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Best way to ship small value items--US to Canada??

I just did a search on this topic on A'gon, & did get quite a bit of info. Also, I have mailed a couple of CD's (USPO) to Canada with apparently no problem.

My current dilema: I sold a small $25 item to someone in Toronto (from US). I tried to ship it UPS, & spent about 1 1/2 hours on their website trying to decipher all the customs forms, which I think would need a really good lawyer to figure out. Finally, there was a place to click something (???) where I wouldn't have to send all the forms with the item, just sign something on the pack of the UPS label. Of course, the UPS guy later refused to take the box, saying I had to have "all 3 forms attached or it would just be totally stuck in Customs".

So, I voided the UPS shipment, now I'm thinking of sending USPS.
If I'm using their website correctly, it would cost only $2.35 to send a small 8 oz. box to Canada via "Airmail Letter Post ". Or, I might (not sure) be able to fit it into a Global Priority Mail - Flat-rate Envelope (large) for $7. Of course neither would have insurance or tracking. And I charged less than $10 for shipping so Global Express Mail at $15.50 is out.

Any advice? I'm thinking use the Airmail Post & take my chances. BTW, as I recall, the USPS only requires a brief 1 page Customs Form, not 3 pages like UPS. Thanks in advance for any advice!
steveaudio
tobias
1,534 posts
 
Mike_z, perhaps you should make this a thread of its own to get more responses. For my part, having shipped to Japan only once, I can say that Canada Post Xpress to the Far East worked very well, and in the time promised. The only surprise was that they could not track a package past the port of landing. If the package went to Narita, for example, tracking stopped after that.

One of my Far East correspondents says that USPS is if anything, faster than Canada Post.
david_berry
211 posts
 
Smaller sized items, USPS.
dirtyragamuffin
213 posts
 
Another vote for USPS...FedEx next. Aviod UPS...they just plain SUCK.

None are foolproof by any stretch of the imagination...just today I had to go pick up a package that came in in via USPS from the Toronto area whose delivery they managed to screw up...and it was still better thean UPS!
steveaudio OP
331 posts
 
Thanks for all the advice! Today I mailed the item USPS Airmail for about $3. One tiny form to fill out. My next question may be: what is best way to accept international payments (other than paypal); esp. to Canada, but I'll probably do a separate post for that.

Thanks again! Steve
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