Shipping a bike to Canada...

[Kevan]

So the Colnago is off to New Brunswick. I've loaded the bike and wheelset into a Giant bike cardboard box, was even able to cut down on its overall length by about a foot and my friendly local post office now tells me they can't ship it to Canada. Too big.

Strange...anyone else run into this? Also, the max insurance offered was $675.

I'm off to UPS...

[Marcusaurelius]

If you ship just the frame in one box and the parts in another it will be small enough for the post office. Of course another box would be used for the wheels.

I shipped a bicycle in three boxes a few years ago through the box office and it worked fine, you just need to make sure you make the frame box as small as possible.

UPS and Fed Ex Ground both charge outrageous brokerage fees for collecting the HST (harmonized sales tax). I've heard DHL just charges $5 fee for the collecting the tax but I'm not certain about this.

[oldguy00]

Hey, I'm from NB.. :)
We have the same issue shipping bikes to the US. Canada Post won't take a large box. Always have to use Purolator or UPS..

[Black Dog]

Basic UPS shipping has a huge "brokerage fee", the expedited shipping option includes the fee in the cost. Look it up on the UPS website before you ship. The buyer will thank you.

[climbgdh]

Basic UPS shipping has a huge "brokerage fee", the expedited shipping option includes the fee in the cost. Look it up on the UPS website before you ship. The buyer will thank you.

+1000 on this...... definitely get the expedited shipping option. Also depending on where the buyer lives in NB they could potentially be close to a border town and just pop over border to pick up at a UPS Store or some other shipping depot..... just a thought if they are close to the border. I'm orginally from New Brunswick as well..... where is the bike going off to?

[phcollard]

Basic UPS shipping has a huge "brokerage fee", the expedited shipping option includes the fee in the cost. Look it up on the UPS website before you ship. The buyer will thank you.

Indeed. I just picked up my Hampsten. $80 in brokerage fees... down the drain!