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06/12/2019 at 11:41 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #63369
My main store is on .com. All using calculated US shipping, yes. I have been doing it that way for the last two or three years, but was using a cross-border courier to get my packages to USPS. THis just means I get to cut out the middle man. It means more driving/time/gas spent on my end, but I don’t have to worry about the courier shutting down/etc. It’s all in my (and CBP’s) hands now. I’d much rather have the control.
My smaller second store is on .ca in CAD, but those items are all lettermail sized.
06/12/2019 at 11:05 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #63366Correct. I’ve gotten a US PO box that I’m using as my ship from and return address.
06/12/2019 at 10:29 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #63364The one-time crossing fee is $13.30. Doesn’t matter if you cross with one package or a car load.
Alternatively, you can purchase an annual transponder for $405 that covers unlimited crossings for one vehicle for the calendar year. I ordered one online when I got home yesterday.
I don’t anticipate any issues. I’m sure at some point someone will hold me up, if for nothing else, to show me that they can, but everything I’m doing is on the up-and-up.
It would be against the rules to bring packages across the border if I wasn’t declaring them, and wasn’t paying the fee to cross commercially, but I’m doing both. There are no rules (that I’ve been able to find) against the process.
Thanks SoCalJoe!
For quite some time, I’ve had my handling time set to three business days. That allowed me to ship every other day, plus have a buffer day in there for my cross border courier to get things across for me.
I think I’ll try working with the same handling and two trips per week to the border. If I can manage that while still selling a consistent amount, plus retain my TRS status, I’m good.
More updates:
– Today my wife had her “interview”. Went well, and now she’s just waiting for an official offer letter. We had budgeted for her to make minimum wage, for safety, and it sounds like she’ll make $8-10/hr more than that to start, so we’re not complaining.
– Passports were in a box that came with the movers on Thursday.
– Today I made my first DIY cross border shipping run. No major issues. I crossed at a very small crossing, and for the most part it went smoothly. I spent all of fifteen minutes in Maine before crossing back over. I’ll likely look to start making the trip twice a week.
– Store is turned back on! Time to get back to listing!
Small updates:
– Our stuff gets delivered today. My wife has been sick for the last few days, and having nowhere to laze around except bed hasn’t been much fun for her.
– I turned my main store off due to the shipping/passport issue mentioned above. If the passports are in the box we hope they are, I’ll turn it back on today, and will try to get back to the “new business as usual” in the coming days.
– I had concerns that I may not be able to find all of the products I’ve been selling through Amazon in our new city. I’ve managed to find all of them at comparable prices, and have found an additional 15-20 items that I’ve bought and sent in as tests. If even half of them work out, it’ll boost my numbers by a few hundred dollars a month. With the bulk of our ebay listings turned off, I’ve been pushing harder on amazon, and it’s going well.
I’ve recently quit my full time career to sell on eBay and Amazon. If interested, I try to document some of the process on fb and Instagram (@TheCanuckReseller).
eBay, amazon, FB Marketplace and kijiji are all VERY viable options in Canada. Most of the other questions you’ve asked have already been addressed
06/01/2019 at 11:45 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #62773Yeah, when we pulled out of the driveway, it just felt super heavy behind the truck. I doubt it was over loaded by much if at all, but it was the first time I’d pulled a fully loaded trailer behind my new truck. Prior to this trip, it was only ever about half loaded, so this felt pretty soggy. I doubt I would have even noticed if I still had my old V8 Ford, but the V6 in my Tacoma just doesn’t have as much grunt.
06/01/2019 at 11:42 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #62772I can get a new passport in 24-48hrs for $110cad. The downside is, that if it’s to replace a lost or stolen passport, you need proof of birth/etc in order to get one. Guess where my birth certificate is… Of course it’s with our packed stuff, so best case scenario, our stuff arrives next week and our passports are in there. Worst case, they’re not, I grab my birth certificate, have new photos taken, and should have a new passport within two days.
Not a wall, just a bump…haha
Sorry for the lack of updates:
We got on the road a day later than expected. When we were leaving Calgary, I had concerns that our trailer was overloaded. A friend had recently pulled a similar trailer across the country, and broke the leaf springs due to overloading, so this may have been playing in my head. As a result, I went to UPS and shipped eight 30-40lb boxes of clothing to a family member near our new home. It cost around $500, but gave me a bit of peace of mind. In hindsight, not sure if it was needed or not, but it helped me rest a bit easier.
We made the trip in 4 1/2 days. Driving days were 8-12hrs. Mostly limited by the protests from one of our cats. He decided to yell at us for about three hours a day. Fortunately, once stopped and checked into hotels, both cats really settled into their usual routines and weren’t visibly shaken.
We’ve designated one room in the home we’re renting as the ebay room. I’ve set up a packing/ shipping table, and have unboxed all of the clothing items. Still searching for some shelving units to house the hardgoods. Crossing fingers for a community yard sale we’re hitting this morning.
We’ve made one or two thrift store stops since being here. Looks like books may be a viable option. It’s a university town, so that helps. Still have to feel everything out. Haven’t been overly focused on buying inventory as I’ve got a bit of a back log to work through first if need be.
My wife has a final, informal “interview” on the 11th which should finalize her employment.
Issue #1:
Somewhere along the move, we’ve misplaced our passports. This is a biggie because I was planning to ship my items from across the border in Maine. We’re not sure if they’re in with the packed items coming with movers next week (hopefully), or if they somehow made it into our “shred” pile before moving.
Without my passport, I’ve had to use Canada Post for shipping which is incredibly expensive in comparison to USPS. Items that could go first class for $3-4usd, cost around $15-17cad to send.
As a result, I’m thinking I’m going to completely shut my main store off until the passport issue is sorted. No need selling inventory at break even or close to. I’ll run on my second store which ships via lettermail, and on amazon for the time being.
Issue #2:
One of our cats is a tripod. He had one of his front legs amputated as a kitten. When he gets stressed out, he licks the “nub” obsessively. He licked it almost raw during the trip, and somehow (possibly a fall/jump) he broke through the skin. We had to take him to the vet to have him stitched back up. He’s currently wearing a cone for two weeks, and my wallet is $500 lighter. It’s a good thing the little jerk is cute…
05/22/2019 at 12:36 am in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #62231Trailer is packed.
Purged 15-20 old, low dollar, uninteresting items in the process of packing.
Movers come tomorrow morning. Hoping to get on the road in the afternoon. Drive will likely take 4-5 days.
Handling time is set to 10 business days on the main account. Keeping the standard 1 day handling on our smaller store. We can ship those items via letter mail from the road.
05/14/2019 at 10:51 pm in reply to: Winchester38's Journal – A Journey To Full-time Reselling #61925Been (and will be) a bit fleeting around here recently. Wife almost has the whole house packed and ready for the movers. Her last day at work is Friday. Very exciting.
I’ve been selling and donating stuff locally, loading up amazons warehouses, doing some listing, and have been doing some draft listings so that I can put up one or two things each day while we’re moving and until I get up and running again.
Planning to send my last shipment on Monday, then change my handling time (likely 10 days), and pack our 2600 items into boxes and our trailer.
Good to know!
Like the scrap booking, “stamping up” type stamps. Rubber mounted on wood blocks? Interesting!
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