Selling to someone in another country

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.

$1700 later - I refuse to deal through canada. It has been two years of trying to recover my money.

It's more work to deal internationally, and perhaps more risk. I will do it, but insist on a premium handling charge on top of the normal shipping (usually $10-$15) which doesn't come close to paying for my extra time, but does help.

Lots of reasons not to.

PayPal fees are higher for international. Shipping is higher. Lots more paperwork. Usually the seller must fib (lie) about value of item so the buyer avoids duties, so cannot insure for full value, and the ethics of it all stink.

A seller usually never charges enough to offset the extra expenses and time involved. The first time you do an overseas/border transaction you will feel "burned" as the seller. You will not charge the extra $$$ upfront for the additional costs and hassle involved.

That said, I have sold overseas or to Canada 3 times with positive results to trusted Audiogon members, and can recommend it, but it is always a worrisome experience (i.e. did I get the address right, did it get through customs, etc.)