I HATE Canada Post

[Mumps]

Originally Posted by jourdo

I am sending a FE Cliffjumper to someone down in the US. He asked if I could ship it loose to cut down on costs. So a box not much bigger than the figure itself still will cost almost $19 with tracking. That sucks.

Yeah, I am shipping some very small items, roughly the weight and size of the FE Cliffy, and expedited shipping to the US is $19-20. Urgh... Good thing I am selling these Kamen Rider Astro Switches for cheap.

[brr-icy]

Get a venture one card, saves 10% roughly internationally, and a bunch in canada

[jourdo]

Well this is new...

I was dropping the package off at the post office and filling out the customs stuff when I come across a new checkbox. It asks what I want done with the package if it is undeliverable: return it at my expense or abandon it. I chose to leave it blank, but the postie made me choose one. I didn't want to get into an argument over something so stupid.

So now, not only are you being charged to send it... But you also get to pay to get it returned if the don't deliver it.

Awesome system CP! The way they talk, they are just preparing you for the package to get lost right off the bat.

[chuchupika]

Any reliable and cheap shipping other than Canada Post?

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by brr-icy

Get a venture one card, saves 10% roughly internationally, and a bunch in canada

I thought you needed to qualify as a small business owner/operator to get one of those?

Originally Posted by jourdo

Well this is new...

I was dropping the package off at the post office and filling out the customs stuff when I come across a new checkbox. It asks what I want done with the package if it is undeliverable: return it at my expense or abandon it. I chose to leave it blank, but the postie made me choose one. I didn't want to get into an argument over something so stupid.

So now, not only are you being charged to send it... But you also get to pay to get it returned if the don't deliver it.

Awesome system CP! The way they talk, they are just preparing you for the package to get lost right off the bat.

Pretty much. Also for your own good, don't read into what "coverage for 100 dollars" means because after spending 2 hours on the website, all I gathered was 101 ways that they're not liable for anything.


Seriously though, that must be a new thing because I've never seen that field on the forms I've gone though, and I'm always really anal when it comes to filling shit out, even when the people at the counter tell me that I can leave it blank.

In either case (and this goes back to the 14 grams thing or whatever), your best friend really is learning how to get the most our of each price bracket (do lots of esimates online with sizes & weights), and having a scale doesn't hurt. Like, the one I have is pretty shitty (it's just an old baking one that my mom gave me, or rather that I took & havent given back yet), but at least it gives me a rough idea of whether or not I'm close to getting shafted like the OP was, and yeah. I've never had issues & the people at my local depo are great, so I'm gonna keep my bitching to a minimum hah.

[TFtoys]

Originally Posted by Nomad

I thought you needed to qualify as a small business owner/operator to get one of those?

we could ask Automation Toys how they can have their shipping as flat rate to send across the countries as operating a small business. Not necessary just selling toys. I assumed those are like private deliverying company deal ? not from the Canada Post? but if your comany is as big as Futureshop, you could have work out deal with Canadapost for flat rate or free shipping ?
Toysrus.ca seem to use private delivery company as well ?

Originally Posted by UltraMarknus

I cringe every time I have to ship to Manitoba, Sask, Alberta and BC. Its cheaper to ship to Hawaii than outside your own Province. It's laughable how flawed CP rates are.

yeah, and they automatically add the tracking number that you can not negociate with the set price. I assumed without tracking number within Canada would be cheaper but they don't have this option. WTF?. Hence, small parcel to ship to US would be cheaper without shipping confirmation.

Originally Posted by jourdo

I am sending a FE Cliffjumper to someone down in the US. He asked if I could ship it loose to cut down on costs. So a box not much bigger than the figure itself still will cost almost $19 with tracking. That sucks.

or desemble it like arms and legs seperated like a trading figures...to fit in a even smaller box.

[pud333]

Originally Posted by Nomad

I thought you needed to qualify as a small business owner/operator to get one of those?

I asked that when the guy at the post office told me to get one, and he said no. He said if you're selling on ebay, you could qualify. I still haven't bothered, but I probably should since I sell so much there.

[Nomad]

I guess having an ebay account would qualify anyone as a busness owner (didn't think of that hah), so its something I'll look into in the future, especially if I don't need to net a certain amount each year to retain my card or whatever.

Also about Cliffjumper being taken apart, the prices will actually go up if you try & send something in a box that's overly small, so your best bet in regards to cost would be to find or cut your own box that's something like 7x4x4 & send it loose with bubblewrap & whatnot holding it secure. I don't think you'll be able to spend less than 20 dollars from the tracking options, but just try things out with the online calculator. If you can get it to being half a pound or less then you might get lucky, but I always estimate using 1 or even 1.5 because I've been burned before & ended up having to pay more than I quoted.

Just be straight up about how much you think shipping will be, tell them the higher & lower amounts that you think it'll end up being, and then say that you'll refund the diffy if you get lucky with the cheaper one.

Anything small enough that an alt mode deluxe won't fit in will just cost more because of a special care clause (I've made this mistake before, and had the postal lady not offered to put it into an envelope, I'd have had to pay more than double or repack it), meaning that you'll be spending more & sending something in a box that's more likely to get stepped on.

[sushicake]

That's you ship expedited, I can ship a parcel 4 feet long and weigh 20ish pounds send it to vancouver for under $30.

[cannabisprime]

For the record, you can just make up a business name and register for that Venture One card; mine was registered under "My Name, Ebay Sales".
As for shipping, using the Venture One card automatically upgrades your parcels from Regular Mail/Parcel to Expedited so the (ever slightly) reduced price also includes a tracking number as well. The savings overall aren't really that much, but they are savings nonetheless I suppose.