How to Check Shipping Costs
To see shipping costs, add items to your cart and then enter your address on the Cart page – no purchase required. The available shipping options will be calculated and displayed automatically.
Shipping Options
It is highly recommended that you choose a shipping method that includes tracking. The following shipping methods do not include tracking and should be avoided if you can afford it:
- Free Shipping (for fabric samples only – apply the coupon code “sample_free_shipping”)
- Small Packet USA Air
- Small Packet International Surface
- Small Packet International Air
- International Parcel – Air
- International Parcel – Surface
About 1% of un-tracked parcels sent overseas are delayed by a few weeks, held by the destination country’s Customs office for inspection, or lost. DIY Packraft Ltd. will not accept responsibility for delayed or lost packages sent by shipping methods that do not include tracking.
If your package is being shipped to Germany, be prepared to show an invoice indicating the value and shipping cost of your package and to retrieve it within one week of its arrival at the Customs office, or it will be be returned.
Order Processing Time
The current order processing time is included in the Etimated Delivery Dates you see beside the shipping options on the Cart page. Except for very simple orders, orders are processed on a “first ordered, first shipped” basis. Orders containing backordered (“backorder” = currently not in stock) products will ship when all of the products are in stock and the Estimated Delivery Dates do not apply.
If you require your order to ship or arrive before a certain date, please contact me first to see if that will be possible. Do not order first.
Minimizing Shipping Costs (for overseas customers)
I add no markup to the shipping prices – the prices you see are as close as possible to the actual prices I pay (which can only be calculated after each parcel is packed, measured, and weighed). You can always check shipping costs by adding items to your Cart and then visiting the Cart page and entering your address – shipping options are automatically calculated based on the size and weight of the items in your cart.
For customers outside the USA and Canada, be aware that 2 kg is the threshold above which the less expensive Small Packet Air and Tracked Packet services are not available. Most DIY Packraft kits weigh more than 2 kg (the Ultralight kit is the exception).
You can save money on shipping by ordering multiple kits with a group of friends to reduce the shipping cost per kit.
You may also be able to save money on shipping by using a “freight forwarder” – see this blog post for details.
Customs Duties & Taxes
Unless your parcel is shipped to Canada, no taxes will be collected by DIY Packraft; however, some countries require you to pay import duties when you receive a product through the mail from a foreign country. This is typically a percentage of the value of the product, or the value of the product plus the shipping cost. For many countries, there is a value below which no duties are applied (this varies widely between countries). Please educate yourself about your country’s import rules.
Shipments to the United States should not incur any taxes or import duties.
Australia recently changed their thresholds for import duties – if you know the new limits, please leave a comment below.
New Zealand allows under $1000 duty free on imports before GST and duty is paid.
Shipments to the European Union will probably be taxed with the VAT upon arrival.
Shipments to Canada will be charged 5% GST at the time of purchase. Shipments to British Columbia incur an additional 7% PST at the time of purchase.
Failure to Retrieve Packages
If you fail to retrieve your package at the post office or customs office within the allowable time limit (usually 1-2 weeks, depending on the country), it will be returned to me and you will have to pay for it to be sent again, so do not place an order and then plan to be away from home longer than your post office will hold your parcel!
For international orders (Europe and Asia, especially), please check the tracking information daily to make sure your parcel is not stuck in Customs. If it sits in Customs for several days, phone your Customs office with your tracking number to see if there is a problem. (These are overworked government bureaucrats – if you wait for them to contact you, it could be too late and your parcel could be sent back to Canada.)
Other Notes
Canada Post (and by extension DIY Packraft Ltd.) only guarantees delivery to a destination country’s Customs facility, where parcels will then be processed by Customs officials before being passed to your local postal delivery service for final delivery. DIY Packraft can’t be held responsible for mistakes made by postal bureaucrats in other countries!
Be sure to include a valid phone number in your order, and answer your phone when it rings – it could be your post office or a Customs agent calling you to complete the delivery! DIY Packraft will never use your phone number, except to pass it to the postal service.
Fabric will be folded for shipping (a long roll is much more expensive to ship). If you like, you can iron out the creases when your shipment arrives, though this is not required. To do so, use a clothes iron set to a low temperature.
Do not use blades to open your parcel – you may damage the contents!
Feel free to leave a comment below describing your experience regarding wait times, customs duties, or other relevant information (please indicate the country or region where your order was delivered).
Thanks!
20 Comments
richard velazquez · June 24, 2021 at 10:35 am
hey there im looking for 200d and 70 d tpu and it should be shipped to spain
thanks
Agu · May 27, 2020 at 8:56 pm
Hi Matt, I get this message in my cart “No shipping options were found for Buenos Aires, Argentina”. Do you ship here? Which options do I have? How can I estimate the shipping cost of a Skeena kit? Thanks!
