WTF - McMaster-Carr won't ship to Canada

[Iciclehead]

All, I feel Ok about posting about another vendor as this one does not overlap business with our host, but I placed an order for some rod ends, shoulder bolts and heat shrink tubing to McMaster Carr, dealing with them for the first time.

I was shocked to get the following response:

"Due to the complexity of U.S. export regulations, McMaster-Carr accepts international orders only from businesses. This decision also applies to orders shipping within the United States, because it is based on the final destination of the items. We cannot accept this order or future orders."

Seriously, what is complex about a bunch of bolts and rod ends?

Am I on some sort of hit list or something? This is the second time this has happened (other was Eastwood, but then only on a couple of specific products.)

WTF!

Dennis

[Nostril Cheese]

Perhaps it has something to do with canadian postal worker s going on strike every couple months? At least thats what i was told last time i shipped some stuff there..

My in laws (in northern ontario) usually have me ship stuff to them from US companies. Not sure why this is an easier and cheaper method.

[wdfifteen]

Check zoro.com to see what their rules are. They have most of what McMaster has.

[aschen]

Shipping compliance is such a pita I recently learned. THey probably dont want to deal with it at all for such a small portion of their sales.

[derek murray]

I have had things shipped to Winnipeg many times - but to my business address. I pay with my personal credit card, without trouble.

I did have to create a McMaster-Carr account profile, including a business name.... but that was all that was required to get past the "we cannot accept orders..." response.

Try setting up a new user account, as if you are a business... and see if that helps.

Good Luck

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by aschen

Shipping compliance is such a pita I recently learned. THey probably dont want to deal with it at all for such a small portion of their sales.

Bingo. The transaction costs compounded by returns due to people not wanting to pay customs, potential import restrictions for certain items (exclusive territory for manufacturer), etc. are exactly why a large commercial enterprise does not want to ship a couple of nuts and bolts across a trade regulated border.

[Iciclehead]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

Bingo. The transaction costs compounded by returns due to people not wanting to pay customs, potential import restrictions for certain items (exclusive territory for manufacturer), etc. are exactly why a large commercial enterprise does not want to ship a couple of nuts and bolts across a trade regulated border.

I get that, but McMaster-Carr appear to be equally aimed at retail as they are at commercial. Some truly commercial only web sites specifically point out that they are business to business only and have relatively high minimum order amounts, far more than a pure retail person would want to typically buy.

Also I guess I believed that US and Canada have a Free Trade Agreement....it is becoming less free on the business side of my life for sure, perhaps that is also a factor here.

If they are B2B only, well, I guess I am looking for another supplier (and the one suggested here specifically points out that they are CONUS so I won't be using them. McMaster-Carr happily took my Canadian address and credit card number, so I presumed they were OK with the Great White North.

Now, cute part is I just got notification from them giving me the packing list for my order. Not sure what is going on.

Dennis

[908/930]

When I worked in Toronto we ordered from them, business account, unbelievably quick order by 10am there the next day.way faster then local. For fasteners there is still duty though also quite high, they probably had too many people returning boxes of fasteners and don't want to deal with it.

[Brian 162]

What I did was have goods shipped to an American addrress. My credit card has the U.S. address as an alternate billing address.
From my house to the Lewiston border is around an hour.

[pksystems]

Yep. Alberta is what Eastwood doesn't like. They refuse to ship anything remotely close to paint related, always stating something about paint recycling program and metal containers. Even if the product isn't paint, and isn't in a metal container. I no longer buy anything from them.

I've wanted to order from McMaster, but noticed they refuse to ship to Canada. Your local Fastenal will order in hardware if you need something hard to find that they, or Bolt Supply doesn't stock. I've ordered high strength/fine thread metric from them for my other project car.

[Iciclehead]

Originally Posted by pksystems

Yep. Alberta is what Eastwood doesn't like. They refuse to ship anything remotely close to paint related, always stating something about paint recycling program and metal containers. Even if the product isn't paint, and isn't in a metal container. I no longer buy anything from them.

I've wanted to order from McMaster, but noticed they refuse to ship to Canada. Your local Fastenal will order in hardware if you need something hard to find that they, or Bolt Supply doesn't stock. I've ordered high strength/fine thread metric from them for my other project car.

There is a local supplier that can get all the Eastwood stuff, PM me if interested....

Dennis

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Brian 162

What I did was have goods shipped to an American addrress. My credit card has the U.S. address as an alternate billing address.
From my house to the Lewiston border is around an hour.

Same here, just about done shopping in Canada, overpriced and lousy service :roll eyes:

Ogdensburg is 50 minutes down the road, at $.25 a liter cheaper the trip pays for itself.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

Perhaps it has something to do with canadian postal worker s going on strike every couple months? At least thats what i was told last time i shipped some stuff there..

My in laws (in northern ontario) usually have me ship stuff to them from US companies. Not sure why this is an easier and cheaper method.

I believe the last postal strike in Canada was 2007.

It is 'red-tape' and low margins. They don't make any money shipping small orders to individuals.

It's no great loss. I don't know what you would 'have' to buy from them. Most stuff should be available locally.

[Iciclehead]

OK, an update. I ran the order through my company (yes, its legit, incorporated in 1986) and the parts have already arrived. No issue, no problem.

Interesting though, not sure that I understand the vagaries of government regulation like McMaster Carr needs to deal with, I am sure they are irritated with it as much as I am.

Dennis