Online shopping is fun, dangerous and sometimes down right sneaky. I mean some retailers cover everything (duty, shipping etc) others cover nothing and the duties and taxes can easily add up to more than the purchase itself.
This is a quick and dirty guide to online shopping. Who ships for free, who doesn’t and how to decide if it is worth shopping online at all.
Retailers who Ship to CANADA for free
Many retailers ship within the United States for free, but few ship internationally for free. The following list is of retailers who offer free shipping to Canada with no purchase minimums.
Shopbop.com (plus you will get your package SUPER FAST, like within a day or 2)
Well.ca
Dealuxe (Canadian Site)
Madewell (free shipping on denim)
Many more retailers ship to Canada for free with a minium purchase.
Gap, Banana Republic, & Old Navy (but be sure to shop the CANADIAN sites) Free shipping after a $50 spend.
Forever21 free shipping after a $60 spend
SSense free shipping after a $100 spend.
ebeauty.ca free shipping after a $25 spend.
murale.ca (of Shoppers Drug Mart fame) is offering free shipping after a $75 order and for a limited time (March 26 – Apr1) for the same dollar value you get 18,500 optimum points (WOOT)
Roots free shipping after a $100 spend.
Sephora has a $75 minimum spend.
Nasty Gal has a $150 minimum spend.
Jacob.ca has free shipping over $100 and $9 flat rate on orders less than $100.
White Crow (whitecrowonline.com) free after a $50 spend
Madewell free shipping on denim otherwise there seems to always be a code to get free shipping after $100 spend.
Nailpolishcanada.com has free shipping after a $30 spend and only $5 flat rate below that.
Bicyclette Boutique free after an order of $180, shipping to Ontario $12 flat rate on orders less than $180.
Retailers who offer FLAT RATE shipping to Canada
While flat rate shipping is good because at least you can budget for what it will cost and it won’t surprise you when you go to check out, not all flat rate shipping fees are inexpensive.
Modcloth.com (apparently there is a deal for Canadian shoppers but for the life of me I could not find it on their website)
Free People $8 for regular shipping, $20 for expidiated.
Urban Outfitters $10 economy shipping
JCREW $10 but sign up for their newsletter because they REGULARLY offer free shipping.
Children’s Place $8.95 flat rate shipping
The Outnet $20 but there are free shipping promo’s thoughout the year.
Bluefly.com $7.95 on a couple of different shipping options.
Boutique to You $25
This list is by no means exhaustive but it gives you an idea of where you can shop for free shipping or low cost shipping. I tend to do one of two things; shop free shipping options exclusively UNLESS there is a good sale and my discount exceeds the shipping.
What I have found is that for many brands of premium denim or trendier items you can find them on shopbop or asos for free shipping and I will buy it there before the retailers own site that I have to pay a crazy fee for shipping or another online boutique that doesn’t have a good shipping rate.
Is there an online store you love to shop not listed here with either FREE shipping to CANADA or a flat rate shipping deal? Add it to the comments and I will update the post.
A Trench Alternative |
Monday 16th of April 2012
[...] (Thanks again Elizabeth!) Not exactly the best way to do things and I will pay closer attention to where retailers ship in the [...]
aggiebaby
Saturday 7th of April 2012
Nice list! I didn't know that Revolve ships for free! I recently found out about http://www.egocloset.com, which ships (to Canada) $7 for under $150 and free over $150. And apparently, there's no duties!
ja4marti
Sunday 8th of April 2012
Thanks for sharing! Looks like they have a shop in Vancouver so yes - NO DUTIES!!