LCSC shipping price to Canada ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2025, 07:18:51 am
content: I made an LCSC order, that was too big for the cheap/slow shipping, it's called 'global direct standard line'. Anyone know the details on that and how duty fee's are collected then ? Does Canada Post deliver it ?I chose DHL, for some foolish reason thinking the duty/tax would already be included, of course it's not.UPS was listed in the final list of options, for about 1/3 cheaper than DHL, So I figured UPS they didn't include the import tax/duty. (I think in the shopping cart, UPS was ~$60 and DHL/FEDEX/etc were ~$90USD).Anyone in Canada know if the UPS shipping option really is cheaper, or do you just get a bigger bill after it's already shipping ?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2025, 07:45:25 am
content: This is more in general, as I don't know how Canada works, but duty/tax is usually not collected automatically unless it's one of the big name companies, like Amazon/Aliexpress/etc and if it is collected it's going to be for all shipping options.It usually involves them registering to pay tax in the country they are sending to, and if they do that they will be required to pay it for all shipments to that country.As far as I know LCSC never pays duty/tax on shipments. They're supposed to be paying GST for shipments to NZ since I'm sure they do more than the $60k NZ sales threshold required to register and prepay it, but they're just flying under the radar.It's probable when you do the cheap/slow shipping option it was exempt due to low value, or maybe they were illegally undervaluing the customs forms and that's why it seems to be duty/tax paid. They're probably not undervaluing DHL shipments as DHL gets pissy and want true value so they can collect their fee if it's over the limit. So if you get hit with tax/duty when using DHL that might be why. But in any case it was either, always supposed to have duty/tax payable, or never was. I doubt the shipping option has any bearing on if they pre-pay it or not.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 12, 2025, 08:17:45 am
content: Most likely UPS, DHL will charge you quite a bit for customs clearance as well. Unless particular shipping option does says DDP, tax is not included. global direct standard line can be delivered by whatever once it arrives to the country and may change as well. To me in EU it takes about 10-14 days to arrive.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2025, 09:58:52 am
content: Yes, that is true, their fee to process the clearance is quite high and it's a fixed cost, so can easily becomes more than the value of the goods themselves.It's one of the reasons company's wont ship generic consumer goods 'duty paid' by the courier companies. The fee is too high for generic low value goods.

author: Selectech
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 12:54:05 am
content: JLC / UPS to Canada is less cost than DHL, but you still end up paying UPS brokerage / handling fees + HST.I use it a lot, most of my packages have UPS shipping in the $100 range.For me, not much better choice, I need reasonably prompt PCB fab, assembly and shipping.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 02:40:02 am
content: International shipping can be complicated.There's lots of ways companies do their shipments to customers for low value goods to get the shipping costs down, sometimes it changes carrier along the way because it's cheaper than using a single carrier.Aliexpress do this in some places, they air freight large containers full of 100's of smaller packages into the country and then each package goes out using the destination countries own cheap local mail carrier to your home.And from memory Linus Tech Tips does something similar. It's cheaper for them to ship everything to a specific country/location in bulk and have it go out from there. At least for some destinations.

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 01:48:38 pm
content: OK thanks I'll try UPS next time. DHL doesn't charge much on top of the the import/tax part, but yeah, a pretty large fraction of the total cost of all this, is the shipping/taxes.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 06:17:05 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on August 12, 2025, 08:17:45 amLCSC does offer DDP via DHL to Canada.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 10:23:58 pm
content: I would not use UPS if you care about excess fees. Global direct will always be the cheapest, DHL second cheapest with fees/taxes on arrival.You might even be able to split up the order.Quote from: asmi on August 13, 2025, 06:17:05 pmI don't see it, you must be thinking of JLCPCB.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 11:13:26 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on August 13, 2025, 10:23:58 pmYes, you are correct, I did mix up with JLCPCB. Sorry about confusion.

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2025, 11:36:56 am
content: I was just filling up another LCSC cart with 0.25W THH resistors, and a lot of the quantities are 200 (the 1st # you get a deal on), and they still costs under $1.However in the checkout, w/ $41 of resistors, the shipping would be $132 with DHL and others, $100 for UPS. And that's US, and before extra import changes/tax.Now is that really the shipping cost for a few 1,000's or low 10k# of 0.25W THH resistors ? I still had more to go. Most of them are small value, and back ordered. Is that somehow screwing up the shipping price ??Last time I ordered most of the main values from 100-1M, but only 50, of a lot of values. But I did have a few 1,000 of 1k,10k,100k and a few others (I just like to have them here, and they will last me for years, and it's all only getting more expensive).

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 28, 2025, 12:24:41 pm
content: Quote from: MathWizard on August 28, 2025, 11:36:56 amMost of the courier companies either suspended shipping to US at all or left it with ultra premium tier only. For example, with Latvia or Norway post you cannot send anything except letters at all.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/26/postal-services-suspend-us-usa-deliveries-how-will-it-affect-you

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2025, 12:32:30 am
content: Quote from: MathWizard on August 28, 2025, 11:36:56 amSeems a bit high, if I add 5000 0.25W resistors the shipping cost is $50, and weight is 1.6kg. What does the weight at the bottom say?If you want cheaper then you'll want to keep the weight down and use standard line.

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2025, 03:23:31 pm
content: Ok now I see the weight, when it went from under 3kg to under 4, the cost went up $10-12 iirc. With resistors anyways, it doesn't take long for the shipping to be more than the price. I added some nice op-amps, so it won't look as bad.Even making up a cart full of all the 0.25W 0805 1% 100ppm SMD resistors I'd want, will also cost a lot more than I figure.I wish they sold big boxes w/ 200 /500/1000pcs each of just about all the values, rather then trying to fill up a cart for ages, and if you're like me, end up with various sizes and brands. Surely thats more work for them.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2025, 10:06:27 pm
content: That would be a sample book:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008125654086.htmlThey don't seem to sell them.It is a lot of manual work, I never understand how they can make money to cover the labor.

author: MathWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2025, 06:37:03 pm
content: Yeah I got a Yaego 1 like that from ebay w/ either 100ppm or 200ppm TC, and with C0G caps, but I don't know the real series or datasheets to go by.Another question tho, I filled up a cart with lots of 1/4W 1% 100ppm resistors that weren't in stock, but from the common cheaper brands, and filled out the thing for Request Quote, and stated I wanted it all in 1 shipment. That was almost a week ago and it still says the status is pending.Is that normal ? There's a lot of fairly common values that aren't in stock, and IDK how there supply chain works, etc.Maybe I should just contact them and see what up.