Shipping to Canada

[BruceF]

So I just priced out an awesome Ice Tube Clock kit, Hakko iron and a bunch of other stuff ($330, 11 lbs) and I see I have one shipment option to Canada. USPS Express Mail International, $78.

Seriously, that's my only option?

Do any Canadians here (assuming we haven't all been scared away by shipping costs) use US drop-box services? If so, how well does that work with customs & all?

[adafruit]

So I just priced out an awesome Ice Tube Clock kit, Hakko iron and a bunch of other stuff ($330, 11 lbs) and I see I have one shipment option to Canada. USPS Express Mail International, $78.

Seriously, that's my only option?

Do any Canadians here (assuming we haven't all been scared away by shipping costs) use US drop-box services? If so, how well does that work with customs & all?

hi bruce,

that's the only option at this time - we'll have other options in the future for high price / large packages but $78 for 11lbs is pretty good.

thanks,
adafruit

[Len17]

Shipping is expensive for heavy or large packages, but for smaller orders I find USPS First class international works well. It's non-trackable but I haven't had any problems or extra customs charges. (I've ordered from adafruit several times.)

You might try ordering the Hakko iron and other heavy stuff from a Canadian source. I'm not sure if it would be cheaper overall - adafruit's Hakko price is quite good considering the current state of the dollar.

[BruceF]

Ah, I see. If I get my weight down I can reduce my shipping cost with first class mail. Excellent. Now I just need to see if I can get decent solder/test equipment from Canada for less than ultra-pricey shipping from Adafruit. I'll get my clock kit one way or another...

Thanks everyone for the help.

[BruceF]

Just to complete the cycle... I took Len17's advice and cut the package down to regular shipping weight. It arrived in a week for less than $15 shipping and insurance, which was pretty good I thought. The key thing is that there were no surprise customs charges.

I considered just paying for expedited shipping to get everything from adafruit, but it's been my experience that when you ship something into Canada by air there's some sort of 'kick me' flag that gets set in some customs computer somewhere and they start assessing you random extra duties. The risk of doubling my total purchase price was simply not that appealing.

I know you folks are busy down there, and I'm sure we'd all rather see you developing new products rather than getting bogged down in fulfillment issues. But if you ever do find yourself tinkering with international shipping options, ground shipping of larger packages to Canada would be awesome.

[adafruit]

Thanks for the note. We're working on finding a good solution that doesn't end up with Canadian's being punished with large brokerage fees

[majordecibel]

+1

There are some sweet kits and the community/tutorials at Adafruit are great, but for Canadians this would definitely be a big plus (full disclosure I haven't purchased a kit here before - I was afraid of the shipping) - Mouser has a flat rate (predictable, yay!), and something like that would be awesome. I've seen my order double too many times.

edit: Actually, I saw some pretty sweet stuff I had to buy last night, so I had to buy. Using the USPS First-Class Mail International and crossing my fingers

[Verris]

Just got my order today. Order was $160 and shipped on the 14th. Had to pay GST and customs handling fee on delivery, came out to $24 for hst and $9 or so for the customs fee.

[Ving31]

Hey, I was about to purchase a grey MLG logo hoodie and when I got to the checkout it said there were no carriers that could ship to my address in Canada. I was wondering if there was any way I could get one shipped up here.

[adafruit]

Hey, I was about to purchase a grey MLG logo hoodie and when I got to the checkout it said there were no carriers that could ship to my address in Canada. I was wondering if there was any way I could get one shipped up here.

hi! we do not sell MLG logo hoodies, were you at the adafruit store?

thanks,
adafruit