Getting Gecko 320's in Canada

[Danno]

Is there someone in Canada that's a dealer for Gecko, or do they have to be purchased from Gecko.com. Thanks

[dertsap]

the shipping is cheap if you buy them direct from Gecko , they sent mine thru post and it only took about a week to get them

[Danno]

It's the brokerage fees I worry about.

[DSL PWR]

The post office doesnt charge brokerage.

[Danno]

True, but not all places will ship through USPS. Hopefully Gecko will when I'm ready to order my drives. I wanted to order a VFD from Driveswarehouse.com, but they would only ship UPS or charge me $30 to have someone bring it to the Post Office.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by DSL PWR The post office doesnt charge brokerage.

They will actually, or customs will, they charge a $5.00 process fee if it is intercepted by customs, plus GST+PST.
Al.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Danno True, but not all places will ship through USPS. Hopefully Gecko will when I'm ready to order my drives.

Ask them to provide a NAFTA certificate, which they are supposed to do when exporting, this will eliminate the possibility of duty.
They are fillable from US and Can customs sites.
Al.

[Mariss Freimanis]

I just checked with our shipping dept and here's the scoop on Canada. The cheapest way to ship 2lbs or less (up to 6 drives) to Canada is USPS. This costs $30 USD for a trackable package. We never charge for 'handling' and we don't get a red cent from the shipping charge. Packages have to be trackable for obvious reasons; if it gets lost getting there, it's our loss otherwise.

Mariss

[mc-motorsports]

Originally Posted by Mariss Freimanis I just checked with our shipping dept and here's the scoop on Canada. The cheapest way to ship 2lbs or less (up to 6 drives) to Canada is USPS. This costs $30 USD for a trackable package. We never charge for 'handling' and we don't get a red cent from the shipping charge. Packages have to be trackable for obvious reasons; if it gets lost getting there, it's our loss otherwise. Mariss

USPS Express Mail is the only way to go. I wouldn't ship Priority International again to save my life, they lose the package and when you call to place a claim or complaint, they just keep telling you to call someone else or transfer you to another department. USPS needs to get thier **** straight on Priority International, never one problem with Express though it's more expensive.

[mc-motorsports]

BTW, +1000 on Gecko for customer service and support and an excellent product! IMO, they set the standard for customer service!

[Danno]

I don't mind paying a $5.00 fee, but I definitely wanted to avoid a 50% brokerage fee. Thank you for that valuable information about using Express VS Priority. Much appreciated.
A special thanks to Mariss for letting me know that you will indeed ship via USPS. This is one of the reasons that I WILL order my drives from Gecko, because I have heard great reviews about your customer service as well as an outstanding product. Dan

[Mariss Freimanis]

Scoop on shipping to Canada in detail:

We have 3 people in shipping and boy do they know their stuff! We ship about 2,500 drives a year to Canada so they have it down. There are 3 ways to ship to Canada; UPS, Global Express (USPS) and FedEx.

1) Global Express. This is an option with the United States Postal Service. This is what most Canadians prefer to use.
Pros:
Costs a flat $30 something for up to 2lbs (1 to 6 drives).
Little or no duty charges.
Has tracking numbers.
Cons:
Takes 5 to 10 days to get there.
We can't ship larger number of drives because insurance is nearly impossible to collect

FedEx:
Pros:
Costs about $30 to ship up to 2lbs (1 to 6 drives) if not a remote location.
Takes 1 to 4 days to get there.
Has insurance that works.
Cons:
Costs over $50 if location is remote (Dawson, Yukon).
Duty fees.
We must use FedEx if a single shipment is large (the insurance thing).

UPS
All cons:
Exorbitant "Processing Fees"
Duty fees higher than with FedEx (go figure, makes no sense to anyone here).

About duty fees:
We don't pay your duty fees so we don't know how badly you get skinned. Our guess is Global Express fees are small because no one ever complains or says they were zero. FedEx must be more because a few complain. UPS fees are so high that people froth at the mouth.:-)

About NAFTA and Certificate of Origin:
NAFTA applies to goods valued at $1,200 or more. There is a "Low Value NAFTA" that applies from $0.01 to $1,199 but it still requires processing by the shipper. One hand eliminates duty fees, the other hand takes it away through processing fees. Can't win there.

We will if asked provide a "Certificate of Origin" stating our stuff is manufactured in the USA. This certificate is included in the way bill packet and if presented to customs is supposed to waive duty fees. We have no idea if it works or not at the Canadian end. No feedback but some ask for it.

Best way to order stuff from Geckodrive:
Unless you "absolutely, positively need to have it there overnight" or have some other special shipping requirement, let us pick the best way to get our stuff to you. We don't make a penny of off shipping so our goal is to get it to you the cheapest way possible. These people know day to day what is the least expensive yet reliable way to get what you bought to you. Our shipping department prides itself in doing that every bit as much as I pride myself in designing the best drives I know how.

Mariss