Selling to someone in another country

I have had significant problems purchasing from Canada due to seller's lack of a NAFTA certificate, and subsequent duty, brokerage, and state tax fees I had to pay above the advertised item price and shipping costs. These costs were significant and not incidental. I recently investigated shipping electronics I was selling to Canada and found several potential pitfalls related to how you identify the item, the associated fees, and who pays those fees (buyer or seller), and when. Maybe I just do not know the ropes well enough, but until I can find a guide of some sort that explains fail-safe methods of trading across borders, I will not take the risk again. I would find it quite helpful if maybe Audiogon could take the lead here and add a section explaining recommended procedures and potential considerations when trading across borders, with specific guidelines for Canada, Asia, etc. Do any of you know of existing resources for that information?

I asked Audiogon this question and they told me to ask my fellow goners.

Nigeria is OK...anywhere else I would be suspect.

Shipping of any audio gear to and from Canada has to involve brokerage and taxes, unfortunately. As for duty, goods made in North America benefit from the NAFTA exemption, others are charged about 7%.

The best way to simplify the process is to use the mails or to ship by air. Brokerage and the rest get complicated when you choose ground.

With FedEx ground (for example), you need to fill in several forms, one of which appoints the carrier's broker if you have no other. You may need an item class ID number for duty assessment and these are hard to look up, no online database is available. You may need to register as an exporter. The overall total charge is unknown until delivery or after. The shipper may well be billed even though the receiver was declared liable.

If I am taking a ground shipment I get it clear with the seller that I accept responsibility for any and all charges involved with selling and shipping to me, and I pay them as promised. However the whole business is a lot easier if the goods are shipped by air or by post.

Finally, given unhappy experience with insurance claims, I think it wise to insure with a third party like dsiinsurance.com

I mostly list my items US only but when asked to ship elsewhere, I usually say OK. I've had a few overseas transactions that went just fine and most of the problems I've had were shipping to Canada. I've found out using USPS to Canada is the least expensive way to ship in the long run.