Shipping cues from US to Canada

brechbt

brechbt

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a potential buyer for a cue; I'm in Chicago area, he's in Canada. I've never shipped a cue to Canada before. The cue has no ivory; the handle area is kingwood. Any potential issues with this shipment? I'm unwilling to mis-state the contents on the customs form. My concern is that Canadian Customs, seeing that the shipment is a pool cue, may open the package to inspect it. If that happens, risks multiply that the cue may not arrive intact. Another concern is a delay at customs leading to the cue being exposed to temperature/humidity variances.

With this type of shipment, who bears the risks--buyer or seller? I believe that legally the title passes when the package is handed off to a carrier, but I realize that in practice people may not see it that way.

Anyone with experience here, please chime in. Thanks.
 
I've sent a few cues to Canada, one took 2 months to get through customs and I used USPS. No ivory, just a normal pool cue.

Two times, the cue only took a week or so.

After the 2+ month ordeal, I don't find it worth the hassle to ship cues to Canada any longer. YMMV

Peace, JoeyK and it was a pleasure doing business with you!
 
supergreenman said:
Best advice I can give is to send it USPS insured. Absolutely do not send it UPS.
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I disagree to an extent, it depends on the value of the cue being shipped. If I bought a cue for $2000, I'd prefer to pay that extra $50 brokerage fee via UPS.

You shouldn't have any issues, so many packages go through customs that it's highly unlikely that it will be opened or compromised.
 
US Postal Service give great service be it to Cool, CA or China IMHO. Canada should be NO PROBLEM. Pack to with stand a War Zone, so it arrive in a Single PEACE. PVC Tubing or Postsl Cardboard Tube inside a U.S.P.S Triangle is what I use for Cues.
 
MOJOE said:
After the 2+ month ordeal, I don't find it worth the hassle to ship cues to Canada any longer. YMMV
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You probably lose sales by saying you won't ship to Canada. If I'm looking for a cue, I'll pay a bit more to buy from a bordering state like Ohio, Michigan, new York, minnesota etc.

The majority of the guys who buy cues on here from Canada, buy a LOT. Many collectors around this area for high end cues.
 
D_Lewis said:
You probably lose sales by saying you won't ship to Canada. If I'm looking for a cue, I'll pay a bit more to buy from a bordering state like Ohio, Michigan, new York, minnesota etc.

The majority of the guys who buy cues on here from Canada, buy a LOT. Many collectors around this area for high end cues.
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You are probably right.. I won't deny that. I should not let one bad incident keep me from shipping to Canada. Like I said, I only had the one issue but I felt so bad for the buyer and it was completely out of my hands..

That being said, it did eventually arrive unscathed. Customs just really took their sweet time on that one.
 
I appreciate all of the input, sincerely. However, only one responder stated that he actually had shipped cues to Canada, and he had a bad experience. Is there anyone else out there who can share some first-hand experience with this? Thanks.
 
I have bought many, many cues from US and those arrived just fine.
Make sure you get insurance and pay for tracking! In order to get a cue here the buyer will have to sign for it.
Once in a blue moon it takes longer but 1-2 weeks is normal depending how you ship it.
 
If your Canadian buyer is paying by PayPal, there is no USPS method that will result in directly online verifiable signature confirmation which is what you would need to win a charge back dispute.

Kevin
 
How does your customer want it sent?
Does he want it insured?

I always ask (DEMAND) that stuff from the U.S. be sent by U.S. Postal Service. Never had a problem. Only one vendor insisted that he would ship insured. To me, who was paying, it was a waste of money.

You can buy insurance from U.S.P.S.

Canadian Customs might inspect and levy duties and sales taxes and a $5.00 inspection fee to be paid by the customer. Canada Post gets a signature when you pay and take delivery.

It is a seamless transaction.

UPS is a pain. Basically, they hold the package for ransom - duties taxes and fat handling fees. And you can be sure that UPS packages are all inspected by Canadian Customs before delivery. If your customer uses it once, he will probably never use UPS again. :D

I ordered a snooker cue and hard case from the UK. Sailed through without inspection - No Duties, No Taxes, No Inspection Fee - Saved Much Money. The documentation showed the correct value.

I've had several other high value packages similarly ignored.

Seyberts is helpful - Description on a package was 'Pool Sample' with a nominal value of $10. :D
 
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I've had 4 cues shipped USPS over the last few years. All arrived between 7-10 days. I purchased from commercial sellers that knew how to properly package cues to avoid shipping damage. No problems.
 
I've sold 3 cues to Canadians this year so far,,,,,all 3 shipped USPS Express mail, and all 3 were held up several days in customs. All 3 buyers expected the delays, so there were no issues.
 
UPS has a decades-long history of problems shipping US-Canada.

i prefer them for most shipping, but never to Canada. any other form is preferable.
 
MOJOE said:
You are probably right.. I won't deny that. I should not let one bad incident keep me from shipping to Canada. Like I said, I only had the one issue but I felt so bad for the buyer and it was completely out of my hands..

That being said, it did eventually arrive unscathed. Customs just really took their sweet time on that one.
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did you happen to ship it during the postal strike? Cuz if that was the case it really has nothing to do with customs. Customs held all packages during the strike cuz those packages had nowhere to go since canadapost was closed.

also, I dunno what you guys are doing with your packages, every cue I've ever had sent to me from the states cleared customs within 10 minutes. I think there were only 3-4 exceptions and even then they were cleared within a day. You guys must not be labelling the contents correctly.

in fact I just had a cue shipped on Saturday that got to me yesterday. It was shipped USPS express and it got here within 1.5 business days. Granted it usually take 4-5 but still, never had a problem.

I think you guys are running into problems because you're shipping USPS priority. That shipping service sucks, just pay the extra 10-15 bucks and ship it USPS express and you'll have much less trouble.
 
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I appreciate all of these responses. If my potential buyer hasn't got tired of me trying to make up my mind, I'm planning to go ahead with this. Thanks!
 
I have not had problems shipping to Canada , I did have problems shipping to Michigan , some one opened the package , didn't rewrap properly and cue needed refinishing . Jim
 
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