I am going to be shipping a few boxes of my personal belongings to my fiancee in the next couple of months. Does anyone have personal experience and advice to give me on this? I know I have to fill out a detailed customs slip listing every item inside the box. I have alot of misc things from clothes, my original artwork, jewelry, DVD's.... How am I supposed to list the value of all this stuff? It's my personal stuff so it doesn't have any value right? I'm just confused on the Customs thing and how to fill it out. Will they open the boxes I will be sending?
write on the slip no commercial value, gifts.
I suggest you use a courier. The Canadian postal service is famous for "losing" packages.
Brad and I used to send gifts to each other and lost two because of the Postal service.
I used to hate having to list the contents on the outside of the package. I wanted my gifts to be a surprise! Listing what he was getting on the outside of the package made it kinda anti climactic opening a present. I didn't know that you could write "gifts". That would have been nice to know :P.
(08-06-2011 06:52 PM)Rene2 Wrote: [ -> ]I suggest you use a courier. The Canadian postal service is famous for "losing" packages.
Brad and I used to send gifts to each other and lost two because of the Postal service.
I used to hate having to list the contents on the outside of the package. I wanted my gifts to be a surprise! Listing what he was getting on the outside of the package made it kinda anti climactic opening a present. I didn't know that you could write "gifts". That would have been nice to know :P.
Greyhound Canada is another option
http://www.greyhound.ca/home/
By courier, you mean like FedEx or UPS right? Hmm, I have never actually used one of these before, but I think it's worth a shot to try it because I hate my local Post Office, the workers there are rude and always hassle me about filling out customs forms. I don't want Canadian post to lose my package either. Great suggestion Rene, really appreciated. I guess I am going to try FedEx or something like that. I am still not sure on what to write about my stuff on the customs slip, the stuff has no value, and they are not gifts, they are my personal belongings, so I am still not sure what to write. I guess I could write gifts? Hmmmm... I'll try that and hope for the best.
And I know what you mean Rene, I hated having to list what was inside the package I sent Marc for Xmas, totally spoiled the surprise! :(
Just be careful with UPS. Friends of mine have gotten things shipped through UPS and they charge a fee when they get to the door for bringing it to Canada or something. It isn't duty, just a UPS fee.
Luke
(08-07-2011 05:14 AM)RocknRollGeisha Wrote: [ -> ]By courier, you mean like FedEx or UPS right? Hmm, I have never actually used one of these before, but I think it's worth a shot to try it because I hate my local Post Office, the workers there are rude and always hassle me about filling out customs forms. I don't want Canadian post to lose my package either. Great suggestion Rene, really appreciated. I guess I am going to try FedEx or something like that. I am still not sure on what to write about my stuff on the customs slip, the stuff has no value, and they are not gifts, they are my personal belongings, so I am still not sure what to write. I guess I could write gifts? Hmmmm... I'll try that and hope for the best.
And I know what you mean Rene, I hated having to list what was inside the package I sent Marc for Xmas, totally spoiled the surprise! :(
Ive never heard of a delivery fee, only customes fees.
I also notice that whenever I have UPS ship to me in Canada, there is an extra COD cost. I have had good luck using the USPS/Canada Post myself.
(08-09-2011 06:05 PM)JackieK Wrote: [ -> ]I also notice that whenever I have UPS ship to me in Canada, there is an extra COD cost. I have had good luck using the USPS/Canada Post myself.
That's because UPS has its own fee for sending cross border.
I just asked my brother in law about the UPS fee (he has been stung by it a few times). He said it is a 'brokerage fee'. He said sometimes he has been charged it, and other times he has not. It seems to depend on the size and value of the package.
I also have had good luck with USPS/Canada Post (they also seem to be the cheapest)
Luke
Thank you so much guys for the info and suggestions. I am still wondering what to put on the customs form about my belongings though? You guys that have had experience sending your personal belongings, what did you guys put on the customs form? Gifts? My stuff doesn't have any value, its all my used clothes and personal belongings, so still confused on what to say about my stuff.
I shipped 33 footlocker sized boxes, usps parcel post. It cost $1000, and everything arrived just fine. I put everything on the customs forms, and put down "personal possessions" as what. They didn't hit me with a single customs fee. They also got here much faster than I thought they would. I sent a couple of smaller packages with important stuff by air mail, and the parcel post got here quicker because they opened the air mail, and only opened two of the big boxes. I had only two things that broke in the boxes, and both were really my fault. I got tired towards the end, and didn't wrap a couple of things properly.
Thanks Catherine. I will list everything inside the boxes I plan to ship and list them as personal possessions. I guess I will try the USPS afterall. Thanks alot for the advice, Gonna ship box of my stuff Monday now!
coloradoluke is right...
Thats happen to me.. I bought a christmas gift for my boyfriend. I payed canadian shipping costs to have it shipped and payed an extra fee to have it shipped right away... I had marked it as a gift, had a personal message sent with it... and he never got the message, was never sent as a gift and they charged him full shipping at the door...
I called the company "web site".. they apologized, and they sent me a refund check for the shipping... but then I had it cashed then sent to my boyfriend in canada to repay him for having to pay for all the shippping.. was like $60.. Very disapointing