Mike,

Depends on what you are shipping...

I live in Canada and here are my thoughts from my experience...

Definitely use USPS to avoid the buyer receiving brokerage fees which are totally outrageous...Courier companies such as UPS, Fedex, etc. are automatically subject to duty and tax because they HAVE to clear customs before entering the country...By using USPS, there is alot less "red tape" for the package to go through at the border, so, it is normally cheaper for the buyer...

USPS Flat rate shipping is great for smaller items such as parts, badges, etc...For larger items, I`m sure someone will chime in because I`m not sure what is the best method to use...I know USPS has limits on size...

Hope this helps...

Cheers

No "handling" fee with USPS, unlike Fedex or UPS. More size limits with USPS though.

USPS did have a recent price increase. But with priority mail delivery confirmation tracking is now included and not a extra 85 cents like it was. Not sure how much rates have increased though. My son ships guitars all over the world and uses USPS all the time. The weight limit used to be 99 lbs when I shipped a lot of vintage engine parts. Not sure what the max package size is sorry. Hopefully someone will know that for you. :)

I have some cymbals to ship there the box is 26x24x5 5 cymbals 30 lbs i will try usps I know i will still have to fill out customs and to protect myself in the event they are lost or damaged i have to declare a value close to what is real and does that no hurt the buyer? thanks for the replies..

For insurance purposes, you will want to declare what the cymbals are worth (what you sold them for)...If they ever did get damaged or lost, they will only reimburse you the amount declared on the customs form...

If the package does happen to get "flagged" by customs, then the recipient will have to pay taxes on the declared value...I don`t believe there is duty on used cymbals...

Cheers

Ok thanks,

U.S.P.S. 1st class for small part's and drums snare or toms no bigger that 10x14 or flat rite box-[over 4 pounds]- for bigger part's or cymbals are the way to go..I ship to Canada to a few guy's on this forum all the time and have never had a problem with shipping...

But thats to members that i have had many deals with..

New order's from guy's that i have not had deals with i dont ship to...Mikey

Mikey is absolutely right! Although I live in Canada, I don't think I would ship up here on a regular basis from the USA either. Our postal system leaves much to be desired. I have had items lost and packages that arrived were sometimes torn and damaged. On Friday, I sent out a small pillow ( 10x10 inches) to a location here in Ontario, just a few hours away. I bought the Angry Birds pillow in Mexico for my spouse's young grandson. With the cost of the package, insurance, taxes and a fuel surcharge, it cost $22.00 to ship an item that only weighed a few ounces! People who have shipped items to me from our Forum deserve a huge thank you! Your willingness to go through all of the hassle and expense is greatly appreciated regardless of the means chosen to ship.

Brian

Brian

I live in Canada and have bought a lot of drums and parts over the last few years from people in the USA. I found USPS to be the best choice - other services like UPS and FedEx are often faster but they are a lot more expensive.....usually. Having said that......USPS does have a fast service too, but their regular mail service is very good to Canada. If Canada Customs look at the package (it's on a random basis) they do charge for that and I pay at this end.

If whomever you are sending the package to....from the USA to Canada....and they have reasonable access to the Boarder...there are businesses that accumulate mail/parcels and the Canadian recipiants can use that service to have mail sent to. For example:

I have mail sent to Blaine Wa. USA. That address is connected to my Paypal account as well as my home address - I just switch the USA address to my 'primary' address on eBay when I bid on something in the USA. The Blaine warehouse charges peanuts for the service - they make their money on volume. I picked up 16 parcels at one time before Christmas. This mail had been accumulating for months. They charge between $3 and $6 per package. They only charged me $40. I wait until I have lots of mail to make the trip across the line worth while. I will use one package as a further example: I bought a bass drum from a Forum member in the USA. That drum was going to be over $300 to get it to me here in Nanaimo BC via USPS...the cheapest way to send it. It was around $50 I seem to remember to send it to Blaine. My return trip on BC Ferry service was $120 plus some gas. I saved over $100 on that package alone.

If you're in Canada and live close to the boarder it's worth checking these mail service out.