Online shops like TriSports.com and All3Sports are great but they charge way too much for Canadian shipping. I don’t just mean they charge more than I want to pay, they charge way above what the actual shipping cost would be. A $140 order that would be a fairly small box and weigh less than 6 lbs. on TriSports costs over $70 to ship and that doesn’t include duties. They all seem to scale the shipping by the cost of the order and it goes up a lot by just adding a small amount to the total. I don’t consider myself cheap but I’d like to think I’m not stupid either so I’m not willing to go 50% of the order cost to ship small and lightweight items. Actually, Canada seems to be way behind in online retailers in general… not just tri shops. With the size of the country and all of the remote but well populated areas you’d think online shopping would be big business here.
I think Endurosport has tried, but there prices on most of there stuff is higher than the balls on a giraff.
t~
I’ve found that the shipping costs aren’t the problem, it’s the duties you pay once it’s delivered. The duties are sometimes 50% of the cost of the item!!! I just don’t ship across the border anymore. I’m lucky because I have a U.S. address that I can send things to (my parents).
I think the biggest problem with these places setting up a Cdn shop is I’m just not sure it’s worth it to them. Since the population of all of Canada is about the size of Michigan, why would they go to the cost of setting up a Cdn business, just to ship to a small percentage of people. Kudos to Infinit for doing so, but I can see why the others wouldn’t want to.
Are you just complaining or are you looking for a site? If you want gear these guys are great! Good end of season sales too.
What are you after? We might be able to help, you seem to be somewhat in the neck of the woods.
Actually I am looking for information. I didn’t mean it to sound like complaining. I’ve been to trigeeks, either they don’t have much or they don’t list it all online.
What are you after? We might be able to help, you seem to be somewhat in the neck of the woods.
Thanks, I’ll contact you by PM.
I’ve never had that issue with Trisports and I order from them all the time. I do have issues with the duty and it’s hit or miss as to how much and even if I get charged. The only thing that I had problems with was getting some nutritional products from Trisport since they won’t ship those cross border. Best bet sometimes is eBay and get them to ship USPS. Almost never get dutied that way. Otherwise, no Cdn tri-site that even compares to Trisport or All3sports.
If it is something specific, call them. When I placed an order, the manager was very helpful, even offered to get items she didn’t have in stock (I wasn’t in much of a hurry).
About duty and brokerage fees:
If items are shipped from the US to Canada, they need to cross the border. But, it’s how they cross the border that makes it or breaks it sometimes. The added cost depends on whether you ship with USPS or a courier.
USPS - (cheapest) when US Postal items cross the border they are assumed by Canada Post. You pick up the item yourself at the post office, and you pay the duties and sometimes a $5 brokerage fee.
FED-EX, UPS, OTHER COURIERS - (expensive as hell) when you use a courier to ship from the US to Canada, you get hit hard. Couriers bring the item to the border, then hand it off to their preferred border broker, who handles the crossing. They pay the duty on the item, and bill you for that plus their services. The package gets delivered to your door, but a few weeks later you receive a bill from the brokerage company for duty plus their own ridiculously high broker fees. Often, these broker fees can as high as $60 - not including duty or taxes.
US ADDRESS SHIPPING - (smart, if available) if you’re Canadian, and live within a few hours of a border crossing, then get your expensive items shipped to a UPS Store in whatever town is on the US side, then go pickit up. All of the border towns have one. You pay $5 when you pick up your item, then bring it back however you want (wink, wink) I’ve been known to get bikes shipped to Niagara Falls, so all I do is drive there with oe bike on the vehicle, and come back with one more on the rack. No questions. “Purpose of time in US? Bike ride.” It’s worth two hours of gas to save big on duty, taxes and brokerage fees.
I use this last method all the time. In Ontario, for example, there are UPS Stores at every US border town…Detroit, Port Huron, Niagara Falls, Ogdensburg, etc.
I don’t have an issue with TriSports either. I just have an issue with the automated “scaled by order price” shipping most companies use for international shipping. I’ve shipped quite a few items back and forth across the border over the years and have a pretty good idea what it costs to ship things. For example, a tri suit (which I was ordering as a christmas present for a friend) doesn’t cost $70 to ship by regular postal service. I shipped a pair of bike shoes (off-road shoes so they weren’t feather weights) and a set of pedals to the U.S. recently by postal service and it only cost $15. Duties have nothing to do with the cost I’m talking about because they aren’t included. I’m not really complaining about what they charge, I’m just looking for in-Canada sources so I can avoid it.
