Info for anyone selling to Canada from somewhere else

[TiasTreasures]

I don't take checks, but do accept Canadian postal money orders from Canadians. U.S. post offices will cash Canadian postal money orders just like USPS MOs because they have a system set up with the Canada post office to check to see if the MOs are real. So if I receive a Canadian MO, it's one trip to the post office: cash MO and ship package.

Thanks for posting this information, I didn't know about it. I'll check it out with my local post office.

[florida33549]

Got a shock yesterday. My bank raised the conversion charge for foreign currency to $85 per check! This includes not only personal checks, but also money orders, cashier's checks, and certified checks. No exceptions, not even for Canada.

So, the only options we can offer now to buyers in other countries are PayPal and Google Checkout. Wish it wasn't so.

I think I'll check around town and see if all the banks are charging this much.

Are the money orders in US funds? If so, there should be no charge to deposit them. I use Bank of America and have never had a charge for depositing an international money order that was in US dollars.

[TiasTreasures]

Hmmmm. The notice just says drawn on financial institutions outside the U.S. I'll give them a call and find out.

I didn't know it was possible to get checks drawn in a foreign currency. I've always used PayPal when I buy outside the U.S. I'll check that out with my bank, too.

[marschenegger]

Got a shock yesterday. My bank raised the conversion charge for foreign currency to $85 per check! This includes not only personal checks, but also money orders, cashier's checks, and certified checks. No exceptions, not even for Canada.

So, the only options we can offer now to buyers in other countries are PayPal and Google Checkout. Wish it wasn't so.

I think I'll check around town and see if all the banks are charging this much.

The only part of the U.S. where I've had trouble sending a payment is California. Something is very wrong with banks in that state. You'd think with the financial crisis that state is experiencing that they would loosen up their stupid rules and let some foreign capital flow in?

Canada post has got to be the slowest postal service in the world and the best for loosing mail.

I don't agree with this statement. I have never had a tracked package disappear, and the number of times a piece of regular mail went missing can be counted on one hand (with enough fingers leftover to pick my nose and a friend's nose). As for speed, it depends where outbound mail is going. I concur with what another person said vis-a-vis shipping between Canada and the U.K. I have been getting registered letters lately from the U.K consistently in little more than a week. In the past, it used to take at least two weeks. But mail going to and coming from the U.S. is still slow. I don't think it's a matter of customs. I think it's just that north-south travel on this continent is much less frequent than east-west.

I purchased an item from the states. It was sent with USPS and had a tracking #. It went from California to New Jersey to Montreal Canada in 2 days. It took 5 weeks to come from Montreal to PEI (900 Klm as the crow flies).

I agree that there's something wrong with mail delivery in Montreal. I live in Ottawa, two hours from Montreal, and I had a letter take about a month to get here from Montreal. Mail delivery to/from the Maritime provinces is slowed considerably by having to go through Montreal. When I buy stuff from sellers in Montreal, I always keep in mind that I must pay for secure delivery. Regular mail is not an option after that wayward letter.