Looking to buy mods but don’t want to pay hundreds in shipping

[Mark Cleland]

I am sure I’m not the first to ask this but couldn’t find anything recent addressing this. I am looking to buy some stuff from tilt graphics and pinball life for my JP Pro. Shipping is 1/2 my order bucket. Is there somewhere I can buy those same products in Canada reduced shipping?

Thanks for any help

 

[luch]

find someone with a US P.O. box , have it shipped there , shipping will be way cheaper , just will have to pay HST when they bring it across the border , oh yeah border is closed to non essential , so may have to wait till border opens

 

[pinballjah]

There is no where in Canada that sells their products.

I usually ship my stuff to the UPS Store in Lewiston, NY. Five minutes from Lewiston bridge (near Niagara Falls). It is about a 1.5 hour drive from Toronto (plus the border crossing). They charge $5US to receive a package (I think up to 5 pounds). I have actually had 3 games shipped there as well. They charge $30US to receive a pinball machine. You just sign up on www.kinek.com for free and they give you an ID number to put on your shipments. Packages they will hold for free for 30 days. I usually ship all my Titan/Modfather/Comet, etc. pinball stuff there.

It's worth it if you make a day trip out of it. BONUS - I have never paid duty on any of my purchases. They always ask me what I bought, and as long as it is under a few hundred US, they don't really care. Just have your online receipts available. I do have to pay duty on the pinballs.

NOTE - UPS Store will NOT hold items indefinitely until the border opens again. But there are a lot of pick up spots near Niagara Falls, NY that will hold the items for free until the border reopens. Check out the KINEK site for details.

For me it is worth the day trip to not get stuck with duty and avoid the heavy shipping costs to Canada. I usually do 5-10 packages per trip to make it worth it. Good luck.

 

[Hammerbrother]

I am sure I’m not the first to ask this but couldn’t find anything recent addressing this. I am looking to buy some stuff from tilt graphics and pinball life for my JP Pro. Shipping is 1/2 my order bucket. Is there somewhere I can buy those same products in Canada reduced shipping?

Thanks for any help

I wrote an email to planetary pinball about shipping rates as my quoted shipping rate was $84 usd. I was simply told that this was an accurate rate and non negotiable. Some companies are priced fairly, some are so over priced youd swear they just dont want to ship anything to Canada at all.
Titan, cliffy, mezel, pingraffix, ulek, all of these have been pretty good for me so far. Marco's, pinball life, planetary pinball, tilt, colordmd......not so much.
Also in my experience tilt takes forever to even ship a product and you are going to get dinged by duty as its coming overseas. Colordmd ends up with massive duty as well. Neither if which are the fault of the companies mentioned but worth noting.

 

[pinballjah]

Colordmd ends up with massive duty as well.

Sometimes it is good to get these products when at a pinball show. I picked up three ColorDMDs while at a Pinball show in the US. Saved $800US x 2 x 13% or $208 US in HST, basically covered the cost of the hotel while down at the show. Sometimes you can ask the shipper to indicate the item is a 'gift' with a nominal value and they have no problem helping the Canadians avoid the duty problems.

 

[roar]

I wrote an email to planetary pinball about shipping rates as my quoted shipping rate was $84 usd. I was simply told that this was an accurate rate and non negotiable. Some companies are priced fairly, some are so over priced youd swear they just dont want to ship anything to Canada at all.
Titan, cliffy, mezel, pingraffix, ulek, all of these have been pretty good for me so far. Marco's, pinball life, planetary pinball, tilt, colordmd......not so much.
Also in my experience tilt takes forever to even ship a product and you are going to get dinged by duty as its coming overseas. Colordmd ends up with massive duty as well. Neither if which are the fault of the companies mentioned but worth noting.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you suggest they don't want to ship to Canada. Time is money and it takes more labour/money to ship something to Canada/Overseas because there is additional paperwork you need to complete. Even if that paperwork only takes you 5 minutes to do you now have added risk when sending to Canada/Overseas as most buyers are too cheap to pay for tracking and insurance so now your risk goes up with chargeback claims... in the end... I get why vendors don't want to do Canadians/Oversea buyers a break... doesn't mean I like it though

 

[pinballjah]

New service being offered by Kinek to ship packages across the Canadian border for $18.50CDN. So how I think it will work is you ship your item to the Kinek depot (US address) and then they will forward it to the Canadian depot of your choice. This may save some headaches with stupid custom charges and likely shipping within the US is a lot better than direct to Canada. Plan to buy a few items from Cointaker so will report back how the service worked. It does mention duty may still apply.

 

[pinballjah]

Saw this summary on the Shippsy website. If you order mods from the US and they are made in the US, should there be no duty? How does the seller indicate the product was made in the US to avoid duty? Or the key may be to ship items separately to keep them under the $150Cdn threshold and avoid the duty. Thanks.

 

[roar]

Saw this summary on the Shippsy website. If you order mods from the US and they are made in the US, should there be no duty? How does the seller indicate the product was made in the US to avoid duty? Or the key may be to ship items separately to keep them under the $150Cdn threshold and avoid the duty. Thanks.

