Exporting 101
A basic introduction

Exporting goods from one country to another is a process that involves strict compliance with government regulations and diligent preparation of all required paperwork.

An important fact to remember is that customs officers allowing goods for entry into the U.S. have a responsility to ensure they know exactly what is being imported, why it is being imported and for whos benefit it is being imported.

Exporting Business Goods: Commercial or Business goods must be represented by a licenced customs broker.   Customs brokers generally never actually see the freight, however, they record and submit the details of each shipment to the appropriate government authorities.   Most Canadian companies who do business with U.S. firms already have a customs broker representing them when they ship to the U.S.   When these Canadian companies import freight from the U.S. they will generally use their preferred customs broker.

Exporting Personal Goods: There are two main methods for shipping personal goods to the USA - Courier & Motor Freight.   The main distinction with respect to customs is that Courier shipments typically pre-clear customs while in transit as they are usually lower-value pieces such as small boxes or envelopes.   Motor Freight shipments, on the other hand, are often larger and move throughout the "commercial trade lanes" at the border and are cleared by the carrier at the time of crossing.   These shipment must be accompanied by a form 3299 and, if necessary, a form I-94

Further guidelines for exporting personal items to the U.S.A. can be founds Here.   If you are a U.S. company shipping to Canada you must know which customs broker will be representing your shipment. 95% of the time (unless you are a regular shipper to Canada) it will be the customs broker your Canadian customer has in place.

Shipcanada will take care of everything else! A ShipCanada representative will call you to confirm any details and if you like will call you to confirm delivery.