Ever shipped a frame to Canada?
 

Hey Im looking at the possibility of shipping a frame to Vancouver from CA. The UPS and FedEx websites have been really useless for getting an estimate. They keep saying that a box 10x24x42 that weighs 10 pounds is Freight, in the same class as full container loads! WTF? So Im asking, dear forum members, have you ever done this? How did you do it? and about how much did it cost? Any caveats?

Thanks
A

i am stranded in nova scotia. stuck. stranded. a three hour tour. turned into a 5 day tour.

If you use UPS or FEDEX the receiver will get ***** at the border by brokerages. Please for god sakes when sending stuff to Canada from the states use USPS. It might take a day or two more to get there but we don't get 0wned by ridiculous brokerages.

-1 offtopic

USPS! awesome! It looks like the international shipping rates via USPS are easy!
Thanks for the tip.

Where are you? I live in Halifax.

Also, ship that bike via USPS. Best rates and no hidden brokerage fees for the receiver. I've never shipped a bike frame, but I did ship a drum kit (all the shells stacked inside one another with the whole thing in one box) from the USPS office on Haight in SF to Halifax, NS, for about $60US.

m.

i got a frame shipped to me from CA (i live in toronto)
+1 on the previous suggestions on using USPS.

and some buyers will ask you to understate the value on the item to avoid super high duties.
if you feel okay doing that i suggest you declare it as "used parts" and please place it in an unmarked box.
then MAKE SURE you give it a reasonable estimate. or else Customs will open it and go "yeah RIGHT this is worth $5" and slap a HUGE duty on it.

my Jamis frame was shipped in a marked cannondale box with a $5 value on it. Customs decided the frame itself was worth $1200 and therefore I owed $200 in taxes.

so please do yourself and the buyer a favor and be smart about it.

+1 on USPS for the receiver's sake

If you want to make things easier for your sake, and maybe save the new owner some cash you could ship it to a package hangling center in Point Roberts, WA. Like the letter Carrier. These places exist just so that people in vancouver can take advantage of cheap US prices and import stuff themselves.
http://www.thelettercarrier.com/index.htm
you can ship UPS ground there. Then the guy can pick it up there and import it himself. and possibly get lucky with taxes/fees etc.
I've done it a couple times before. (former vancouverite)

Just another Canadian chiming in to nix the courier services shipping from the US to Canada. As long as your box isn't too big, you can go USPS without a problem. A pair of rims that cost me 90 Cdn shipped cost me another fifty in brokerage fees (I believe that the minimum is $25, plus a percentage of the declared value, at least UPS) cost me another 50 bucks to receive. Even a 64cm frame with the fork removed and packed right can get inside the USPS max dimensions.

And customs for Cdns receiving postal goods is 5 bucks plus sales tax on the declared value (bike parts are a zero duty item), so you can also mark it as a gift and declare the value at under 60 bucks if the frame's not too valuable and you've got the utmost faith in the postal service, not that I would suggest you commit a felony.