Anyone with Importing experience?
 

I'm trying to figure out this importing to Canada stuff. I have a Import Business number etc. but there's just so much that confuses me, would love to pick someones brain.

imports
 

what are you importing? if its not dangerous goods then all you worry about is the duty and brokerage fees. with an import number you should skip brokerage fees though. theres a lot of loopholes a guy can use

Well, for starters, I want to import some Reef Safe solenoid valves. I've sourced them at excellent pricing. now it's just getting them. Hoping to start small scale manufacturing.

You wont need an import number for that. It will have to really be a good deal to make up for - - shipping + duty + brokerage. just something to consider. the best thing to do is find someone in Canada who stocks them, and ask them to price match. saves shipping and import. theres ALWAYS someone who will match. its amazing how much money a guy can save by asking for a price match.

I don't think I;ll find anyone in Can or US that will come close to this price. This price is 10-20 times cheaper than what I have seen in North America. And truthfully, these little valves are almost impossible to find in NA

Are you going to Japanese engineer a Japanese product?

LOL, no Canadian Engineer a Chinese product :D. More so, adapt them for ease of use on our standard systems and redistribute :D
It's not makin cool parts outa PVC (YET) but it's a start :D

the only importing that i have done in the past was importing my wife..its amazing what you find on ebay these days.. seriously tho imported her from newyork:) wish i could be more help

If you decide to ship by UPS, be aware of the following brokerage fees and hidden costs that they don't tell you about. Fedx and the other courier companies are the same.

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shi...ration+Charges

Find out how they will ship these items and from there it all depends on how fast you want the item. I have imported items from a few countries. If you want to use the Biss import number it may speed things up. I have received items from China in less time that it took from Idaho on a couple of occasions. Biss import numbers are use for companies that are importing large volumes. It is suppose to speed things up you get charged the import fee and brokerage fee though a system that the Biss import number is attached to. I would not use UPS as they charge extra on both ends in brokerage fees and coming up from the US they are some times no faster than USPS's international parcel post.

Bill

Thx for the link Bryan, I always wondered how UPS figured their overcharge amounts. I KNOW they are CROOKS. I've preached high and wide about how NOT to use UPS. But for something like this, I just don't know what other company to choose from? I can try Fed-Ex, not sure if we have a depot in my town though.

IME FedEx and DHL were much more reasonable than UPS. I think FedEx generally charged around $15 as a brokerage fee and DHL was similar.

With UPS they charge about 30 dollars to figure out the duty you must pay then charge you 10$ or there abouts to be the lender for the money.
So 30 to 40$ just to lend you $5.40 this should be illigal.
If you have an account on file and a credit card they will just charge the card the amount.
Or you can tell them you want to deal with the duty yourself, then you goto customs with the information, but customs wont help you one bit with this so beware u might be stuck getting your items and have to use UPS and about the time this is all discovered your product is back on thier way to the sender for non payment of duty fees.
Best way is to use UPS and pay the expideted shipping, this is about 2x the regular rate, but they dont charge you the 30 - 40$ for the duty lender and duty figureing.

Well it is illegal to charge more than 26% on money loaned in Canada. they get away because they have admin fees and a hole whack of other charges that they can put on there S/R charge and caring charge. Have who ever is sending your shipment pay expedited rate things are faster and costs less in the long run. I don't ask any more offshore shipper that I have dealt with lately have just shipped expedited. so I forgot about this aspect. +1 Good call Steamazert.

Bill