Mme Harpie: If you're talking about OT, there shipping for me was soooooooo fast.

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We just got back from Omaha... They have a retail store (or two) there called Nobbies. Same prices as what's in the catalog, but they've got a LOT of bigger and better props at the store. Seems like a lot of their static props come from Spirit Halloween. Very cool place and the TOTers love the stuff. I buy by the gross!

Yes, OTC is pretty much a staple for little stuff. If your town has a Party City, you can see that they order from there as well. OTC ships pretty quick and I've never had a problem with them.

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"He has my father's eyes."
"Gomez, take those out of his mouth!"

This place seems to be a favourite of many people, and I like some of their stuff but...

I just ordered from them today. For Canadian orders, they say their conversion rate is quoted at "real time" rates. Great. I put the order through and take a close look at my confirmation bill and realize the rate they've given me doesn't reflect today's conversion rate (nor the conversion rate for the past year, for that matter). It isn't a HUGE difference in money, but it's the principle. And if I had spent a couple hundred of dollars (which all of us haunters do now and then), it WOULD have been a more significant difference.

I've emailed them with the numbers of what today's real time rate conversion should be, and what they actually charged me. I've asked them to explain to me what the reason is for the higher conversion rate. If perhaps I have misunderstood something, I can make a suggestion to them how to clarify what they mean by "real time" exchange rate.

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Ghoul were did you pull your exchange rates from? Services such as XE etc quote interbank rates which are for dollar volumes of $5 million + transactions. Typically what you will see from your local bank/ credit card company would be 1-2% above those posted rates.
ie last time i converted my pay from US to CAD the Xe rate was 0.97 CAD for every $1 US reflecting a higher CAD dollar however when i did the transfer my bank rate came out at 0.95 CAD for every $1 USD

I'd gotten the 'current day trading rate' from Bank of Canada, and like you mentioned, I'm familiar with the idea of how it's always a difference of a percentage here or there. And it wasn't a total rip off, it just was some sloppy explanations of what they meant/defined as real time rates.

And generally, when you purchase with credit cards, it's your credit card provider that sets the exchange rate terms. What I found confusing was that the actual bill that was sent to me was in the higher Canadian rates...so...have they processed the order in American funds or the Canadian amounts? Being an American store, I would think (not being a retailer myself I don't know) that the charge can only go through as American dollars, and then my credit card company gives me whatever rate they give me. Does that make sense? So if they send along these higher numbers to my credit card company instead of the unconverted numbers...and I just think it's sloppy bookkeeping. How can I prove what the item cost at the time if I don't have a bill in American dollars (in case I need to return something)?

I emailed just to ask how it all works so I understand, but as of yet, not a peep.

If you have a system on your website that converts the dollar amount for you (or rather, for your customers to see), then why can't the system actually tell the customer WHAT the rate is (limitations of applications perhaps but come on)?

Besides, though they do make the duty process 'easier', you pay for it. I tested what their international shipment costs would be for a set of gelatin molds, and it started at $17. Gimmee a break. It only went up $2 bucks when I added an item that expands to 6 feet in length (not sure of the weight). AND it can take something like 10 to 20 business days to get here. There are far better cross border shipping deals to be had.

And perhaps if you add all that up, it's why my nose is out of joint.

We'll see if they reply, and we'll see what happens when the package arrives.

Usually I'm a fairly laid back person

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I just looked at Oriental Trading .. They use the BorderFree service from Canada Post. This service definitely adds the fees under guise of making it easier for Canadians to shop online with US retailers. Its good in that they show you the end price to get it to your door... One thing they kinda hide is the brokerage fees that say for example a UPS would nail you with ( which if you ever get anything shipped from the US avoid UPS at all costs) try to use USPS if at all possible. Border Free is a Canadian Entity so they do the entire processing in Canadian Funds and if you had to do a return you actually deal with Border Free i believe vs Oriental Trading.

Yes you are correct the Retail outlet charges you in USD and then your credit card provider does the exchange to CAD at their internal daily rate but in this case they basically sell your order to Border Free who charges thier fees and the order in CAD

That's really interesting. I knew they paid Border Free for the duty/shipping/what-have-you, but I didn't know they offload the whole thing (entire order cost) as one chunk.

Yes. UPS is evil and many a time I've decided not to order something from a place because they only offer UPS as a courier. USPS is my preferred mailing for shipping.

I'm a big fan of completely transparent transactions. I wish more businesses were.

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Its a business partnership relationship as i understand it .. they detail it more here Borderfree — Frequently Asked Questions

Thats why i just love working in the US so i can get stuff shipped to the office and hten just bring it across the border home with me.. And that way i can usually break it into my daily excemption bits as well to save extra taxes

Just when I was about to forgive Oriental Trading Company for not emailing me back and for using Borderfree, they blew it.

The package came today. Everything was good except the most expensive item ( a tree) which was split 7 inches up the trunk so you can't actually put it together. There's more damage, but I won't bore everyone with the details.

If you're interested in hearing all that went wrong and seeing pictures of what I'm talking about, you can check out the blog post. As it stands, I will never order from them again.

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