Matt (Admin) · May 28, 2020 at 8:33 am
Thanks for your interest in a DIY Packraft kit! Unfortunately shipping to some countries has been temporarily suspended due to the pandemic. For more details, check the link in this blog post: https://www.diypackraft.com/2020/03/25/postal-service-suspended-to-some-countries/
Josh Broadhurst · March 8, 2021 at 2:37 pm
Hi Matt,
Info from NZ
Customs will not collect GST, duty or charge an Import Entry Transaction Fee (IETF) on goods valued $1000 or less, unless the goods are part of a large consignment.
Andrew terhell · May 20, 2019 at 5:09 pm
I’m looking at using a freight forwarder, what’s the approx box dimensions for a v3 raft? Also what forwarding services have others used?
Matt (Admin) · May 21, 2019 at 8:49 am
Hi Andrew, the approximate dimensions are 50 x 20 x 10 cm, 3.5 kg. Cheers!
Gustav · September 11, 2018 at 8:13 am
Swedish order here.
Order amount and shipping from diypackraft was:
323€ or 3338 SEK
Customs and fee charges in total:
79.5€ or 837 SEK
~62€ VAT ~5€ Customs fee and ~12.5€ National Postal
Gonna pick it up tomorrow, looking forward to assembly, just got too finish my tent project first 🙂
Mateo · February 7, 2018 at 11:24 am
Hi Matt,
Do you send an order confirmation once you ship or should I have gotten one after checking out? I see the charge on my card, but just want to make sure that the order actually went through since I haven’t seen any confirmation. Thanks for your help!
Best,
Mateo
Matt (Admin) · February 7, 2018 at 11:31 am
Yep, you should receive an automatic confirmation email from DIY Packraft when your order is received and also another one when it ships, plus one from Canada Post with the tracking info. Please check your Spam folder and mark any emails from DIY Packraft as “Not Spam” to help train the algorithm. If you can’t find an email from DIY Packraft, please let me know as I recently updated my automatic email settings and something may have gone wrong.
Dom · January 10, 2018 at 8:30 am
Hi Matt thank you, Just received my V3 Kit, with TiZip+1000D floor (+1m of 210D fabric) and the United Kingdom customs duty in total came to £54.43 on top of my £193.21 purchase+(postage £53.31). So for anyone else looking to buy a Kit with a TiZip posted to the UK will be about £300. Thats excluding an iron, glue etc. Will let you know how I get on, Many thanks
Matt (Admin) · January 18, 2018 at 9:33 pm
Great – thanks for the info!
Simon · December 12, 2017 at 4:05 am
As someone that just had to deal with customs in Finland (but I suspect the following is valid for the entire EU).
Customs code: 8903101000 http://www.eutariffs.com/index.php/tariff/tariffd/XVII/89/03/8903101000/2017-04-01 2.7%
The total cost is calculated as follows: ((package+shipping)*(import duty))*VAT
Matt (Admin) · January 18, 2018 at 9:36 pm
Excellent – thanks for the info!
Patrick Dewane · November 29, 2017 at 2:01 pm
Is pick up of bulk fabric from you an option?
Matt (Admin) · November 29, 2017 at 4:30 pm
Unfortunately my insurance doesn’t allow for sales from my house, but I’m happy to meet up elsewhere.
thom · September 15, 2017 at 2:55 am
Hi Matt!
Just a tip: At checkout, when choosing shipping method. The methods should be marked with”with tracking” or “without tracking”, making it easier to choose.
Matt (Admin) · September 15, 2017 at 7:52 am
Hi Thom,
The shipping method names and prices are pulled directly from Canada Post’s database, so I can’t change how they appear, but I’ve added a note at the top of the page to indicate which methods do not include tracking.
Thanks!
VIREN PATEL · May 12, 2017 at 11:28 pm
Hi Matt,
Have you ever shipped to India, just wanted to know if I will have to bear any additional cost through customs and if any taxes will be levied on me.
Please let me know if you have any info regarding this issue.
Many thanks
Matt (Admin) · May 13, 2017 at 3:39 pm
Hi Viren,
I do not have experience shipping to India, but here is a link to some information I found: https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGIntDestDetails-e.asp?table=tblCountry&txtLetter=IN
I do know that parcel tracking is not offered to India.
Thanks!
Matt (Admin) · November 21, 2016 at 12:23 pm
Thanks to Marco for the following, regarding imports to Germany:
Wareneinkaufswert + Postversandkosten = Wareneinfuhrwert
Wareneinfuhrwert unter 22€: zollfrei
Wareneinfuhrwert von 22€ bis 150€: zollfrei, aber Umsatzsteuer 19%
Wareneinfuhrwert über 150€: Zollgebühr zzgl. Umsatzsteuer 19%
(ab 150€ ist es interessant was es für eine Ware ist, danach berechnet sich die Zollgebühr.)
Bei Briefversand muss der Kunde Belege für den Wareneinfuhrwert in Euro vorlegen. Es können zusätzliche Gebühren erhoben werden. Werden aber bei Onlinebestellung und Postversand erlassen.
Es gibt einen Postservice, der die Zollangelegenheiten abwickelt, kostet nochmal ca. 30€ Gebühr. Man kann sich das via Mobile App berechnen lassen (App “Zoll und Post”).