[allan.lee65]

Originally Posted by philipa_240sx

- Research products before you buy. There is some decent stuff out there, but you need to weed out the junk first.
- Never back order anything. Wait for it to come in stock.
- Put lipos on a separate order.
- Keep your orders small. If something gets messed up, you have less risk.

I agree with what you are saying!
Being new to the hobby, I am dealing with many of the mail order places for the first time. So any advise is always welcome!!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by allan.lee65

Thanks for the reply, Canada Post is what I prefer, since they will not just leave in on my door step, like some couriers have done in the past.

almost every shipment from canada post has been left at my door.i have had airplane kits left at the door.

[bobreib]

I ordered a Heli + parts from Hobby King. After a 2 week delay due to a back order item it was shipped Feb 16 by air mail and arrived at my door in Ontario on Feb 23.
I often find that shipments from Hong Kong and China arrive quicker than many shipments from the US. My orders from HK sent by regular post take about 10 to 15 business days ..

[JBoyd]

Originally Posted by groundcrew

almost every shipment from canada post has been left at my door.i have had airplane kits left at the door.

The shipment I got from HPZ was left at my door, the cheap registered HK shipment (which had tracking through Canada Post oddly enough) required a signature.

[allan.lee65]

Originally Posted by groundcrew

almost every shipment from canada post has been left at my door.i have had airplane kits left at the door.

For me, we have a Community Mail Box at the end of the street, if the box does not fit in it, I usually just get a notice in my mail box telling me I have a pick-up at the postal outlet.

Ordered my HobbyPartz order on the 22 Feb. and am still waiting for an email that say it is shipped, with tracking info. I will keep my fingers crossed that all will go smoothly!!!

[MikeW]

Originally Posted by allan.lee65

just wondering how will my package arrive, Canada Post, FedEx, UPS etc...

Unless you have very special circumstances you are going to want to always have a vendor ship to you via post. Often as not your packages will clear customs with no taxes or fees levied, it just takes a while. I've never had to pay for taxes or fees when orders are marked as < 100 dollars but your mileage may vary.

If the order is very big, and accurately documented as such, then you may be asked to pay for GST / HST by when the postal delivery person comes to your door, plus a 6 dollar handling fee. For the first time in recent memory I had to pay taxes on a $400+ US order and the 6 dollar fee. C'est la vie.

If my vendor had used (against my wishes) a courier like UPS or FedEx, the 6 dollar clearing/handling fee Canada Post charged me would have ballooned into a customs clearing fee of more like 40 bucks, regardless of the actual value of the shipment -- 4 dollars or 4 hundred.

In short, you want to avoid such couriers like the plague for your hobby orders, generally speaking, and most U.S. and overseas vendors know this.

USPS and overseas postal services do have faster delivery options which you can pay up for and for those you'll also get tracking but realize that sometimes cost alone doesn't mean you have tracking - for example with USPS if your shipment fits in a small flat rate box you don't get tracking; if it fits in a medium or larger flat rate box you do get tracking. For the low cost postal delivery option you might get a number from your vendor but it won't allow you to track shipments.

In any case Canadian Customs often seems to be the bottle neck. Be prepared to wait. Avoid UPS like trees!

[paddykn@yahoo.ca]

Gentlemen,
In my opinion Canada Post really sucks. i,ll tell you why i feel that way. I,ve always been fairly satisfied with Hobby King Shipping ( average 2 weeks ) until my Last order. They had my order in Canada Customs in about 10 days, this is over the Christmas period , not bad.Customs sent it through for delivery,thats OK. Then all hell broke loose. C. P. send it to the wrong sub P. O. for delivery.From that time on It's been lost. 8 calls to Can. Post no satisfaction in fact nobody gave a darn and certainly nobody could even be bothered trying to find the parcel. They kept telling me that Hong Kong Post had to do the search . I requested a search from H. K. Post only to be told that Hobby king had to request the search. Hobby King requested the search 2 weeks ago and I got an answer today tellintg me that the parcel was in a local P. O. and all i had to do was pick it up. You can imagine how excited i was. Called the P.O. only to be told that the parcel was not there, that it was probably sent back to Hong kong And that they never told Hong Kong that it was.Hobby King wont replace the order until it's declared lost, which they wont do and Canada has washed their hands of the whole affair . If anybody says have a great day to me I think I,ll Cry Lol.

Paddy

[Terry Gauvin]

Originally Posted by paddykn@yahoo.ca

Gentlemen,
In my opinion Canada Post really sucks. i,ll tell you why i feel that way. I,ve always been fairly satisfied with Hobby King Shipping ( average 2 weeks ) until my Last order. They had my order in Canada Customs in about 10 days, this is over the Christmas period , not bad.Customs sent it through for delivery,thats OK. Then all hell broke loose. C. P. send it to the wrong sub P. O. for delivery.From that time on It's been lost. 8 calls to Can. Post no satisfaction in fact nobody gave a darn and certainly nobody could even be bothered trying to find the parcel. They kept telling me that Hong Kong Post had to do the search . I requested a search from H. K. Post only to be told that Hobby king had to request the search. Hobby King requested the search 2 weeks ago and I got an answer today tellintg me that the parcel was in a local P. O. and all i had to do was pick it up. You can imagine how excited i was. Called the P.O. only to be told that the parcel was not there, that it was probably sent back to Hong kong And that they never told Hong Kong that it was.Hobby King wont replace the order until it's declared lost, which they wont do and Canada has washed their hands of the whole affair . If anybody says have a great day to me I think I,ll Cry Lol.

Paddy

"Canada has washed their hands of the whole affair". Wow, you ordered some parts for a toy plane from some foreign country to save a few dollars and they went missing. Pretty serious stuff. Put it in perspective and move on... We should all be so lucky.

[moo moo]

Wow, some great comments and insights! Thanks guys/gals! It seems that there is some collective wisdom about the whole RC Canada shipping process. In Summary:
1) Order LiPos separately.
2) Use USPS, Canada post etc. to avoid the $40 brokerage fees from UPS/Fedex etc.
3) Don't expedite shipping if you can avoid it.
4) If you buy cheap don't expect customer service.
5) Don't order anything on backorder.
6) Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Plan to lose the occassional shipment

Anything else I missed?

[Chrisfly]

Originally Posted by moo moo

Wow, some great comments and insights! Thanks guys/gals! It seems that there is some collective wisdom about the whole RC Canada shipping process. In Summary:
1) Order LiPos separately.
2) Use USPS, Canada post etc. to avoid the $40 brokerage fees from UPS/Fedex etc.
3) Don't expedite shipping if you can avoid it.
4) If you buy cheap don't expect customer service.
5) Don't order anything on backorder.
6) Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Plan to lose the occassional shipment

Anything else I missed?

Moo Moo

I think you got it all except maybe:

7) Keep a spreadsheet of what you paid (total) vs. what it would have cost from a "local" source. Then even when bad stuff happens you will be able to see you are still way ahead!



CP