Many Canadian businesses find that the market in the United States often brings their biggest chunk of consumers. Canadian businesses that ship to the United States are often much more profitable than those who just stick to their own consumer market – and rightly so because consumerism is at an all time high in the United States. For instance, the biggest consumers of online shopping in the United States are millennials and they spend an average of approximately 400 USD on a single day (Black Friday) shopping online. These numbers mean great things for Canadian businesses, and those who don’t ship to the United States should start doing so at the earliest.
Many Canadian businesses are concerned with foreign shipping – they face trouble understanding the numerous regulations, the restrictions and struggle with finding the best rates from shipping companies. This is what stops them or hinders their progress. Such sellers are suggested to get in touch with Flagship, which is a company that helps sellers navigate through the process of shipping from Canada to the US, explain all regulations to the sellers, assist them with customs, and also give them the best possible rates in the market. The team of individuals at Flagship cares for the businesses they work with, have an excellent work ethic, and do their best to facilitate all their customers.
When shipping to the United States, it is important that sellers keep in touch with all the rules of the United States Customs and Border Protection and with the United States International Trade Commission to ensure that whatever they sell and how they sell makes them compliant with both these authorities. Non-compliance could result in heavy fines, and repeated instances of non-compliance could result in the complete ban of the seller from shipping internationally.
Additionally, sellers and businesses are strictly forbidden from lying about their shipment and misinforming authorities. This is because if found guilty, they would have to pay heavy fines and could face criminal charges. This would also lead to their shipments being inspected very frequently, and any more instances of non-compliance could make them ineligible from shipping at all.
Certain items such as medications, weapons, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, animal products, money and lottery tickets etc. are prohibited from being shipped to the United States. Weapons and alcoholic beverages can be shipped but require a special license. Hence, Canadian sellers need to make sure that they don’t indulge in selling any of the banned products to customers in the United States.
Every type of product that a Canadian shipper sells requires certain paperwork and documentation process to be filled out before the actual shipment takes place. Canadian sellers need to make sure they check for all sorts of documentation and fill that out prior to sending out their shipments.
Additionally, Canadian sellers need to be compliant with the CUSMA, which is the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement that preserves and studies the key elements of trading and shipping between the three countries. It addresses 21st century trade issues and governs trading policies between the three countries. There are certain conditions in which Canadian sellers need to comply with CUSMA such as:
- If their product was manufactured in either Canada, United States or Mexico
- For all shipments whether import or export from the United States or Mexico.
While there are no taxes applied on the products shipped from Canada, duties may be applied. If the product is of low value, the customs broker may decide the customers themselves. However, if the product is of high value and ranges $1000 - $2499, the customs would require a formal entry. If it is a company that is shipping it, they would have to provide their TAX ID number and that should be indicated on their commercial invoice. If it is an individual that is shipping it, they should provide their social security number.
Hence, Canadian businesses shipping to the United States have a huge consumer base in the latter. They need to thoroughly work out their shipping procedure and system to ensure hassle-free delivery to the United States. In order to build their consumer base in the country, they would have to provide seamless services and familiarize themselves with the shipping process.
