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Importing into Canada - Cologne as Hazardous Material!

post #1 of 24
7/31/06 at 10:22pm
Thread Starter 
Not sure where to post this - there doesn't seem to be an appropriate forum, but it's a big issue for Canadians.

Canada Post classifies cologne as hazardous material because it's flammable and they won't transport it. If you buying inside canada they don't check, so it's fine. However if you're buying from or selling to the US, the chances are high that they will check, in which case they'll confiscate it.

THere are some great deals from the US, from websites and ebay, or from this board, and I have no access to them! I want to get rid of my Opium and Joop whch I find to be hazardous materials because of how they ruin my social life when I'm wearing them, and I can't! Not many buyers or sellers in Canada. Can't find any Hermes Conentré d'Orange Verte for example, meanwhile from the UK or US you can find it for $25 for 100mL!

Some sellers use UPS to bypass Canada Post, but if you're Canadian and have ever imported anything with UPS you probably hate them as much as I do. They charge a ridiculous "brokerage" fee just for taking across customs, doing so in a way that guarantees that you pay customs 100% of the time, vs almost never with US Post, plus a fee for their curteous gesture of paying for your customs in advance, making you pay at the door.

These fees literally add up to more than the item you're buying plus shipping combined. No other carrier charges these fees. I once bought a mic component for $75 and insisted they don't ship with UPS - they did anyways, and I paid $80 in fees. WIth UPS I bought a $400 boom mic and paid no fees or customs whatsoever! My friend is a UPS driver and he told me he never uses UPS for across the border shipping!

Anyways, enough ranting against UPS - are there any Canadians out there, or sellers from abroad who deal with Canada who know how to get around this?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 24
7/31/06 at 10:30pm
Hi, I'm sorry I know nothing in regard to your question, but as I own Joop! and rarely wear it I wonder how does it ruin your social life? What kind of reaction from other people have you received? The other day there was a color man walking past me and he was wearing Joop! and I thought it smelled not bad at all.
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post #3 of 24
7/31/06 at 11:11pm
Thread Starter 
Maybe Joop smells better on diffent kinds of skin? I'm not sure who tends to buy Joop. I don't think I have any frieds who are into cologne, and they all think I'm crazy, so I have no one to generalize from. My female friends are more positive about my recent interest in colognes though!

On me Joop just smells like cheap chemicals. Really strong cheap chemicals. Basically I was told by a female friend that I stink, and I agreed enthusiastically! I went to sleep and woke up at 2AM to take a shower because it was making me sick!
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post #4 of 24
8/1/06 at 1:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR

Not sure where to post this - there doesn't seem to be an appropriate forum, but it's a big issue for Canadians.

Canada Post classifies cologne as hazardous material because it's flammable and they won't transport it. If you buying inside canada they don't check, so it's fine. However if you're buying from or selling to the US, the chances are high that they will check, in which case they'll confiscate it.

THere are some great deals from the US, from websites and ebay, or from this board, and I have no access to them! I want to get rid of my Opium and Joop whch I find to be hazardous materials because of how they ruin my social life when I'm wearing them, and I can't! Not many buyers or sellers in Canada. Can't find any Hermes Conentré d'Orange Verte for example, meanwhile from the UK or US you can find it for $25 for 100mL!

Some sellers use UPS to bypass Canada Post, but if you're Canadian and have ever imported anything with UPS you probably hate them as much as I do. They charge a ridiculous "brokerage" fee just for taking across customs, doing so in a way that guarantees that you pay customs 100% of the time, vs almost never with US Post, plus a fee for their curteous gesture of paying for your customs in advance, making you pay at the door.

These fees literally add up to more than the item you're buying plus shipping combined. No other carrier charges these fees. I once bought a mic component for $75 and insisted they don't ship with UPS - they did anyways, and I paid $80 in fees. WIth UPS I bought a $400 boom mic and paid no fees or customs whatsoever! My friend is a UPS driver and he told me he never uses UPS for across the border shipping!

Anyways, enough ranting against UPS - are there any Canadians out there, or sellers from abroad who deal with Canada who know how to get around this?

Thanks!

your talking about ups and usps right (usps = us postal service), and yes, ups sucks, just ask your sellers to ship usps all the time, if they dont, move on and buy it from someone else, because ups is frickin rediculous and its not worth it at all, in my experience like 99% of ebay sellers will ship usps ... and just get your seller to label it as "cosmetics"... its not really a lie, its just not truthfully specific works everytime! btw if your seller ships from a legitimate business addy you are legally allowed to import that perfume
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post #5 of 24
8/1/06 at 2:48am
They started something similar down here in Australia.

