[mhertel]

I'm not sure a lot of people know this, so I thought I would share

If you are shipping or receiving items via USPS or Canada Post, you can track your package on BOTH websites.. You will usually get better tracking info on the Website of the country that it is supposed to be delivered in (once it enters that country)..

ie. I sent a package to the US via Canada Post. I check the Canada Post website for the tracking info and it says it has left the country..
I then went to the USPS website with my tracking number.. and it shows that it's been delivered today
This works the other way around as well...

I'm not sure if this works for other countries, but give it a try.

[innershell]

Cool. Didn't know that. My shipment from the US still says "Accepted" from the USPS website.

[davef]

I believe it works for a number of countries. I tracked one shipped Canada Post to Norway on the Norwegian Post site. Dave

[SpecialK]

Don't get me started on shipping TO Canada!

The company I work for ships orders to Canada as follows:

1. Fed Ex ground. Apparently (some) Canadians pay the customs duty that Fed Ex calculates and sends a payment request about. Those duties that customers don't pay eventually get billed to us. It is a significant amount, about 30% of the merchandise value, and in most cases is all the profit of the sale.
2. US Priority mail - no tracking at all.
3. UPS. This (I believe) works like Fed Ex except they have the recipient pay duties before delivering the package. Some customers complained about the duty, but we never got billed.

We are close to cutting off Canadian orders because of the shipping cost and lack of tracking.

[innershell]

Don't get me started on shipping TO Canada!

The company I work for ships orders to Canada as follows:

1. Fed Ex ground. Apparently (some) Canadians pay the customs duty that Fed Ex calculates and sends a payment request about. Those duties that customers don't pay eventually get billed to us. It is a significant amount, about 30% of the merchandise value, and in most cases is all the profit of the sale.
2. US Priority mail - no tracking at all.
3. UPS. This (I believe) works like Fed Ex except they have the recipient pay duties before delivering the package. Some customers complained about the duty, but we never got billed.

We are close to cutting off Canadian orders because of the shipping cost and lack of tracking.

EVERYBODY in Canada knows that shipping to Canada sucks. You know what? Instead of cutting off your customers, just say you will ship via USPS Expedited (with tracking number) but the receiver is responsible for all applicable custom duties and taxes. If the customer is still willing to order and pay for those high shipping fees, good for you. But don't cut out your customers so quickly.

UPS and FedEx brokerage fees suck, which is why you should avoid these two companies for shipping to Canada. Use USPS only and make your Canadian shipping policies very clear on your website or in a cut-and-paste e-mail correspondence.

[sewebster]

Usually there is minimal duty on shipments to Canada from the US. Anything made in the US has NO DUTY because of NAFTA. Now there, _IS_ tax, but this is not duty. Usually the tax isn't really so much, 12% here in British Columbia. BUT UPS and FedEx charge us some LUDICROUS fee to "broker" our parcel. Canada Post (who deals with the USPS shipments) also charges a fee, but it is only $5, no problem. Also, often the faster UPS/FedEx services (by air or whatever) include the brokerage fee, but they are of course somewhat more expensive.

By the way, UPS doesn't make you pay the fee in advance. They hand you the package, make you sign for it, and then 3 weeks later you get a bill in the mail. It's really lame. If they told you at the time of delivery you might actually be able to refuse the brokerage and clear the package through customs yourself. This just takes you a bit of your time.

A friend of mine once had to pay UPS $80 extra for a book that only cost $70.