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cwbashaw · 02-20-2008, 05:31 AM

I'm working out a bike trade with someone in Canada, and I'm in the US. I have never shipped a complete bike to Canada before.
Does anyone have Any advice on how to ship it as smooth and cheap as possible?

I'm mostly worried about either bike getting held up in customs. and also need to know what fees we need to expect when shipping.

eastside · 02-20-2008, 06:53 AM

I think Fed Ex has great costs. Thats who I usually use. Cheaper than UPS....or try DHL

va_tick · 02-20-2008, 07:34 AM

I used fedex to ship a complete bike to Can and I think it cost around $50, they were the cheapest. Keep the customs total under $500 and niether party should have to pay duties.........good luck! Its really easy!!

Tanner · 02-20-2008, 09:10 AM

UPS ships by the girth of the package (wow that sounds dirty), so you'll get fucked on shipping a bike box. Of course, do what I do to save money, cut the box up the smallest it can be and then ship. Once saved $20 from shipping just by cutting an inch off the dimensions of the box. Whatever works, I guess.

Giant1118 · 02-20-2008, 01:12 PM

use USPS to ship yer bike and Canada Post on his end, the duties with fed ex, dhl, ups are fucking gay.

/thread

kobrakai · 02-20-2008, 01:15 PM

or you could pay me teh gas dorrahs....

rndm*dv8n · 02-20-2008, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giant1118

use USPS to ship yer bike and Canada Post on his end, the duties with fed ex, dhl, ups are fucking gay.

/thread

Yes, USPS/Canada Post is best. But they have size restrictions so put the bike in one box and the wheels in another. On the customs form label as gift.

Fedex, DHL, and ups have their own brokerage fees that they charge. What they've started doing is not charging it right away, but sending you a bill in the mail a month or two afterward.

Rodmunch · 02-20-2008, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rndm*dv8n

Fedex, DHL, and ups have their own brokerage fees that they charge. What they've started doing is not charging it right away, but sending you a bill in the mail a month or two afterward.

Yup, don't go with them. I mailed some tires (foldup in a fairly small box) to some guy in Canada. I said they were worth $50. A couple months later I got a bill from FedEx for $25 customs/brokerage fee. I was like WTF? Apparently they billed the buyer first, but he refused to pay. So they went after me. I'm never shipping to Canada again.

**trialspads** · 02-20-2008, 07:49 PM

Don't trust DHL. Even if they are cheaper. I've had two places that warn me about DHL losing packages & mishandling them worse than UPS & FedEx.

trialsin usa · 02-20-2008, 08:33 PM

My experience with shipping to Canada (and visa versa):

1. If you use postal service: There are many things that the Canadian government does better than ours. However, the postal service is not one of them. I have had boxes take well over a month to arrive (shipped air, not surface!). If I ship a box via AIR to Australia or Japan or Latvia the same day as a package to Toronto (100 miles in a straight line), it will get to the other destinations first.......everytime. If that does not diswade you, the boxes for every country have maximum dimensional sizes (has nothing to do with weight).....above which the surcharges really ad up very fast. The dimensional size limitations do not work well with bike frames/wheels.
2. You can ship the bike by breaking it up into frame box and parts/wheels box. At the end of the day, the savings are nominal at best.
3. You can reduce duties by claiming a lower value than actual. Never had a problem with this, but it is a risk if the thing does go missing.... you will only be compensated for value you declared value.

Suggestion: Go to local bike shop, get a real bike box and ship via Fedex or UPS. Suck up the costs for peace of mind.

If you are both lucky, at least one of you lives reletively near the border and has a friend on the other side. Ship to that address, take a day to enjoy your neighbor to the south/north and go and physically pick it up.

va_tick · 02-20-2008, 09:27 PM

Dude, I shipped a bike to Canada via Fedex= no problems, no fees, less than $60, end of post!

Soapster887 · 02-21-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobrakai

or you could pay me teh gas dorrahs....

hehe.

rndm*dv8n · 02-22-2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by va_tick

Dude, I shipped a bike to Canada via Fedex= no problems, no fees, less than $60, end of post!

Have you asked the person you shipped it too if they had any extra fees, like a month or two afterward? That's happened to me.

With Fedex/ups the US shipper generally has no problems, but the Canadian shippee gets screwed.

cwbashaw · 02-22-2008, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobrakai

or you could pay me teh gas dorrahs....

Thanks for hooking this up Kai.
See you at the comp. If you are early give me a call and we'll get a beer.

Stikman · 02-25-2008, 03:52 PM

There was a lot of different ideas about shipping on here, what was the best solution??

I am looking at buying a bike in Denver and getting it sent to Brandon, Ontario in Canada.
Cheers for any help peeps

trialsin usa · 02-25-2008, 05:11 PM

Fedex or UPS International Ground.

Because you are charged by dimensional weight (size of box vrs the weight), take the bike apart. Put wheels/bars in one box and frame and remaining bits in another box. Try to make the boxes as small as possible.

There........practical, safe and least likely to have someone calling you on the phone with expletive right after the word "eh".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stikman

There was a lot of different ideas about shipping on here, what was the best solution??

I am looking at buying a bike in Denver and getting it sent to Brandon, Ontario in Canada.
Cheers for any help peeps

Stikman · 02-26-2008, 03:22 PM

Haha, cheers. I'm not shipping the bike. I will be the one in Canada going WTF mate!?

Will let the guy I'm buying off know about this though.

smudge · 02-26-2008, 04:13 PM

F UPS up the A!

I just sent a customers bike out to Baltimore...$107 shipping and insurance because of their dimensional weight policy. FedEx isn't much better. USPS has a limit of 108 inches total which is pretty easy to go over for a complete bike. I'm going to try DHL next.

Good Luck.

bwagner · 02-26-2008, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smudge

F UPS up the A!

I just sent a customers bike out to Baltimore...$107 shipping and insurance because of their dimensional weight policy. FedEx isn't much better. USPS has a limit of 108 inches total which is pretty easy to go over for a complete bike. I'm going to try DHL next.

Good Luck.

Damn Sean...thats bullshit!! I just shipped a bike to Chicago two hours ago, and it was $21.00 including insurance!! It'll be there by Thursday they told me. I used UPS too

StaggerLee · 02-27-2008, 04:53 AM

Quote:

I just sent a customers bike out to Baltimore...$107 shipping and insurance because of their dimensional weight policy. FedEx isn't much better. USPS has a limit of 108 inches total which is pretty easy to go over for a complete bike. I'm going to try DHL next.

Good Luck.

You got fucked!.............hard too........

cwbashaw · 02-27-2008, 04:57 AM

Whenever I ship complete bikes in the US I use Fedex.

I check the website and figure out the cost of shipping based on the box dimensions, then calculate if the box was a few inches shorter. Then I cut the box down. I have had shipping go from $100.00 down to 30 just by cutting down the boxes.

My biggest concern about shipping to Canada was hearing about the customs fees that people had to pay that are not expected/calculated.

Luckily I was able to make the trade at the comp last weekend (Thanks Kai) and avoided shipping all together.