Online ordering

[crazymama]

Hi guys! Have any fellow Canadians ordered off of Overstock.com? I was just on the site and they have some great deals and say that they ship to Canada. I just wondered about good ol' duty/brokerage fees etc etc. The only online ordering I have ever done was Amazon.ca which was great! Any thoughts ? I am determined to get ready for Christmas early!! Of course, I do say that EVERY year but one can dream!

 

[abirdd]

Used to be if you added the items to your cart and "pretend" to check out - the total including all taxes, duties, shipping fees were displayed. Not sure if this is still the case, but worth looking into.

I considered buying from them in the past, but felt they overinflated the shipping charges drastically. Not to mention their brokerage/duties were really high - and for someone who's been screwed by UPS on several occasion (thank you Disney Shopping!), that's saying a lot.

Whatever you decide, fully compare the final price plus exchange to what you'd pay locally. Just my opinion

 

[crazymama]

Yes... I feel your pain as I too paid insanely high brokerage fees for a couple of Ebay adventures a few years ago. That is why I am wary. I will do my homework before I commit to anything! I do like when you can shop from the comfort of your home especially when you are pinched for time!

 

[ccudmore]

I refuse to shop with any company that uses UPS for its shipping. From my experience there's a minimum $25 brokerage fee for even the smallest item to come across the border.

Here in Eastern Ontario we have the benefit of a UPS store in Ogdensburg NY that will allow you to ship anything to them at their US address. All you have to do is ship it to them, they hold it for you, you drive across the border and pick it up for a small flat fee. No brokerage fees. Maybe there's something like that in a border city near you.

 

[crazymama]

Wow... that is a helpful system! We are far enough up from the border that it would be a pain to pick up deliveries. I think you are right about avoiding UPS though. As an aside, the first time that I paid huge fees after buying off ebay I swore to only buy from Canadian sellers. Well, I bought something from a guy in Ontario but he had it shipped to me from a warehouse in the US. Still got burned! I was pretty naive about that stuff. Now I am old and cynical...

 

[Alderbrook]

Every time I've shopped off Amazon.com stuff from the US says "gift" on it. I've never paid any duty/brokerage fees?

 

[crazymama]

Every time I've shopped off Amazon.com stuff from the US says "gift" on it. I've never paid any duty/brokerage fees?

That is cool to know! Often Amazon.com has stuff that Amazon.ca doesn't and I have been leery to order. That is great! I may have to try them now. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ccudmore]

From my experience, with most of the stuff on Amazon.com that isn't on Amazon.ca, if you order it and give a Canadian shipping address it will come back with an error saying that you can't order that item. There may be some exceptions though... you never know.