Spots and Canadian Shipping

[caramia]

So I know that shipping to Canada is a pain yer butts. For serious, I shipped a lot of fluff south of the border I get it. But did I miss something in the last year (when I haven't been actively shopping for cloth) because Spot's used to be one of my favourite places to buy crap and now every listing I am interested in says US shipping only. Has

Comments

[autumn_fading]

I generally won't ship outside of the US because:

A) To ship internationally, you HAVE to take the package to the post office while it is open. I work full time and it's really tough or impossible for me to get to the post office during the hours that they are open.

B) Unless you pay insane prices for International Priority mail, you don't get any delivery confirmation number. That means that if the buyer opens a dispute with Paypal, they will automatically win because you can't prove that it was sent and they got it. Having the receipt from mailing it isn't good enough for Paypal, you have to have delivery confirmation or they will side with the buyer. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of cases of sellers getting screwed because of this, and it's just not worth the risk to me.

Basically, blame the US Postal Service and Paypal for people not wanting to ship outside of the US. Sorry. :(

[bungalow10]

this.

My PO (small town USA) is only open from some ridiculous 9am-11am, closed 11am-1:30pm, and then open 1:30-3:30 or some crazy shit like that... so getting there is pretty much impossible for me, who leaves at 7am for work and gets home at 5pm.

Even if I work from home that day, those hours are tough with two little kids and conference calls to work around.

[mrs__smith]

Yup, I second the issue with not getting a DC unless you pay exorbitant International Priority mail prices. It's just too much cost and risk. And taking my kids to to stand in line at the PO is a big ol PITA.

[deliciouspear]

Word. I will only ship to Canadians who I've already successfully shipped to in the past. Even then, even with tracking, it's still a huge pain. For example, something that I shipped in NOVEMBER is still sitting in the sort facility in Mississauga - and I was shipping it from Seattle to Vancouver. WTF Canadian post?!?

[barbles]

I think it depends on the person. I work 5-6 days a week from before the PO opens til after it is closed. I'll ship to Canada if the buyer wants to pony up for priority shipping through paypal to Canada so that I can print a label and drop it in the box. I just can't make it to the PO to stand in line anymore.

[mizzy]

I haven't had any issues, but I know a lot of sellers who get screwed over because unless you pay for internation Priority (super expensive) you can not get DC. And if you send it air mail, it can take up to 6 weeks for it to arrive. So you if you get an impatient momma who files a paypal claim after 4 weeks, they win because you have no recourse AND then the item shows up (lets say)do you really think they will give the money back?

Like I said i havent had any issues and all my items have made it, and believe me i have sold a lot of items to Canada, so i will continue to ship there, but one bad transaction and i probably wont do it again.

[aithyne]

This, except we had our one bad transaction and now I'm US only.

[marsgirl_73]

I'll ship to Canada in some situations-- usually if either a) the buyer pays priority; or b) if it's someone in the LJ cloth community or someone that I have shipped to or received items from in the past (so I "know" them). Other than that, I tend to be leery because of the lack of DC.

[harinakshi]

I used to ship to Canada but