Pi-Suppli

Perhaps BSO's at the CBSA do the initial package assessment. This all happens behind the scenes and is not really relative to the average consumer. What is relative is that the CBSA does not collect the fee's for packages sent by mail from outside the country. You're splitting hairs when I said Canada Post "charges" instead of "collects" in my previous post. If a package arrives in the mail Canada Post is automatically the customs broker of record unless indicated otherwise. As the customs broker they are responsible for clearing the package through the CBSA and or Canada Customs and is responsible for COLLECTING any government imposed fees (taxes and duty if applicable) plus collecting fees they place on the shipment such as a brokerage fee and the good old fuel surcharge. Not sure what your point is with the previous post but there are fee's and they need to be paid. Either at the door when the postal worker delivers or when you pick the package up from a postal outlet. To clarify an already clear point. I did not say you have to pay the postman. If you want the package when the postal carrier knocks on your door you better have cash or a cheque. If not they can arrange to come back the next day or they can leave the package at the local postal outlet where you can pick it up at your convenience and pay by cash, debit or credit card and maybe even by cheque. Pay at the door or pay later, you will pay, it's that simple. Your particular situation is an anomaly. 99.9% of the population do not have the time (and time is money) to trek across the border and act as their own broker in order to clear a package. Essentially that's what you are when you arrive in Canada from abroad and make a declaration. "We remind travellers to have the total of all purchases made abroad ready and your receipts readily available. Being prepared to make a full and accurate declaration, including the amount of goods in Canadian dollars you are bringing with you, will help us get you on your way as quickly as possible." http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/ifcrc-rpcrc-eng.html

If ever anyone has any questions regarding www.Pi-Suppli.com please feel free to ask me here or for a quicker response email me at info@pi-suppli.com. I'll be honest, some of the comments in previous posts have bothered me as I feel they are not 100% accurate simply because some assumptions are being made and details left out. Just to clarify the difference between ordering from the US and from Canada . . . you WILL pay for the difference in the exchange rate, you WILL pay a brokerage fee and you WILL pay a fuel surcharge and of course you WILL pay applicable taxes on top of those fees. This is Canada, we all pay taxes even if you order stuff from the U.S. Luckily the Flirc carries no duties. All these fees are charged by Canada Post when the packet clears customs (Canada Post is automatically assigned as the customs broker) and are collected by Canada Post before delivery to you. When shipping a Flirc via the United States Postal Service (USPS) it will take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to arrive depending on your location in Canada. With NO tracking, NO guarantees and NO insurance. When it does finally arrive you need to have cash or a cheque available to pay the fees when the postal carrier knocks on your door. Hopefully you're home when the knock comes and can answer the door quick or they'll be gone in a flash. One knock if you're lucky and then they book it. But not before leaving a door hanger notice for you. Now it's your turn to trek off to the local postal outlet to pay all the fees and taxes and collect your package. That's certainly been my own personal experience on many occasions. The fee's I charge for shipping, on average, actually costs me money. Both the $10 flat fee I charge for Canada Post Expedited Parcel and the regular $2 option cost me money over time. Several hundred dollars in 2013. It'll be more in 2014 since the postal rates jumped big time in March. My fee's remain unchanged. It's real easy to find out the real Canada Post cost. Go to a post office and ask what the cost is to ship a small packet, 4" x 6", 0.03 Kg from L9K 1P2 to your own postal code. If you come in under 2 cm in thickness it'll cost you $1.80 postage, plus the cost of the bubble mailer plus tax to mail anywhere in Canada. Over 2 cm thick and now you are anywhere from around $8 to $14 (depending on postal codes) plus the bubble mailer cost plus taxes for virtually the exact same packet. Half a centimetre thicker and the price can skyrocket from $1.80 to $14.00. If you add in insurance or tracking for the $2 shipping option you are now paying around $10 or more so it's pointless to offer insurance and or tracking for the $2 shipping option. That's Canada Post not me. But some people assume I'm making a killing off of "crazy" shipping costs without doing any homework. I try to spell out shipping options on my site clearly, http://www.pi-suppli.com/pages/shipping. My intention was never to make money on shipping and I didn't necessarily want to lose money either but that has certainly been the case. What some commenters don't mention overly clearly is that they order items and have them shipped to a U.S. location. They then travel to the U.S., collect mail and packages (possibly as an active, profitable business) and bring it back over the border. I'm not sure if the true cost in time and money is included in their savings equation. I'm pretty sure it's not. In a nutshell some of the comments in previous posts are not fully accurate. 1.) It's very, very rare that I don't have stock. There was a glitch in the stock counter recently where it showed Sold Out but in actuality stock was available. That was very recent and it seems to be fixed. The one occasion I was out happened very early on and I happily took emails and got back to everyone once stock was available. If the sign says "Sold Out" . . . please just contact me. I will keep a few in reserve from now on. 2.) The brokerage fee is per shipment, 1 item or 1000 items in the shipment. Brokerage fee's are essentially paperwork fee's and a fee to loan you money. Brokers pay any fee or tax up front on your behalf expecting that they will recoup those same fee's and taxes back from you, the customer, quickly. Obviously it's easier to amortize brokerage fees over more items. I have no control over this to any great extent. You will pay the same brokerage fee as I do even if it's just for one item. 3.) Shipping prices are the direct result of Canada Post and overall actually cost me money. The kicker is a packet <2 cm thick is cheap to send, a packet >2 cm thick is expensive to send. Easily confirmed by the Canada Post website or in person at a local depot. I DO NOT make money off of shipping whatsoever. Shipping orders out actually costs me money. 4.) Not everyone can or wants to ship to a U.S. location and then have to trek across the border to pick up mail. In most cases it's just not practical or cost effective. You would still need to pay the taxes when you cross the border back into Canada and add in your time and fuel costs. Not always such a great bargain as it's made out to be. At least not for the average person. I take great pride in providing great customer service to everyone that makes a purchase from ww.Pi-Suppli.com. and I believe I've been able to do that so far and hopefully for many more years to come. To Canada Post's credit there have been zero lost shipments. A few orders were returned by Canada Post and re-shipped at no charge by me due to customer address input errors or people moving. Guaranteed you WILL get your order far, far faster when you order from Pi-Suppli. The cold hard reality is it simply costs more money to live and do business in Canada. That should be no surprise to anyone. We have a giant country with a relatively small population spread out across vast distances and we have a pretty damn good standard of living we all have grown accustomed to. The smaller population very simply translates to less buying power, for every business in Canada, not just me. That's just a fact. If I had good reason to buy 10x more product I could buy anything cheaper and the reality is I would have to pass the savings on to be competitive. Volume purchase pricing makes a huge difference in what happens here in Canada. Unfortunately I have to charge a little more in order to make a reasonable profit. God knows the politicians in Ottawa have already pre-spent any revenue I bring in. If anyone has ANY constructive comments or criticisms I'm open to hearing them. If you have a problem, a concern, a question about Pi-Suppli just ask me. I'm always glad to hear from and speak with the great citizens of Canada from coast to coast. If I can offer the same service for less money and still make it all worthwhile I will do so. I will gladly pass on any savings I can. Just let me know how. All I ask is that it's constructive and that it's realistic. Thanks for taking the time to read and sorry for the longwinded post. Keep on Flirc'n!