Ordering cards through Aeclectic for Canada

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Namaste	23 Mar 2004
Hi :) I would love to be loyal and order my decks from Aeclectic's store, but I am not sure how to circumvent the Canadian customs issue, since I live up here. Any suggestions from those who are also in Canada and have found a way to order/purchase their tarot/oracle decks from this site? Thanks!

Star Spirit	23 Mar 2004
I'm a little confused...as far as I know, Aeclectic doesn't sell tarot decks. They just showcase them and give a couple links to places you can buy them, although there are a lot of other places. Tarotgarden.com sells decks, and provides pictures. You can also get them off Amazon.com or Amazon.ca, Overstock.com, Ebay, Alidastore, etc. etc. and any major bookstore such as Barnesandnoble.com and (where I usually buy them) Chapters.ca. As for customs issues, you can't really predict whether they will happen or not. From what I understand if the deck is labelled as a gift you won't be charged duty fees, but if it's labelled as merchandise or whatever else, you may or may not be charged an extra fee depending on the size/weight/value of the package. To avoid this you might want to order within Canada at Chapters.ca or Amazon.ca, they are usually pretty good and have sale prices, although some decks (like the less popular ones) may take a while to ship, so you could try a local bookstore where you live, or order from the States. Those are your general options..

amyel	23 Mar 2004
I order from the states from Amazon and other web sites frequently and I have never been charged duty. I have family who live in the states and they send me items and I have never been charged duty. It has nothing to do with whether or not it is a gift; it has everything to do with the value of the item. Here is the link to the Canada Border Services Agency (Canada Customs)... http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/postal/ind_duty_free-e.html#value If it only takes you to the main page, you want to select "travellers" from the left frame, and then "postal imports" from the list of topics. It spells it all out there. You can access Amazon.ca from Aeclectic by going to the, for example, the tarot decks page. When you browse it or find one you want to buy, click on "Buy me now" or whatever it is depicted as. This will take you to the US site. You should be able to access the Canadian site from that point on. I *think* that just accessing Amazon via Aeclectic gives Aeclectic a profit...but you can definitely access the Canadian Amazon from the US site via this forum.

Star Spirit	23 Mar 2004
Quote: It has nothing to do with whether or not it is a gift; it has everything to do with the value of the item. I know it does have a lot to do with the value. I ordered something from Tarot Totes however and they told me that they always mark it down as a gift so that the receiver doesn't get charged a duty fee. Which would make sense in most cases because who wants to get charged duty fees on something that is supposed to be a gift for them? If it is merchandise on the other hand, that's different because they know you paid for it. So this seems to be a valid claim, however if the item is as expensive as $100 then yes, I could see there being a fee attached. But sometimes people will also lie about the $$ amount to avoid that. It does say on that site: "If you receive an imported gift by mail and it's worth $60 CAN or less, you don't have to pay duty or tax." Amazon is a great place to order from. I just want to add though, when you order something from Amazon.com and sign up with them, you get it from the States. If you sign up and order from Amazon.ca, you are ordering from Canada. They are separate. I know because I once tried to redeem a gift certificate through Amazon.com but it wouldn't work until I went through Amazon.ca because I'm from Canada. Although it's usually easier to get more variety of decks from the States, faster. But you might want to watch out for that. Aeclectic now seems to have links to buy decks from Amazon.com, .ca, and .co.uk. Some of the older listings might not link to Amazon.ca, but if you try to order from Amazon through Aeclectic, and the redirect link goes to Amazon.com, try changing the .com part of the whole link to .ca and see if it still works. This seems to work most of the time, and Aeclectic will still get the profits that way. If it doesn't work when you change the link (if you need/want to) then the item number is different on Amazon.ca and you'll have to search for it, or they might only have the deck available on Amazon.com. It's the same basic site but has different locations, so they ship from different countries. It's your choice where you'd rather get it from though. Sometimes I just say screw it and order from the States because the deck is more readily available and gets here faster. Hope that wasn't too confusing, I have a tendency to do that.

jmd	24 Mar 2004
Although it is correct that Aeclectic does not sell products, Solandia has provided links in a Supporting Aeclectic announcement post. Basically, by clicking on one of the links, a registration is made that the site came from Aeclectic, and Solandia gets a small commission - a transparent way to add a little support. One of these links, by the way, is to Amazon in Canada.

Namaste	24 Mar 2004
Thank you very much, all of you, for your help. I will try and order the decks in such a way as to support Aeclectic. :)

The Ordering cards through Aeclectic for Canada thread was originally posted on 23 Mar 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.