Shipping the Test Kit to Canada

[duraleigh]

I'm getting lots and lots of inquiries about shipping the TF test kit to Canada. First of all, I want to be able to do that......assuming it's not a giant hassle.

Here's what I know to date. It is very confusing and I still don't know if it can be done. The shipping costs by Fedex appear to be reasonable and that part looks okay. Where I'm struggling is with the good ole' US and Canadian governments and the fact that some of the chemistry appears to be classified as "hazardous" material. You could probably drink one of these kits and come away totally unharmed (other than the water inside of you should be a very, clean sparkling blue :lol: :lol: :lol: )but that does not keep the regulators from making this an issue that I am struggling with.

Do any of you folks in Canada know if you can get a Taylor kit from the US? If so, that would make the process easier because all my chemistry has essentially the same ingredients. Post up if you have knowledge of this. Secondly, If there's any of you who can sort thru this jungle of text material covering hazardous materials, I would appreciate your help.

I'll keep working on this issue....I would really like to be able to ship to ya'll up there but I am really bogging down in the technical aspects of doing so legally......stay tuned.

 

[Caustik]

I ordered my Taylor 2006-c a few weeks back from a US online pool supply company. This was a few days before you started to offer yours. It came shipped normal US Postal Service as pool parts. Was here within 4 days of the order.


PS. Fedex and UPS usually charge a brokerage fee. UPS has been especially nasty in some of my past US purchases. I try to avoid UPS if possible.

Hope that helps.

 

[Rob]

Most online pool distributor places don't ship ANY chemical to Canada, my guess is that it is simply due to the fact that many of the chemicals used in pools actually are legitimately hazardous chemicals, and such have problems.

There are Taylor test kits available in Canada, but they all go through a Canadian distributor, and are REALLY expensive (I was quoted $285 + tax + shipping for the K-2006, NOT the K-2006-C even. For comparison, I found the K-2006 on some US websites for $60).

I'll try and dig up more info on this, and if it gets to the point where you feel you are secure, and are simply worried about the targetted person not receiving the kit, or being charged a large fee, I'll volunteer myself as a guinea pig to see what happens, covering all the costs of shipping and the kit regardless of the outcome.

 

[duraleigh]

Most online pool distributor places don't ship ANY chemical to Canada, my guess is that it is simply due to the fact that many of the chemicals used in pools actually are legitimately hazardous chemicals, and such have problems.

There are Taylor test kits available in Canada, but they all go through a Canadian distributor, and are REALLY expensive (I was quoted $285 + tax + shipping for the K-2006, NOT the K-2006-C even. For comparison, I found the K-2006 on some US websites for $60).

I'll try and dig up more info on this, and if it gets to the point where you feel you are secure, and are simply worried about the targetted person not receiving the kit, or being charged a large fee, I'll volunteer myself as a guinea pig to see what happens, covering all the costs of shipping and the kit regardless of the outcome.

Hi, Rob,

I appreciatte that info. What a hassle!! Surely, someone in Canada could get clever and assemble a kit up there and then sell it. I KNOW that a couple of the chems are listed as hazardous by UPS BUT UPS says they are ground shippable to Canada....I just can't figure out what I have to do to meet the gov't requirements to ship them. I'll keep digging.

 

[CaOCl2]

Surely, someone in Canada could get clever and assemble a kit up there and then sell it. I KNOW that a couple of the chems are listed as hazardous by UPS BUT UPS says they are ground shippable to Canada....I just can't figure out what I have to do to meet the gov't requirements to ship them. I'll keep digging.

Yes but even at cost price individual reagents are much more expensive than whatever retail prices are in the US. Taylor US won't sell to Canadians, it all goes through a single Master Distributor. Even the Taylor website detects you're from Canada and won't display reagents/test kit prices, instead it'll pop a window with the Canadian contact info. Use a free service like proxify.com to get around that.

If you try contacting a Taylor reseller in the States chances are he has read the memo and will refer you to the Master Distributor.

If I want to sell a kit I litterally have to sell it at cost. And it is expensive. I do my best to try and compensate for the higher price by hand delivering it, offering training/support on it, offering a lower price on my little magnetic stirrers, beakers and stirbars, stuff like that.

I even thought of offering a refill service at one point. Send in your empties and get 'em filled up!

Point is, with the current situation, selling Taylor in Canada is a very very tough sell. The distributorship thing was probably setup way back, when there was no Internet, no email and no eBay.

Something has to give.

 

[Rob]

Any update on this?

Again, at this point, if its simply a worry of the kit not making it or being charged a large fee, I'll happily volunteer to be a test case and cover the cost of the kit and delivery and see how it goes

Rob

 

[duraleigh]

Any update on this?

Again, at this point, if its simply a worry of the kit not making it or being charged a large fee, I'll happily volunteer to be a test case and cover the cost of the kit and delivery and see how it goes

Rob

Rob,

Let me start by saying again I would really like to do this. The regs are so tedious, I haven't been able to effectively sort thru them to see if I'll get busted. I'm not the least worried about it getting lost but I'm concerned about getting some horrendous fine from your government or mine because I didn't jump thru all the hoops they require.

I'm convinced you can drink everything in the kit (not gonna' try, tho :lol: ) but I can't get a good grip on what's required to make sure they don't come back and fine me $10,000 for the privilege of making a few bucks off the kit.

I've had to put it on the back burner the last few days but I will try to find a resource that can help me sort thru all the info....I am simply overwhelmed by what I have read at this point.