Shipping items to Canada

To the Canadians out there is there a good site to buy things either in Canada or America when you don't get gouged for shipping? I'm just trying to get a pack of 4 cell maglite bulbs. Everywhere I've looked at is $35-50 for the cheapest shipping option. That's just ridiculous. It costs probably $3 to ship something like that internationally as it weighs nothing and is in small packaging. I just shipped a 14" knife to PA with $300 insurance and tracking in a 2' long box for $14 so I know it's not that expensive. I just don't understand why I can buy something for $.89 from China with free shipping and a blister pack the size of a CD costs $45 from under 1000 miles away. Sorry if this is coming off as a rant and as fellow Canadians I'm sure you see where I'm coming from just wondering you're experiences out there for a reliable company that only charges what it actually costs to ship their items to my home. Thank you

Have you tried Le Baron? They carry Mag bulbs, check their site, lebaron dot ca. I shop in-store, but the site provides any info you may need. I don't believe they try to profit from shipping, maybe there's a location near you.
In my limited experience, Canada Post shipping starts at about $12 for anything in a box, regardless of how "light" it is.

LOL! I was looking at a US$15 radio the other day, but balked at the $30 shipping charge. Of course, the alternative is paying $50+shipping from a Canadian site.

Aren't there some shops that will allow you to use their address as shipping address? Sort of like a PO box, but without using the "PO Box"? I seem to vaguely recall some company advertising about doing that. They'd hold the package, and you can drive down & pick it up. If you're close to the border, it might be an option.

Just found it. The UPS Store has this service. They offer a real address, notification, 24-hr access, and can hold or forward your package to you. Not sure what the service charge would be for that though. Here's the address for the store in Plattsburgh, NY.
http://www.theupsstorelocal.com/6270/products--services/mailbox-services

hmmm...I wonder how much they'd charge to ship a product on to Canada (or would they even allow such a thing).

There's probably other similar stores that would do the same sort of thing.

There's postal forwarding companies - unfortunately I dont have any on hand (used one ages ago for some training knives). But those do gouge you a bit too

I'll check out le baron. Thanks. Didn't know they carried bulbs. Actually out rates aren't that bad. I bought a maha 401 charger, 12 aa 2400 imedions, 8 aaa imedions, from a Canadian site. Shipping was $6. UPS is significantly more than using across the border ground shipping so that's definitely not an option. A good idea for things like ammo though. And I do live close to the border but no passport so also won't work

Up All Night said:

Have you tried Le Baron? They carry Mag bulbs, check their site, lebaron dot ca. I shop in-store, but the site provides any info you may need. I don't believe they try to profit from shipping, maybe there's a location near you.
In my limited experience, Canada Post shipping starts at about $12 for anything in a box, regardless of how "light" it is.

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No. It's more like $7 or $8. But it gets more expensive with tracking to the US. I just shipped a few lights so I know. US Postal rates just went up a lot for international shipping. I find it very interesting that countries where exports are encouraged have great shipping rates (Japan, SE Asia, China), but our countries jack up international shipping rates to keep domestic rates cheaper. Seems a little short-sighted. Asian postal services, in my experience, especially using EMS are far faster and cheaper than UK, Canada, or US. We get a little screwed.

Home Hardware carries a decent selection of Maglite bulbs including xenon. They don't carry the 6-D xenon so I ordered it from amazon(ca) and because I was ordering other things the shipping was free. I'm always surprised at the stuff amazon sells.

There are a lot of scammers out there. To protect themselves most international shipments need signature on receipt. This usually results in courier (AND CUSTOMS BROKERAGE) charges.

I like ebay because you can search for items based on cost plus shipping right away. It's frustrating spending a bunch of time on a website just to cancel when they don't ship to Canada or shipping is more than the item.

Last time I bought something at goinggear the shipping cost wasn't too bad.

eBay shipping from anywhere but china is exhorbant as well. I actually finally found a local place to at least buy all mag lights and accessories. A distributor that will sell to the public if you go in

vicv said:

eBay shipping from anywhere but china is exhorbant as well.

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I buy on eBay quite often and shipping within Canada or from the USA is often $0 to 10.