We cannot mail EDT overseas, because it is hazardous on planes.

But we can mail EDT within the country all we like - apparently it isn't hazardous on internal flights, must be our fresh air or something.

People from overseas can mail us all the EDT they like - Strawberrynet clearly labels their parcels, not one has ever been stopped - clearly it isn't hazardous on incoming flights.

We can catch any plane we like and put lots of bottles of EDT in suitcases and in carry-on luggage, because that is not hazardous. And airline regulators know this - because it is plainly what half the duty free stores at airports sell. Yet a parcel with EDT sitting next to that very same luggage in that plane is deemed hazardous! Remarkable!

Pardon my scepticism, but I can't help but wonder if this isn't just some legal scam instituted to protect the flourishing airport duty free trade.
Renato
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post #6 of 24
8/1/06 at 3:39am
How hazardous can perfume be, compared to the gallons of fuel oil on the plane?

Maybe they are worried someone might use it as a molotov cocktail on the plane?
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post #7 of 24
8/1/06 at 4:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by czesc

your talking about ups and usps right (usps = us postal service), and yes, ups sucks, just ask your sellers to ship usps all the time, if they dont, move on and buy it from someone else, because ups is frickin rediculous and its not worth it at all, in my experience like 99% of ebay sellers will ship usps ... and just get your seller to label it as "cosmetics"... its not really a lie, its just not truthfully specific works everytime! btw if your seller ships from a legitimate business addy you are legally allowed to import that perfume

I love USPS too, but the problem is that once it gets into Canada it goes through Canada Post, which won't ship cologne. More than 50% of the time they don't check the packages, but who wants to have your cologne confiscated 40% of the time? The advantage of UPS is that they tend not to check those packages
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post #8 of 24
8/1/06 at 4:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato

We can catch any plane we like and put lots of bottles of EDT in suitcases and in carry-on luggage, because that is not hazardous. And airline regulators know this - because it is plainly what half the duty free stores at airports sell. Yet a parcel with EDT sitting next to that very same luggage in that plane is deemed hazardous! Remarkable!

Pardon my scepticism, but I can't help but wonder if this isn't just some legal scam instituted to protect the flourishing airport duty free trade.
Renato

Indeed! I suspected it was some kind of protectionist measure, but I couldn't figure out to whose advantage! I don't think governments want to promote duty free sales though - they lose out on them!
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post #9 of 24
8/1/06 at 5:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR

I love USPS too, but the problem is that once it gets into Canada it goes through Canada Post, which won't ship cologne. More than 50% of the time they don't check the packages, but who wants to have your cologne confiscated 40% of the time? The advantage of UPS is that they tend not to check those packages


I've sent decants to Canada lots of times,with all kinds of blurry fibs ("men's grooming articles") and downright lies ("womens' fleece mittens") written on the customs form, and have yet to hear of a package not making it.

* knock on wood: Gator has a "toy car collection" on the way.
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post #10 of 24
8/1/06 at 7:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR

Indeed! I suspected it was some kind of protectionist measure, but I couldn't figure out to whose advantage! I don't think governments want to promote duty free sales though - they lose out on them!

True the governments wouldn't want it.

But the airport operators may. It's big business owning airports nowadays. I have shares in a company that owns slices of quite a few airports around the world, and it and others want to maximize revenue on the places it leases out. Airport operators/ airline operators/ airline regulators - certainly significant stakeholders in what goes on in the skies, and in the regulatory processes.

And we have at best an extremely flimsy regulatory pretext for banning scents in parcels. I'm suspicious.
Renato
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post #11 of 24
8/1/06 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
Now we have a very good theory!
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post #12 of 24
8/1/06 at 8:59am
I sent a bottle of Xeryus to canada for a trade and the parcel arrived at its destination unscathed but the bottle itself, inside, was smashed inside its ziplock bag. I was taught a lesson...don't ship to Canada.
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post #13 of 24
8/1/06 at 12:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trasker

I sent a bottle of Xeryus to canada for a trade and the parcel arrived at its destination unscathed but the bottle itself, inside, was smashed inside its ziplock bag. I was taught a lesson...don't ship to Canada.

