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  • Friday deals: no deal for international customers
2014/08/08 05:37:07
burkek
Seriously ... a t-shirt for $14.99 and then $35 to ship it across the border to Canada. What are you thinking Cakewalk? Most every other American company I've dealt with has reasonable shipping rates, but you? Nope. Time to revisit shipping - or offer your "deals" to Americans only.
 
KEv
2014/08/08 07:39:18
Beepster
Wow. That's crazy! I used to do a lot of cross border shipping with US customers in my old job and USPS is DIRT cheap to send stuff. A T-Shirt would be no more than ten bucks (probably more like $7 if it was tightly packed). Add in 14% HST (or whatever it is in your province) and that does not come near $35.
 
Maybe they are sending it FedEx or something.
 
Now if they were using Canada Post... then yeah it gets pretty damned pricey. Those buggers are out of control!
2014/08/08 07:40:56
Beepster
Ah... you're in Newcastle so yeah it would be 14%. However Cake wouldn't charge that I don't think. It would be customs IIRC.
 
2014/08/08 10:27:38
burkek
HST (13% in Ontario) and (possibly) duty would be charged after the product arrived in Canada. What they should be doing is shipping by USPS which then gets delivered by Canada Post. A $7 charge for that would be reasonable. A courier service is not required. It's overkill. Charging over twice the product value for shipping and handling means no sale to me, and I would suspect most international customers. They've been gouging potential customers in this same way for years. This is not the first time I've complained.
 
KEv
2014/08/08 11:28:29
Beepster
Another thing that may be happening is Cakewalk isn't actually shipping these themselves. They may have a deal with the screenprinters who have their own distribution methods and policies and the shirts are being sent from there.
 
Being familiar with this type of cross border stuff the common reason I've heard over and over again as to why sellers in the US insist on using couriers is because Canada Post is NOTORIOUS for having packages from the US or elsewhere simply disappear for weeks/months and sometimes YEARS (yes I had that last one happen a couple times). USPS also has really good tracking for packages even for their regular post stuff but as soon as it hits the Canadian border those tracking numbers become useless because CP does not even acknowledge the USPS system.
 
What happens is the seller ships off an item, it gets to the border (which shows up in tracking) then it will say "in customs" or something then nothing. A week or so goes by and even a patient customer will begin to get antsy and contact the seller who assures them it was sent and gives them the tracking number (which simply shows it reached the border). Most of the time it will show up a little while later but with quite regular frequency it won't and the customer demands a refund or a replacement. The seller will oblige (begrudgingly) or they won't (which ticks off their customer) so they either have lost money in extra shipping or lost a potential return customer (who may tell their friends not to buy from them). If the seller sent another item then the customer may or may no get that one and then the other one shows up so now they have two. Then they contact the seller (if they are honest) to send it back or whatever and someone ends up having to pay for the return shipping or the seller will have to just eat the loss and say keep it (which many times is more cost effective for low cost items).
 
So that's just a couple scenarios but as a business person you can see how that gets REALLY tiresome and costly after a while. With the couriers they totally rape you on fees but they get the job done, provide elaborate tracking on BOTH sides of the border AND they are accountable if something goes missing or is late.
 
I'm in Canada so I had the other end of all this which I won't get into but I used to ALWAYS tell our US customers they had to wait at least two weeks for delivery... even if they were RIGHT across the border. Overseas customers were told they had to wait 8 weeks and even then a lot of the times that was a low estimate especially to places like China.
 
So what I would say is get a hold of Cakewalk and ask them to send it USPS (if they are indeed shipping it themselves) and tell them you don't care if it takes a little longer.
 
Another factor to consider is the "handling" part of "shipping and handling". Someone does need to get paid to pack the thing and drag it down to the post office or wherever it needs to be sent from. It does indeed cost money... just not as much as many sellers claim.
 
Food for thought.
2014/08/08 12:11:00
jbow
Road trip!!
 
Lobster and Tee.
 
J
2014/08/08 12:27:23
Beepster
I've always had a bit of a fascination with Boston. Never been and really aside from some of the patriotic history stuff I don't know much about it.
 
I think it's the accent. Girls with Bostonian accents make my dinglies tingly for some reason.
2014/08/08 14:54:54
ampfixer
I regularly have small packages shipped from Arizona and New Mexico. Typical USPS rate for a T shirt from there to me in Ontario is $14.95
 
Imports from the US handled by the USPS will have CDN customs, duties and HST included. THis is supposed to make things move faster and they promise if there's an over payment they will refund the balance. I'm still waiting. Free trade is BS and only designed to help people working at the corporate level. The little guy sees nothing.
\
Ps. NEVER use UPS because they will heap on a HUGE brokerage fee.
2014/08/08 15:25:29
Kalle Rantaaho
These shipping things are weird. I never look at US sites anymore when looking for something, because of the dozens of times of bumping into a product I'd like, but
- no shipping outside US or Canada
- Outrageous shipping costs
 
At least partly, the customs and tax bureaucracy do serve as excuse, though.
 
I don't understand how so many net shops (in Europe) are able to ship the goods from other countries via UPS or DHL much cheaper than via normal mail. I just ordered two batteries for my screwdriver, and the delivery by UPS from outside of Finland was 2.95€!!
Finland is a sparsely inhabited country, and for that price you couldn't get a door-to-door delivery for any kind of package. Practically all packages (of private customers) are fetched from the post offices, no-one pays for door-to-door, as it's so expensive. It costs 16€ for a package of 2 kg max, and even a 250g letter costs 5€.
2014/08/08 15:47:01
Beepster
ampfixer
I regularly have small packages shipped from Arizona and New Mexico. Typical USPS rate for a T shirt from there to me in Ontario is $14.95
 
Imports from the US handled by the USPS will have CDN customs, duties and HST included. THis is supposed to make things move faster and they promise if there's an over payment they will refund the balance. I'm still waiting. Free trade is BS and only designed to help people working at the corporate level. The little guy sees nothing.
\
Ps. NEVER use UPS because they will heap on a HUGE brokerage fee.




That seems like a lot but I've been out of the shipping game for a while. What you want for something like a T-Shirt is a "Small Packet" (that's the Canucker term... I forget if the US calls them that too but it is dimension based) which must fit within certain dimensions so if they are sending it in a box that is beyond  those dimensions just so the shirt doesn't get wrinkled or whatever it can cost WAY more. Cram that bugger into a smaller box or envelope and your golden (but the envelope can't be too fat either).
 
I agree... we all got burned on the NAFTA crap... severely. Even the ones who stood to benefit the most (Mexico) got burned. They are able to build a "middle class" off of it but is essentially a third world middle class... not a 1st world one. Even at THAT the bleeping mofos raking in the cash are outsourcing jobs from THERE. So... I guess welcome to 1st world problems, Mexico.... kind of.
 
lol... you gotta laugh or you'll cry.
 
But that is approaching politics so I'll meandering off and fold some socks.
 
At least I have clean socks. Yes. A man can always feel better about life, despite the woes of the world, if he has clean socks.
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