just wanted to inform everyone on a huge misconception in regards to shipping to Canada from the United States. I’ve made a ton of deals this summer, and here and there, I get the “I don’t want to ship to Canada because the tracking stops at the border, so its risky”
I got the solution for yall!
USPS does end its tracking feature at the border, but the tracking does still continue! Just input the tracking number at Canadapost.ca, and the door-to-door updates will all be there for you to safely ship your packages!
This works for tracking shit you buy out of the country as well. When it stops at that country with the tracker they give you, it start working with USPS. @stephneechan taught me this
Guaranteed most Americans just make up an excuse not to ship to Canada because they just don’t know how to/it’s easier and cheaper to ship within the US.
I thought, alright maybe it’s just way harder to ship to Canada from the States, than it is to ship to the States in Canada but then, I went to the national card show in Cleveland made a few deals, and decided to ship the product out to my fellow Canadians while I was in the states to see the process. Same thing, it took a minute, and it was cheap.
So i just don’t understand!
Another thing I notice is, a lot of collectors ship their cards in a box. I have no idea why. One card will be put in a huge box. All it does is increase the shipping costs. Why aren’t bubble mailers used more frequently? In sports, a 10k card will be shipping in a bubble mailer from anywhere
I think there’s a little more fear/lack of confidence in the shipping process in the pokemon community for whatever reason
This doesn’t only happen for Pokemon. The thing is US sellers kind of have that luxury as it’s the biggest market out there for pretty much every hobby.
I’m in Canada, I know I can’t limit my buyer pool to Canada as were most likely less than 5%.
Hell, even Canadians on Kijiji are sometimes scared to ship to me even through PayPal G&S with tracking, insurance, signature, etc…
By the way, packages do go missing at customs or tracking stops updating. Some people just don’t want to deal with it even if it only happens 1-2% of the time.
but i’m certain the rate isn’t 1-2% of the time… it really is the exception more than the rule
I’ve probably completed upwards of 1000 shipments to the states without 1 missing yet/ or even a simple issue with cards, and have overseen thousands of transactions in my role as a facilitator in a large sports group ( any issues come to me)
Literally, in two years, not even 1 package has gone missing when sent with tracking, so I guess I’m just the opposite of a cynic when it comes to shipping
There have been times where mail has been slow although… but it really does always show up
And I brought this up here, because the fear of shipping to Canada was only noticeable when I came into Pokemon. Has never been a problem outside of ebay in my other endeavours, which is what sparked my curiosity
Cards I have no issue shipping to Canada. Anything else is a nightmare.
I sold a 2 lb item and it cost $40 to ship to Canada. Buyers want to pay exact shipping and not a penny more. They dont factor that eBay charges 10% so the seller has to cough up $4 more. Then PayPal charges their fee then shipping supplies, quickly runs up to $12+ that the seller has to pay because buyers want to pay exact shipping…
Then I think you’re using the wrong shipping method. First class packages by USPS shipped to Canada (& internationally) up to 4lb cost about $10. This includes tracking as well. This is a safe method that you can ship a lot of cards with as 4 lbs is quite a lot for pokemon cards. This would also make buying much easier for Canadians if everyone offered this as an option instead of the $30-$40 I always see on ebay and through GSP. But again, I just don’t think enough American sellers care to try/research this to bother shipping outside USA.
I had very large dealers only wanting to offer FedEx or UPS which is $40-50… It’s quite ridiculous when USPS offer the same services for a fraction of the price. I don’t understand it. I know that these carriers have special customs clearance so it’s maybe slightly less risky, but it’s just not worth paying that much.
What’s ironic is their US buyers probably complain if charged more than $4-5 yet we’re expected to pay 10x that much.
I’m also talking low value items. If it’s 4-5 figures I’ll pay whatever the shipping cost the seller feels safe with.
I’ve had jordan PSA 10s shipped usps first class mail with tracking- I’m personally not even worried for a second… furthermore, I have not heard of one successful insurance coverage story yet … for whatever reason, the only time i’ve even heard of a high priced item go missing in the mail was one where there was heavy insurance, and correct declaration, high cost… my buddy got ziltch out of his loss, coverage was for 10,000, took him over 7 months to receive 1,000
Obviously, my confidence in regular first class with tracking won’t be the same for everyone - but it is food for thought… I just think the risk is so minimal that outside of some trophy cards, and PSA 10 1st editions perhaps, it should never even be an issue
