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Best place for Canadians to order?

post #1 of 16
2/16/06 at 12:33pm
Thread Starter 
I'm am just starting this little habit and being from Canada it is not easy to order online without getting your stuff confiscated, taxed or brokeraged for some silly amount. Recently I ordered from Scentiments, my order came to $76.25 US (a steal). When the UPS guy shows up at my door has asks for $51 Canadian?, thats about $45 US and nearly 70% of the cost of the order. Even though I still saved about 25% off retail I can't help but feeling a little cheated. Canada customs charged me $21 and I'm fine with that but UPS charging $30 to essentially stamp a box is insane, I will never order a product from the US if it is sent UPS again. I can't imagine what fee I'd have been hit with if I spent $200-$300.

Trolling around these boards for the last few months I have seen there is a lot of canadian content on here and I am wondering where do you guys order from to build your collections and not go through the same unpleasant situation I did.

PS I hate all you lucky Americans who get dirt cheap cologne with tiny shipping costs and no taxes, I'd renounce my citizenship for how easy you guys have it.
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post #2 of 16
2/16/06 at 6:04pm
I'm now mostly ordering from FragranceNet.com.
They ship USPS (postal service).
Sometimes the customs charge me something, but usually less than C$20.
Perfumebay.com ships via UPS but they're cool and declare the stuff in a way you have nothing to pay to UPS!
Within Canada there are a few on-line retailers:
http://www.perfume.ca (the choice is not very good though)
http://www.enchanteperfumes.com/main.htm (lots of stuff there!)
http://www.shifeon.com
http://www.theperfumeshoppe.com (only niche stuff there)
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post #3 of 16
2/16/06 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks a lot for the help. Fragrancenet.com seems to have some pretty good deals and reasonable shipping costs. The online Canadian retailers are insanley expensive. Enchanted perfumes is more expensive then most department stores.
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post #4 of 16
2/16/06 at 10:26pm
I'll add one more:
http://www.perfumefactory.ca/

Small but nice selection. Some real bargains.
All prices INCLUDE tax and shipping.
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post #5 of 16
2/17/06 at 12:34am
I order from Luscious Cargo a lot, and I've never been hit with a brokerage fee or confiscation or anything. Very niche, though.


edit:

Oh, wow... Thanks for The Perfume Shoppe link. They've got a few of my favourites there for some pretty decent prices. Four in the morning and here I sit confirming orders.
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post #6 of 16
2/17/06 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
Thanks again to everyone for helping out. Curious as to how the one place that uses UPS avoids the fees, do they mark the box less then $20 on canadian orders so we don't get fleeced or do you have to ask them?
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post #7 of 16
2/17/06 at 6:55am
i'm in montreal.

i also have ordered from luscious cargo and did not get hit with customs fees or anything but it's a small outfit that sometimes takes a while to ship.

i have ordered sans brokerage fees or duty charges from http://www.aedes.com also niche


i order frequently from Â*http://www.theperfumeshoppe.com but i mostly wear niche. Prices are good, service excellent
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post #8 of 16
2/17/06 at 7:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snagglepuss

Curious as to how the one place that uses UPS avoids the fees, do they mark the box less then $20 on canadian orders so we don't get fleeced or do you have to ask them?

Yes, that's what they do, and no need to ask, they know about it!
That's why I said they're very cool!
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post #9 of 16
2/19/06 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by baiesbaby

i have ordered sans brokerage fees or duty charges from http://www.aedes.com also niche

That's also good to know. I've actually been a bit disappointed that it says on Aedes' site that due to various problems they won't ship to Canada anymore, but maybe that information is out of date and things are okay again. There are a couple of frags I've been pining for, but I thought it wouldn't be possible to get them from Aedes.