Quick question…is that the shipping price provided automatically? if it is, email them first or call them since they will adjust it to what it actually costs.
I have a pretty good idea what it costs to ship things
In many cases it is only slightly more expensive to ship to Canada than the US, yet many retailers triple or quadruple their shipping rates. It’s ridiculous.
You can get things elsewhere for a LOT cheaper than at trisports.com.
Like geargrinder, I try and avoid UPS and FEDex like the plague.
And yeah, companies really jack up the prices shipping to Canada.
I’ve experienced both sides of this shipping issue. I run a business in Canada (not tri related) and we ship all over the world. We try and keep our shipping costs as low as possible for our customers, but there are often a LOT of headaches in shipping internationally. While sometimes the shipping costs themselves might not be outrageous, often it can takes hours of someone’s time to jump through the hoops and red tape just to ensure a shipment is going to get there. It’s a tough spot to be in, as the staff can’t spend all day trying to get a $70 item shipped to Canada. They don’t stay in business too long that way 
MOST companies aren’t trying to rip anyone off, they just need to ensure that shipping internationally doesn’t drive down their bottom line. It’s the capital world - costs get passed on to the consumer.
But all the suggestions in the previous posts are the best ways to get around the costs if possible.
I used trigeeks.ca last week and was impressed with selection, prices, and speed of shipping.
Agreed, getting US retailers to ship USPS is normally our best chance at avoiding the heavy shipping/duties.
Not Tri specific but www.probikekit.com has amazing prices and free shipping to Canada.
Hint: Keep the order small or do multiple small orders to minimize duty.
That works as long as they don’t check when you entered the country and left…if it is only an hour or two they will rake you over the coals…I got stung one time bringing back some goods that were my wife’s sponsored items (you still get stung for duty on free stuff if you can believe that), because they knew I had only been in the country for an hour, and then they searched my car and found a ton of supplements…they then proceeded to freak on me and tell me how they could have impounded my car, etc… and they charged me tax on the retail value of the vitamins…meaning I paid like 250.00 for “free product”. Granted not all things we have gotten from sponsors have had to pay duty on, but in some cases we have and haven’t figured out why sometimes yes and sometimes no?
About duty and brokerage fees:
If items are shipped from the US to Canada, they need to cross the border. But, it’s how they cross the border that makes it or breaks it sometimes. The added cost depends on whether you ship with USPS or a courier.
USPS - (cheapest) when US Postal items cross the border they are assumed by Canada Post. You pick up the item yourself at the post office, and you pay the duties and sometimes a $5 brokerage fee.
FED-EX, UPS, OTHER COURIERS - (expensive as hell) when you use a courier to ship from the US to Canada, you get hit hard. Couriers bring the item to the border, then hand it off to their preferred border broker, who handles the crossing. They pay the duty on the item, and bill you for that plus their services. The package gets delivered to your door, but a few weeks later you receive a bill from the brokerage company for duty plus their own ridiculously high broker fees. Often, these broker fees can as high as $60 - not including duty or taxes.
US ADDRESS SHIPPING - (smart, if available) if you’re Canadian, and live within a few hours of a border crossing, then get your expensive items shipped to a UPS Store in whatever town is on the US side, then go pickit up. All of the border towns have one. You pay $5 when you pick up your item, then bring it back however you want (wink, wink) I’ve been known to get bikes shipped to Niagara Falls, so all I do is drive there with oe bike on the vehicle, and come back with one more on the rack. No questions. “Purpose of time in US? Bike ride.” It’s worth two hours of gas to save big on duty, taxes and brokerage fees.
I use this last method all the time. In Ontario, for example, there are UPS Stores at every US border town…Detroit, Port Huron, Niagara Falls, Ogdensburg, etc.
I dig you man. I tried to order some shoes from Zappos the other week and they were like “oops, we don’t ship to canada”. Man that gets me. I’d love to have someone explain why it’s more difficult (or why they make less money), especially since the buyer pays shipping anyways. Sucks also when you miss a good ebay item just because the seller doesn’t want to ship to canada.
You want to try getting stuff to the UK from the States, shipping can make the order nonsensical. I like the Inside Tri Calendars but the only place I could find them online was Velonews and their shipping (not duty) more than doubled the cost of the order!