Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Similar logic was used when we selected the military grade solar panels.
Expense is an equation not a definition.
Back-up Lights on the trailer
- Thread starter AlexJet
- Start date
Similar logic was used when we selected the military grade solar panels.
Expense is an equation not a definition.
AlexJet
Explorer
Martyn your stuff is great, no doubt. The poblem is by the time it gets shipped here and paid all the duties, taxes and fees they becoming "gold" :Wow1:. This is very sad for me, but again, I like your products and use them often because many of your items are unique.
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Unfortunately Martyn can't help or be responsible for what it costs to get something in to Canada. The only thing he can do to help is at least be able to shop USPS instead of UPS with their obscene brokerage fees. In case you didn't know, with USPS, all you have to pay is the taxes and $5 brokerage. You'd have to pay the taxes on anything sourced in Canada anyway.
Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
We are working on shipping via USPS. Unfortunately their pricing, available on the internet, is inaccurate and invariably less than it actually costs when you take the package to the post office. For us to take a package to our local post office takes one man hour, so it's not an economical solution.
A service called SmartPost http://fedex.com/us/smartpost/ offered by Fedex where we could send packages through a combination of Fedex and USPS seems to be so secrete than no one at Fedex seems to know anything about it.
There is a solution, out there somewhere, for our Canadian customers it's just frustratingly slow to find out the answers needed to implement it.
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Is it not practical to simply bring small packages to the post office with you when you go to do your personal mail stuff? I know I am totally flexible if I'm ordering something from the US and want to have it shipped USPS. It's so much better for me, but I know it's a bit of a pain for the vendor. The pricing is another matter I guess. I just OK whatever it is going to cost, because it's always cheaper than UPS in the end. I usually find the shipping charge is much lower anyway.
Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Rob
We never go to the Post Office. Mail is collected and delivered to us, and stamps can be also be ordered from the postal carrier and delivered to our mail box.
Packages need to go to the Post Office to be weighed, the contents declared, and the customs forms filled out. We tried to do it through the postal carrier but it doesn't work.
A Post Office is something out of a Monty Python skit, you need forms needed to fill out forms. We even have packages returned to us for not having the right amount of postage on them when we took them to the Post Office to be mailed in the first place.
Even when we prioritize customer service in our business model, time is still money, and lost time can never be regained.
AlexJet
Explorer
I know about it and when I was getting MaxCoupler from Martyn he tried his best to get me best shipping rate, but as he mentioned in his post FedEx didn't want to cooperate with their shipping options. For over the week they (FedEx) didn't give him any information on SmartPost while he was trying to get anything out of them. I apreciate his will and actual help, but because I need that coupler I had to go with expensive regular FedEx shipping. Its not Martyn's fault that some shipping companies doesn't want make business. He is doing his best as he can.:bowdown:
It's frustrating that we can't get good products for reasonable money from our friends just 100mi south
Dmarchand
Adventurer
Not sure if this is a different manufacturer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Maxx...821QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&itemid=260424944821
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Maxx...821QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&itemid=260424944821
Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Shipping to Canada
After a 3 week delay Fedex SmartPost finally got back to me. They have a minimum daily quantity of 100 items for a company to use this service. So that won't work for us.
Anyone got any ideas on a less expensive way, specifically a lower customs clearance rate, to ship to Canada that does not involve USPS, UPS, or Fedex?
After a 3 week delay Fedex SmartPost finally got back to me. They have a minimum daily quantity of 100 items for a company to use this service. So that won't work for us.
Anyone got any ideas on a less expensive way, specifically a lower customs clearance rate, to ship to Canada that does not involve USPS, UPS, or Fedex?
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
I guess for me it's somewhat common to go to the post office and forget what it's like in the US. Like, I have to do it anytime I get a package. There's a mini office right in the local drug store in my small town, open till 8, etc.
I've used the USPS a lot of times when I worked in the US and was shipping things to US customers. It was a bit of a pain, compared to Canada, but not too bad. Was just the cost of doing business. I was selling $20 parts that cost me about $2 to make and about 10 minutes. I was getting $5 for shipping. I could spend $3 shipping them from Canada, or $1 from the US and I'd ship a couple packages at once, so paid for me time I guess.
Anyway... yeah, I pretty much won't buy something if I have to ship it UPS. I just bought a driveshaft, my sister was visiting NYC, shipped it to her and she took it back on the plane.
R_Lefebvre
Expedition Leader
Well... what about shipping regular FedEx? I have heard that it's less than UPS for the brokerage. And just to be clear... the problem is brokerage, NOT anything to do with customs. Brokerage is some fictional charge invented by UPS. I think some guy at a desk just throws darts at a board. The charge is not based on weight, cost, country of origin, alignment of the planets... And UPS can't predict it when inquiring about shipping charges.
We use an actual customs broker at work here. It's actually cheaper to have them clear it. I'm not entirely sure how it works.