View attachment 18571

In my experience not too many packages actually get charged duty... I’ve never had a pinball package actually have a duty charge, they do however get charged HST and have a handling fee applied.

 

[pinballjah]

In my experience not too many packages actually get charged duty... I’ve never had a pinball package actually have a duty charge, they do however get charged HST and have a handling fee applied.

What is the most you have ordered in one shipment? I have had a few get hit. I am trying the Shippsy service, just ordered a translite. Free shipping in the US so basically should only pay the $6.99 CDN for shipping to Markham.

One question that came up, as the shipper is sending it US to US address, they don't normally have to include any value on the package. So how does this get determined at the border if no customs form attached?

 

[roar]

What is the most you have ordered in one shipment? I have had a few get hit. I am trying the Shippsy service, just ordered a translite. Free shipping in the US so basically should only pay the $6.99 CDN for shipping to Markham.

One question that came up, as the shipper is sending it US to US address, they don't normally have to include any value on the package. So how does this get determined at the border if no customs form attached?

Pinball related... probably maxed out in the $300-$400 range on a big order. I ordered a Translite from Marco’s and got dinged taxes and handling, but recently got a translite from ZombieYeti and didn’t get dinged. It’s really hit and miss.

If shippsy doesn’t fill out the proper paperwork and declare a value and define what’s in the package it could very well get returned to them. I’m not sure how they’re handling that part of the transaction.

 

[pinballjah]

What is the most you have ordered in one shipment? I have had a few get hit. I am trying the Shippsy service, just ordered a translite. Free shipping in the US so basically should only pay the $6.99 CDN for shipping to Markham.

One question that came up, as the shipper is sending it US to US address, they don't normally have to include any value on the package. So how does this get determined at the border if no customs form attached?

Ok, so I tried out the Shippsy service for the first time. I stayed below the $150CDN threshold for duty. Process was excellent. They send you a message when the package arrives in Niagara Falls, NY. Then you upload your invoice to show the contents and the cost. I was only charged 13% tax on the US value and the $6.99 CDN fee to ship it to Markham. Picking it up was very easy. They also have a pick up location in Mississauga.

I have another shipment coming that is over the $150 CDN limit but it was made in the USA (so should not be subject to the duty). I have asked the pinball company to provide me with a receipt that states the item was made in the USA. So I should only have to pay the GST on the goods plus the $6.99 CDN fee. The service is definitely cheaper than shipping directly to Canada. Most of the US to US shipping costs have been around $10US. I like it much better as you can control whether you get stuck paying any duties and keep your shipping costs down substantially.

If anyone wants to try the service, PM me and I can send you a link to get $10 off the first delivery.

 

[roar]

I didn't really get what you were talking about when you first posted about Shippsy, but now that I've visited their... terrible... website I actually get it and think it's pretty neat concept. If they had a location in Hamilton I'd give it a try. I'm glad I took the time to actually read about them, thanks for the update!

 

[pinballjah]

I didn't really get what you were talking about when you first posted about Shippsy, but now that I've visited their... terrible... website I actually get it and think it's pretty neat concept. If they had a location in Hamilton I'd give it a try. I'm glad I took the time to actually read about them, thanks for the update!

The website actually works pretty well. They upload a picture of the delivery slip from the box and then you upload the details of the package and the cost, with the receipt. This way you only get charged taxes on the cost and can mostly avoid any duty (if you stay under $150 CDN or can prove the items were made in North America).

Here is an example, to have these items shipped directly to Canada from Cointaker would cost $55US for shipping, plus likely get hit with duty as no discussion with the shipping company on the details of the order. If I ship to Shippsy in Niagara Falls, cost me $15.05US from Cointaker plus the $6.99CDN to Markham and no duty.

 

[pinballjah]

So another update. I ordered some mods that totaled to $220US, so it exceeded the $150 CDN maximum and therefore could be subject to duty. I provided Shippsy with a receipt from the seller than indicated the item was made in the USA, and they did not charge me any extra duty. So I am finding this to be a much better service than using a US based mailbox and having to drive down to Niagara Falls to pick stuff up. Have to pay HST and $7CDN but saves a lot of time and gas driving across the border. Highly recommend their service!

As long as you can get the supplier to provide you with a note on the invoice that the item was "Made in the USA", there should be no duty. Some suppliers are still difficult and don't seem to want to help Canadian customers.

 

[roar]

I wish they had a Hamilton office... I'd give it a go for sure, I think I can probably get to the Buffalo boarder faster than I can to their Mississauga location during the day.

 

[pinballjah]

I wish they had a Hamilton office... I'd give it a go for sure, I think I can probably get to the Buffalo boarder faster than I can to their Mississauga location during the day.

The only benefit right now is you can get stuff across given the border is likely closed for a while. Even in the US, they typically charge $5US to receive an item. So $6.99CDN is pretty well the same thing.