Help Needed: High Shipping Costs for Small Items to Canada

[YukoY]

I'm trying to start shipping from the US to Canada. I enabled the BorderBuddy Canada Customs Duty App in Shopify to collect duty and tax upfront for the customer. However, when I tested a small product weighing only 1oz to an Ontario address, the UPS shipping cost was $163. We offer free shipping within the US for this product. Is there a better way to handle this? Should I stop using the BorderBuddy app and let customers pay the duty and tax upon delivery? I would appreciate any tips, suggestions, and advise on shipping from US to Canada using Shopify. 

[Agreeableagony · Accepted solution]

What app is quoting $163 for UPS?  that seems insane.  Is that border buddy quoting that?

Shopify can calculate and collect duty/taxes itself, but you just need to use a DDP shipping method.

www.easyship.com has some DDP carrier options available for all users on their platform, or you can setup negotiated rates with Fedex International Connect Plus if you have a fedex rep (this worked out really well for us) 

Slightly more work but better prices: 
 The best CA rates we have gotten for DDP were through Cirro and OrangeDS - 
Cirro offers DDP to CA, UK, EU  -- https://www.cirroecommerce.com/
OrangeDS offers DDP and DDU to all of the above plus a bunch of other countries. Their CA rates are a little higher but their UK and EU rates are mostly Way better:  https://www.orangeds.com/

[Agreeableagony · Accepted solution]

What app is quoting $163 for UPS?  that seems insane.  Is that border buddy quoting that?

Shopify can calculate and collect duty/taxes itself, but you just need to use a DDP shipping method.

www.easyship.com has some DDP carrier options available for all users on their platform, or you can setup negotiated rates with Fedex International Connect Plus if you have a fedex rep (this worked out really well for us) 

Slightly more work but better prices: 
 The best CA rates we have gotten for DDP were through Cirro and OrangeDS - 
Cirro offers DDP to CA, UK, EU  -- https://www.cirroecommerce.com/
OrangeDS offers DDP and DDU to all of the above plus a bunch of other countries. Their CA rates are a little higher but their UK and EU rates are mostly Way better:  https://www.orangeds.com/

[YukoY]

Thank you for your help! I have the basic plan on Shopify, which doesn't offer DDP. I appreciate the Easyship info and I will look into it. It seems like USPS offers the best price for shipping, so I'm also exploring whether I can pay duty and tax in advance using USPS on Shopify. Thanks again!

[Agreeableagony · Accepted solution]

USPS definitely shouldnt be the best price and USPS doesnt do DDP 

Usually on easyship passport is the cheapest with DDP solution to Canada  - Usually around $20-25 for the first 0-3lb  + the cost of taxes/duty + $7.50 handling fee for handling the duty/customs for you.

If you are doing DDU there are some way cheaper options than USPS  - Easyship flat export being one.   
For example 1oz to Ontario CA should be around $8  with OrangeDS DDU 

Shopify info on this: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/international/duties-and-import-taxes

If you want shopify to calculate and collect for you you need to be on the Advanced Plan.
A bit cheaper is to use Easyship's calculated rates with their premier plan: https://www.easyship.com/plans

Third Party Carrier Calculated shipping is an inexpensive add-on to the shopify plan that is cheaper than switching to shopify advanced: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/shipping/setting-up-and-managing-your-shipping/enabling-shipping-...

Its an upgrade from the basic plan, but still more affordable. 
Honestly otherwise just stick to shipping DAP/DDU  to Canada.

If you do switch to shopify advanced, you will still need to use a third party shipping platform  that sends DDP. Shopify does not support sending DDP unless you setup Markets Pro (now called "managed markets") 

[YukoY]

Thank you so much for the detailed information! Easyship Passport sounds like a great solution. I'll also look into Easyship Flat Export for DDU. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! I've never shipped packages to Canada, and your information is very helpful!

[Agreeableagony]

Happy to help! feel free to reach out here or direct with any questions. We do a lot of international shipping