extremely rare situation. please please my USA friends don't be scared to ship to us I've never had anything taken away or smashed and I practically ship in colognes as daily meals
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post #14 of 24
8/1/06 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR

I love USPS too, but the problem is that once it gets into Canada it goes through Canada Post, which won't ship cologne. More than 50% of the time they don't check the packages, but who wants to have your cologne confiscated 40% of the time? The advantage of UPS is that they tend not to check those packages

dude I just told you, label it as something other than cologne/perfume etc, customs doesnt actually open the packages 90% of the time when they slap you with duties, they just read the value on the green sticker and hit you with a charge. even if they do open it I've never had it confiscated. My bottle of SMW was opened by customs and they just gave me a 9$ tax
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post #15 of 24
8/1/06 at 12:10pm
I've shipped bottles and decants to Canada many times without any problems. Hmmm czesc maybe I shouldn't send your Tabac Blond
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post #16 of 24
8/1/06 at 1:12pm
I have engaged in at least 25 swap/sale transactions and a good 20 of them have been with inidivuals outside of Canada <US mainly, and one in Singapore> and except for one occasion <which had to do with confusions over addresses> not once has their been an issue.. items have never been destroyed.. gone missing.. etc.. etc..

as said previously, as long as you label parcels something like "used cosmetics" and declare a low value..there should not be an issue at all.. also, insert styrofoam peanuts, dog biscuits, anything that makes a noise that can help mask any swishing that might occur...

a.
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post #17 of 24
8/1/06 at 10:00pm
Oh - I forgot the main reason why this ban on the hazardous EDTs and perfumes is so plainly and absolutely stupid and unjustifiable - the airlines sell the exact same "hazardous" material on their planes, while in actual flight!
Renato
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post #18 of 24
8/1/06 at 10:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato

Oh - I forgot the main reason why this ban on the hazardous EDTs and perfumes is so plainly and absolutely stupid and unjustifiable - the airlines sell the exact same "hazardous" material on their planes, while in actual flight!
Renato

my guess id they would say that the box can break and leak into the cargo area (since its mail) and be ignited by a spark.. but i mean.. really... how do they ship in the 1000's of bottles for the dept stores...
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post #19 of 24
8/1/06 at 10:44pm
I'm Canadian and haven't had to deal with any 'confiscations' or even duty fees, all you have to do is arrange for the seller to mark the package as used cosmetics. I've had a lot of successful swaps this way. I think it would be a bit silly to boycot swaps to Canada because of this restriction.
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post #20 of 24
8/2/06 at 5:27am
Thread Starter 
Thank all - so I guess I won't flinch buying or selling cologne from the US then! I've always restricted myself to Canada. There isn't much available from Canada on ebay, and what is available is mostly from a rather somewhat seller. ALso there aren't many buyer in canada, so you have to sell things much cheaper.

Mostly I'm looking for Concertre d"orange Verte, and I've never seen it in Canada.
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post #21 of 24
8/2/06 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato

We cannot mail EDT overseas, because it is hazardous on planes.

But we can mail EDT within the country all we like - apparently it isn't hazardous on internal flights, must be our fresh air or something. ...

We can catch any plane we like and put lots of bottles of EDT in suitcases and in carry-on luggage, because that is not hazardous.

This is why I ignore the law on this. It is logically inconsistent to obey it.
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post #22 of 24
8/2/06 at 12:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eau_de_amour

How hazardous can perfume be, compared to the gallons of fuel oil on the plane?

Maybe they are worried someone might use it as a molotov cocktail on the plane?



A superb answer here and logic too - the tonnes of fuel in the plane ????

Sounds like A TAX thing to me !!!!!!!


Laurent
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post #23 of 24
8/2/06 at 6:50pm
Ok Caesar, here's a great story for you...

I was mailing several parcels of fragrance to the US at a Canada Post shop. I pay for the shipping and the lady passes me the customs forms to fill out. I foolishly write "Perfume" on the customs for and the woman smiles, takes the sheet from me, hands me another form and tells me to write "Cosmetics" instead. So clearly the Canada Post people even realize how stupid a regulation that is.
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post #24 of 24
8/2/06 at 6:57pm
Thread Starter 
Great story! Employees are often much more understanding than those far off people who make the rules! Caesar however is a man of the people!

That's a relief. I can actually get some concentre d'orange verte, and I can perhaps get fair prices for a couple of things I want to sell.
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