I was pretty pumped at the end of the summer (2010) when FINALLY Gap would ship online orders to Canada. And to boot it was going to be through the gapcanada.com site as opposed to the US site.
Now I will admit incredible disappointment when the new site went live and the Canadian site only had a fraction of what the US parents site sold. And at the time of launch the US site wasn’t shipping to Canada.
The former has changed. I am assuming the US site just held off shipping to Canada until the Canadian site was live and working. Because now when you check the countries that the US site will ship to Canada IS on the list.
There are pros and cons to shopping of both sites. Here are a few of the major ones.
Pros to Shopping via gapcanada.com
- free returns either via post or in store
- shop 3 stores at once
- no duties, free shipping over $50
- can’t find something in store? Don’t drive all over just order it!
Cons to Shopping via gapcanada.com
- shipping times are slow – faster just to go in store
- doesn’t carry many of the online only items found on the US site
- no maternity, no BR shoes, no piperlime
The pros to shopping the US site are obvious; there is so much more selection! But you have to deal with shipping via fifty-one which means duties, exchange, taxes. And NONE of the sale codes and shipping promos are usable for international customers.
Despite all this I did make an order to test out what ordering off the Canadian site was like. Check out the video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhRcVs4B0-M&w=480&h=385]
I have already sent back the sweater in the video. SO EASY. The tights I got for my daughter were on sale and are no longer available. Watch for the top in a future video!
I expect that in the future I will be testing out what ordering off the gap.com US site will be like so stay tuned for my feedback. I am expecting that it will be alot more fun because there are so many departments that we just don’t have available to us in Canada otherwise.
ElaineA
Thursday 11th of November 2010
I only read your post, can't watch video at work but hopefully I will remember to do so later tonight!
I haven't ordered from the US site due to all worry about the duties and such. I have ordered several times now (probably 4 or 5?) from the Canadian site and the ship times are getting much faster. My first order I had to wait almost 2 weeks - I nearly forgot what I had ordered! But the last 2 times I ordered items from Old Navy and Banana Rebuplic and received my orders within 3 - 4 days. I had one order that didn't arrive and called customer service and they replaced it right away. So great customer service in my books!
I'm hoping more items will pop up on the Canadian sites mainly specialty sizes. I need to wear petites and my husband needs tall! None are available online and although there are petites available at some BR stores, often times pricing online can be cheaper with enough coupon codes than going in store. I don't think I should have to pay more for less material LOL!