.
 
Quote:

Well, I'm pretty sure that breaks some kind of federal law.
 
Laws aside, I don't believe there's any COD for gifts and insurance will drive the shipping cost higher. No taxes as it's not purchased from retailer, but I can't give you a 100% on customs fees, only a pretty sure.

The distinction between a purchase from a retailer and a purchase or trade from a private individual is completely meaningless when importing an item into Canada.  On headphones, there should be no duty, but the receiver will pay the applicable provincial sales tax/GST on the assessed value, as well as a $5 handling fee ($8 for express).
 
Quote:

I'm not sure how trading items is breaking any laws. Both sides purchased their items legally through a regular retailer and paid their respective country's taxes . Both items have seen use. Said items are now being traded.

There is no such thing as "trading" when it comes to customs.  Declaring a low value or improperly marking the item as a gift *is* illegal, not that it stops many people.

 

[Bob_McBob]

Quote:

Canada Post is way better than UPS. For every 5 items I shipped with UPS, 1 gets lost, 2 gets damaged, and the remaining survives the trip. It takes about 1-2 month to ship overseas even though UPS states that it takes about 2-3 weeks on their websiteand the brokerage fees are way too expensive. There insurance also suck. I once got a 52$ broker fee for buying a 300$ earphones. And from my experience the Purlalator and Fedex are the best shipping companies even though they are a little more expensive than UPS or Canada post. 

Simply put, I don't believe a lot of what you wrote here.  I agree that UPS beats the hell out of packages, but a 20% loss rate and 50% damage rate is way, way beyond any acceptable (or believable) standard.  If that many items are arriving broken, I would question the ability of whoever packs them.  Also, there is no international UPS service that takes 2-3 weeks, let alone 1-2 months.
 
Your brokerage fee is because you had your packages shipped by UPS Standard, as I explained earlier in the thread.  FedEx Ground is just as bad for customs brokerage fees.

 

[fatcat28037]

I've shipped numerous Head-Fi packages to Canada with nary a problem. Customs will slow things down a couple days but that's to be expected.

 

[Moontan13]

The only stuff I get from Canada is ink carts, and those arrive in 6-7 days from the postmarked date. That's about the same time as things from England or Hong Kong.