Shipping to Canada thru USPS

[Former_Member]

I recently shipped a package to Canada(from USA) thru USPS First class international, it's been 3 weeks and my customer still haven't received it yet. Has anyone experienced problems with USPS international shipping?

Also for those of you that ships regularly from US to Canada, what is the best option? I considered Prority MaIl but it seems so expensive.

[CozyDawg]

My packages to Canada sometimes take around three weeks for delivery. I've heard that customs cans be hit or miss.

[GoTo]

3 weeks to Canada isn't unusual. Unless the buyer is out in the wilderness, Customs is the delay in getting the package delivered and Priority Mail doesn't travel faster than First Class once the package is outside the USA.

Have you tried putting the customs form number into USPS or Canada Post for tracking?

[GoTo]

And right after I post that I check the tracking for a package I sent. 3 days--delivered in Canada via First Class Mail. But my item package was below the duty free amount so it just sailed through without customs inspection I bet. (Canada has a low threshold.)

[MalibuJewel]

I have had a package to Canada take 5 weeks. And a package to Toronto that never arrived. Now I send all of my international packages registered which adds $13 or $14 but allows my customers (and me) to track them.

[GoTo]

MalibuJewel--are you doing that just for the tracking? First Class is trackable in many countries now and packages go missing pretty rarely.

If you're just worried about loss, you'd be better off buying the insurance offered here during checkout (about $1.35 per $100), or even just self-insuring--where you just add a little to the price of shipping and put it in a jar. When a package goes missing, you use the money in the jar to cover the loss. (For help figuring out how much to add on: http://www.gotogreatpanes.com/blog/2012/10/17/what-is-self-insurance ).

[Former_Member]

Thank you all for the advice! The package finally arrived. It was about 3 weeks from ship date to received date. I guess now I get a better idea on how long it takes to ship to Canada.

I did pay for USPS tracking, but it didn't really help much as the updates were not coming thru often enough.

I am going to consider UPS shipping for the future. It just seem saver and faster that way even though it's more expensive.

[GoTo]

You're welcome! I find that most international customers understand that there can be delays and that tracking can be spotty.

If you ship UPS (or FedEx) internationally, you'll either want to pay for one of the express services that includes brokerage fees or alert your customers which company you ship through and let them know there will be additional fees for picking up their packages. If you don't, you might end up with unhappy customers--see my post here for more on that:

https://www.etsy.com/teams/7421/international-shipping/discuss/11756190/