For those of you that have ordered parts from a US company, were you able to have it shipped to a US post office (or some other location in Washington), so that you can bring it across the border yourself?

I'm not talking about having it shipped to a private address, but rather to some public location.

 

i live in tsawwassen, so this is perfect for me,

address:

Your Name
145 Tyee Drive,
Point Roberts,
WA 98281

costs 1.85 US for small to medium weight packages.. slightly more for the big boys... and thats it.... its on the right hand side of the road... about 100+ feet after the border crossing...

 

There is another place in Point Roberts as well:

TSB Shipping Plus

Your name
1574 Gulf Road
Point Roberts, WA 98281
your phone number

 

Also a place in Blaine if that is better.
Blaine Enterprises.

 

What's the advantage to this? Are there companies that still don't ship to Canada? Is there time saved somehow? Or is this just a way of shirking the GST?

Sounds like a wierd thing for so many businesses to have systems for. Although I guess it's similar to US-residents buying perscriptions by mail from Mexico or Canada.

 

You still pay GST, but you don't pay brokerage fees to bring the goods across the boarder.

Brokerage fees are (usually) free if it's under $20. UPS charges a crapload for brokerage. Also shipping costs are lower, much lower shipping to the states.


Ie: (before I shipped to TSB) I ordered a set of SLP take-off shocks and springs for my Z. $40 US. I can't remember how much shipping was (I think it was close to $40 to Canada). UPS charged me another $30 in brokerage fees, plus another $5 in taxes.

Through TSB it would have been $40 US plus maybe $20 in shipping, and $5 in taxes.

 

I ordered new JL Audio amps, speakers and sub from a discount company on-line from the states. The stuff would have cost me $3,500.00 plus tax at A+B Sound making it four grand. It cost me $1,600.00 US plus exchange that day made it around $2,160.00. No problem there but the brokerage fee was $680.00 canadian. I know why they call them brokerage fees, cause they leave you broke. I still saved over a grand on this deal. I'll be getting the Alpine IVA-D900 multimedia dvd screen for the dash up here incase I have a problem with it. My buddy already had a dvd stuck in his but it's fixed now.

 

there is one about 1 min across the sumas boader called package express, your first package is free and each time after that it is 3.00 .

Package Express

that s where i went to get my clutch and it cost me zero dollars cause it was my first shipping and it was 65 pounds.

 

Many thanks to everyone for their responses, it's much appreciated!