Ordering a gift from the USA and having it delivered to Canada...

[Necrotica 0]

Hi, everyone. Réjean and I want to place an order online for a Christmas gift to be mailed to his brother's place in Québec City for our 3-year-old nephew. I don't know if it's possible for us to do that or not. We really don't want to get a gift here and mail it up there. Shipping would be expensive, plus we're worried about customs tacking on an additional fee to be paid when it's delivered (this happened to Réjean when I mailed him a gift when he still lived in Montréal). Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about this, what websites to order off of, etc.?

Thanks for your help!

[sly_wolf 199]

Hi, everyone. Réjean and I want to place an order online for a Christmas gift to be mailed to his brother's place in Québec City for our 3-year-old nephew. I don't know if it's possible for us to do that or not. We really don't want to get a gift here and mail it up there. Shipping would be expensive, plus we're worried about customs tacking on an additional fee to be paid when it's delivered (this happened to Réjean when I mailed him a gift when he still lived in Montréal). Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about this, what websites to order off of, etc.?

Thanks for your help!

Yes, its all possible but also depends whether the retailer ships to Canada. I also beleive there is a $40 gift exemption as well. Perhaps you can find something on Ebay.

Sly

[Aaralyn 0]

The first gift I sent to Alf when he was still in BC, he had to pay duty fees when it was delivered. But for his birthday, I got around all the extra fees and huge shipping costs by buying from Canada. I ordered his gifts from sears.ca and had no problems at all. That might be an option depending on what kind of gifts you're looking for.

[BermyCat 1]

Amazon.com is really good for delivering to other countries. You could send children's books or movies to your nephew. I can't remember if they offer gift wrapping services though.

~ Catherine

[trailmix 77]

Amazon.com is really good for delivering to other countries. You could send children's books or movies to your nephew. I can't remember if they offer gift wrapping services though.

~ Catherine

Amazon.ca might be a better bet for books or movies within Canada.

I also recommend sears.ca - plus they have free shipping on right now

[Wis-Can 0]

I've had good luck with Sears! This year I'm just buying Visa gift cards and putting them in the Christmas card... then they can buy what they want.

[Allie 5]

I think the gift has to be above a certain amount before they tack on duty and taxes. We sent all my children and Grandchildren gifts last Xmas and there were no additional charges from Customs. We stuck a $20.00 value figure on the items although several were a bit more

They were sent USPS, all we did was fill out the Customs form telling it's value and what it was and the Post Office stuck it on the package.

I do know that sometimes items shipped with UPS delivery end up with extra charges on the receiving end I've had that experience.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Amazon.com is really good for delivering to other countries. You could send children's books or movies to your nephew. I can't remember if they offer gift wrapping services though.

~ Catherine

The thing to remember about Amazon.com is that while it's usually no problem to mail books or CDs to Canada (which makes Amazon.ca better for this purpose), there is often restrictions on other products. Most of the time it's software or technology that you can't mail. Not always, of course, but that's how it is the majority of the time. You'll also face higher shipping fees if ordering from Amazon.com instead of Amazon.ca, which may figure into the decision. Something neat I discovered is that if you have an Amazon.com account, it will also work with Amazon.ca; however, I don't know if the reverse is true.

It's also done haphazardly. For instance, my wife has been able to order a computer game or two off Amazon.com, but other games she can't. You need to look at the item's information. Of course, when typing in the Canadian address, it'll tell you whether or not you can ship it, too. However, it's easier to simply glance at the info, rather than go through the check out process, only to be disappointed.

Depending on what you're looking for, there is a Canadian version of buy.com as well. I believe it's "http://www.ca.buy.com/" (without the quotes), so you should be able to find a number of items there. Hammacher Schlemmer also ships most items to Canada, but some of their stuff can be very pricey without even considering shipping Another option might be eBay, since many items there are shipped "worldwide" or to North America. It won't matter what version you use --eBay.com or eBey.ca -- since you can see the same products. If you have a PayPal.com account setup with the U.S. or Canada, it should work. Aside from those places, I'd suggest Best Buy as there's a Best Buy Canada division and Future Shop is owned by Best Buy, as well.

If push comes to shove, a gift card always works. It may be a bit impersonal, but this allows the receiving party to get what they wish. I'm sure you can order a gift card from Canada to Canadian stores.

Edited November 24, 2008 by DeadPoolX

[carslo 0]

I went to the Zeller/Bay website and ordered my family's gifts. I had to spend 100.00 to get free shipping. It arrived in less than a week in BC. It looks like you can use a Visa or Mastercard. I still have my Bay card. Free shipping until the end of November.

Good luck,

Janet

Edited November 25, 2008 by carslo

[xtinab 0]

I just ordered one of these for my sister:

http://www.personalcreations.com/shop/prod...duct_code=11257

I got 2 for my 2 year old nieces for their first Christmas, and this one is for her 3rd daughter for her first. It's an auntie Chrissy tradition Luckily also, I found an online confirm code and got 20% off! Go HERE for the codes..They have all kinds, I love that site

Completely off topic though, because they don't ship to Canada either, so luckily I was able to send it to BB.

[Reba 2]

I've never had problems mailing gifts home ever. I just send them USPS and they get delivered.... weirdness.

There's also ample websites for shopping in Canada. If the company you usually buy from is a multi-nationa or bi-national, they'll have a Canadian website with the suffix .ca rather than .com (as mentioned above, use amazon.ca rather than amazon.com; ebay.ca rather than .com etc etc etc...) Plus I'm sure plenty of stores in Montreal that Rejean used to shop at when he lived there also have websites that you can order from and have them ship to your nephew. The Web is World Wide.

[trailmix 77]

I just ordered one of these for my sister:

http://www.personalcreations.com/shop/prod...duct_code=11257

I got 2 for my 2 year old nieces for their first Christmas, and this one is for her 3rd daughter for her first. It's an auntie Chrissy tradition Luckily also, I found an online confirm code and got 20% off! Go HERE for the codes..They have all kinds, I love that site

Completely off topic though, because they don't ship to Canada either, so luckily I was able to send it to BB.

That's a really cute site xtinab

[Flames9_RN 358]

I just ordered one of these for my sister:

http://www.personalcreations.com/shop/prod...duct_code=11257

I got 2 for my 2 year old nieces for their first Christmas, and this one is for her 3rd daughter for her first. It's an auntie Chrissy tradition Luckily also, I found an online confirm code and got 20% off! Go HERE for the codes..They have all kinds, I love that site

Completely off topic though, because they don't ship to Canada either, so luckily I was able to send it to BB.

That's a really cute site xtinab

Is the site above safe for work viewing??

[trailmix 77]

I just ordered one of these for my sister:

http://www.personalcreations.com/shop/prod...duct_code=11257

I got 2 for my 2 year old nieces for their first Christmas, and this one is for her 3rd daughter for her first. It's an auntie Chrissy tradition Luckily also, I found an online confirm code and got 20% off! Go HERE for the codes..They have all kinds, I love that site

Completely off topic though, because they don't ship to Canada either, so luckily I was able to send it to BB.

That's a really cute site xtinab

Is the site above safe for work viewing??

Yes, it's just personalized gift products.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I know!! Just my silly sense of humor!!