Canadians ordering from Ceramic grill store

FlashkaBob · December 2012

Do any of you fellow Cannucksters have any experience ordering stuff from the ceramic grill store. Issues with customs and duties. I am trying to figure out what the AR is going to cost me by the time I get it.

Greeno55 · December 2012

Expecting my stuff any day. If you don't get a response soon, I can let you know. Tom has told me many of his products have been shipped here without incident. But man, the waiting sucks. :)

Skiddymarker · December 2012

Usually no issue with customs, the value is just not that much. The tax if any will be HST only. Lucky, I just drive down to pick up at a US ship to address. Often shipping is free.

Stoater · December 2012

Skiddymarker said:

Usually no issue with customs, the value is just not that much. The tax if any will be HST only. Lucky, I just drive down to pick up at a US ship to address. Often shipping is free.

I just got my spider and lump reducing ring, but live right on the niagara falls border had it shipped to my U.S Post office box. brought it across declared it and didn't have to pay anything.

Little Steven · December 2012

Mine came through without any charges. Dunno why

paqman · December 2012

I received my orders within a few days. I suggest that you use regular post (ground or air) and avoid using expedited services like fedex or purolator. Canada post will collect the taxes when you pickup the order. If you use an expedited courrier service, you may have to pay a brokerage fee on top of the taxes. It is a hit or miss but fedex are a pain in the a$$ when it comes to this.

FlashkaBob · December 2012

OK thanks everyone. I don't have no Merican address so that doesn't help much.

@paqman I know what you mean about Fedex. I ordered a panoramic print from a store in Kentucky. Price $5.95 pebble finish $.99 mounted on a 1/8" masonite $8.95 = $15.89

Fedex shipping up to 22" long $17.95

Fedex shipping over 22" $29.95 = $29.95

Brokerage fee = $14.00

Tax = $ 3.23

Got my $6.00 (actually $15.89) print for $63.07

THEN got a bill in the mail 2 days later from Fedex for $10.00. The reason for this is that Fedex paid the 3.23 and charged me $10.00 for the $3.00 loan The woman told me it was legal. I said it may be legal but I could go to a loan shark for less than they charged.

As you can see I am a little apprehensive about ordering much from the south right now.

paqman · December 2012

And it's even worse if you ship to a biz address because they charge you the biz rate (2-3 times more). My employer has a third party broker. The first time I ordered something from the US and shipped using fedex to my office, they took the initiative to send the paperwork to my employer's broker without asking me and without my consent...

Greeno55 · December 2012

Well my product just arrived. Tom said in an email normally it's 6 business days to Canada, but expect 10-14 because of the holidays. It arrived on the 7th business day. I ordered the AR R&B combo, foil ring and a spider, so almost $200 in product and I was charged $0 duty, $24.69 HST and a $9.95 handling cost for a total of $34.64.

FlashkaBob · December 2012

Thanks Greeno. I think I'll go ahead and order the AR. Did you get it through the U.S. postal service or through a courier? CGS doesn't recommend shipping the stone through the mail.

Greeno55 · December 2012

I got it through USPS. I asked Tom specifically about this, and he said they've sent many stones here and have never lost one or has had one break, it's just USPS will not guarantee the stone. I am very happy to report mine arrived perfect.

Eggcelsior · December 2012

FlashkaBob said:

Thanks Greeno. I think I'll go ahead and order the AR. Did you get it through the U.S. postal service or through a courier? CGS doesn't recommend shipping the stone through the mail.

Can you get it insured? It would only be a few dollars. Then you can at least recoup costs.

FlashkaBob · December 2012

I think I read something about insurance on the CGS site

FlashkaBob · December 2012

@greeno55 Thank you sir. Much appreciated.

Greeno55 · December 2012

It was insured, and there was a $4.75 cost for that built in to the shipping, so I'm really not sure if there would of been a problem had it broke.

Canugghead · December 2012

Always specify USPS when ordering stuff from the US. I avoid UPS like a plague after learning my lesson long time ago!

FlashkaBob · December 2012

Thanks a lot guys

tjv · December 2012

Sorry, I would have jumped in sooner but been under the weather, guess it's officially flu/cold season around CGS. Our preferred carrier (most economical) is the postal services (USPS on our side). The standard shipping method is Priority Mail Service, typically 6-10 day delivery. With Priority Mail, one can not track a package, so there is no way for us to guarantee delivery.

To figure the shipping cost, we use weight. To keep it simple, we have weight groups and charge a flat fee per group. We include insurance for the cost of the equipment on all our international orders. Sometimes on smaller packages, we can upgrade the shipping to Express Mail, 3-5 day delivery with tracking. We don't know about upgrading until we get to the post office and tender the box.

We do not recommend shipping ceramic stones because they are considered fragile items by the carriers. We do our best to make sure the stones are properly packaged but it's still impossible to protect against the unexpected drop box accident. I probably just jinxed it, but we have not lost a stone shipping with the post office(s), so far.

Another reason we do not recommend shipping stones international is, due to shipping costs, most folks want to get everything with one order. This is understandable but for us, it can make boxing the items a challenge. For example (our current challenge), shipping a 24x24 size box weighing 50+ pounds to Europe with two 17.5" diameter stones.

We've found shipping USPS to be the most economical shipping method for international orders, including Canada. The CGS shipping expense covers customs and such to get the package physically delivered. What we've also found is the collection of taxes and such to be hit and miss, mostly dependent on the local motivation of the person delivering the package.

Some Canadians have us ship to a drop box location on the US side. When we do this, we ship with Fedex, our US shipping partner. Our only recommendation here is be timely on your pick up, as some boxes go temporarily missing at these drop box locations if left to linger.

We ship international quite often, enough that two of the three postal employees I tender the boxes to have the last four digits of my credit card memorized.......lol. This egg thing is truly a world wide phenom.

t

paqman · December 2012

Actually, it depends on the custom officer that inspects the package. If a fee (tax) is added, the local delivery guy or post office has to collect it, they cannot take the decision not to charge it. It is almost guaranteed that you will have to add GST or HST depending on where you live. Just use regular mail and don't worry. Chances are it will be faster than express mail anyway...

Skiddymarker · December 2012

paqman said:

Actually, it depends on the custom officer that inspects the package. If a fee (tax) is added, the local delivery guy or post office has to collect it, they cannot take the decision not to charge it. It is almost guaranteed that you will have to add GST or HST depending on where you live. Just use regular mail and don't worry. Chances are it will be faster than express mail anyway...

Even when driving across to a US ship to point, the same applies. I've come back after two hours in the USA with $300 worth of goods and been waved through, on another occasion, after two hours with $50 of goods, I've been sent in and assessed $6 in HST. Depends on the custom's officer and how busy they are.

FlashkaBob · December 2012

Thank you all so much for the information. There is another thumbs up for the ceramic grill store. I'll be ordering soon.

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Canadians ordering from Ceramic grill store

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