I'll email them and find out if that "we don't ship to Canada" is still valid. Maybe they're not sure if Montréal is part of Canada
(I know sometimes the rest of us aren't)
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post #10 of 16
2/19/06 at 2:23pm
You can check out http://www.perfumesdepot.ca, a Montreal-based bilingual (English-French) site.
Not an exhaustive selection but decent prices. They have more products in their 2 Montreal stores than online, but I was told that they're still working on their site, that's why they don't advertise it much yet. I bought twice from one of their stores. I wonder why though products are slightly more expensive online.
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post #11 of 16
2/20/06 at 10:46am
The secret to shipping to Canada is always use the post office and avoid UPS. UPS is great for shipping in the US, but they always hit you with customs fees and absurdly high brokerage fees crossing borders. Plus, unless you pay through the nose (sorry), their service is actually generally slower than regular post. Don't encourage them by giving them your business. In contrast, the post office exercises a lot of discretion. If the customs slip says it is a gift it and the declared value is around $60 or less it usually passes unscathed. Most commercial enterprises don't declare as gift, in which case it usually gets pulled for assessment. If it gets pulled over, it's PST+GST+$5 handling, which isn't so bad. I've heard rumours of confiscations but can't imagine why--it's not like it's contraband so you could probably contest (ingredients from endangered species, though, would justify confiscation).
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post #12 of 16
2/20/06 at 12:28pm
I got a parcel officially confiscated by the Customs; I received a letter from them.
The content was a bottle of Bvlgari PH EDT from a swap with noirwest from Utah.
EDT contains alcohol which is considered hazardous.
That's the reason they give to restrict perfume import through canada post.
(in reality they probably want to get consumers to use Purolator, which doesn't have this restriction, is the property of Canada Post, and costs much more!...)
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post #13 of 16
2/14/07 at 8:12pm
I recently got hit myself on 3 bottles of cologne purchased on Ebay. Same thing deemed hazardous materials & confiscated... Hopefully the cosmetic tip works in the future...
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post #14 of 16
2/14/07 at 10:21pm
I got hit once and had a Guerlain parfum confiscated =( The seller had insisted on sending air with insurance though - and since sending by air is not allowed, the seller didn't go through the insurance and I got stiffed.

I checked the regulations and spoke with Canada Customs, Canada Post, and the Transport Canada folks. It is allowed in Canada to send fragrance in the quantities and packaging we would be using as long as it is sent ground. Canada Customs will sometimes confiscate it on behalf of Canada Post though. If you are a business, you can get a ... permit number? something like that. A number to write on the outside of the package so that customs knows not to confiscate it.

I've never been charged customs on fragrances - which makes sense, customs will either choose to ignore it, or they'll confiscate it... taxing it doesn't make much sense. Shower gel etc they might put duties or taxes on though.

I'm not very impressed with the system... in my case the seller might have been able to retrieve the goods but didn't try.


Oh... so what do I do? I have a friend in the US I get packages shipped to. My mom periodically drives things across the border and mails them to me.
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post #15 of 16
2/14/07 at 10:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kasae

I've never been charged customs on fragrances - which makes sense, customs will either choose to ignore it, or they'll confiscate it... taxing it doesn't make much sense.

Not really true, I got customs twice on a package. Once for a bottle of Creed MI and another for YSL M7. Even the customs form said "Perfume" on it. I basically had to pay 10 bucks for the MI, and 20 bucks for the M7.

But...yeah..the system is really messed up. I can send a 200ml bottle to anywhere within Canada, but if I'm receiving as little as 5ml from the states, they have the ability to take it away. Customs basically says a perfume is a dangerous good because of its alcohol content, that's highly flammable. It can be a harm to the handlers of the package. But I honestly think is a load of BS, my theory is, they're trying to regulate and control domestic perfume prices.
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post #16 of 16
2/15/07 at 8:31am
Great thread. I was about to place a large order from a US website, but now I'm having second thoughts.

The forum won't let me post links, so you'll have to edit this one...

www
canada
com

and then...

/globaltv/calgary/consumerbeat/story.html?id=e7e0f7b4-7394-46ca-9208-c298c062c175

I'll probably email FragranceNet about this, but it wouldn't hurt if we all let them know we were aware of their recently published policy for Canadian orders.

With Canada Post, the official line is that perfumes/colognes are dangerous goods and are therefore prohibited. Accordingly, USPS is risky because I believe they hand off all their mail to Canada Post. Please correct me if I am wrong. However, it does sound like going through a private courier, like UPS, might be a way to avoid this prohibition. You'll get fees up the nose, but it's better than paying for nothing.

PerfumeBay is looking pretty tempting...
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