Shipping items you buy from Brandy Melville to Canada used to be a hassle, but not anymore. This post lays out a dead-simple process for getting your order from Brandy Melville—or any other retailer that doesn’t ship to Canada—shipped right to your doorstep in Canada with zero trouble and minimal fees.
Brandy Melville is an Italian clothing brand with nearly one hundred stores spread across North America and Europe. Launched in 1970, its meteoric rise in recent years is attributable to its strong social media presence and the community it has built around its products. Known to be trendsetting and fashion-forward, Brandy Melville is a popular brand amongst teenagers and young women alike.
Currently there are three brandy melville stores operating in Canada: one on Queen Street West in Toronto, one on Saint-Catherine Street West in Montreal, and one on Granville Street in Vancouver. Brandy Melville sells thousands of pieces in the retail categories you’d expect: halter and crop tops, pullovers and cardigans, jeans and shorts, skirts and dresses, and outerwear. Most of Brandy Melville’s pieces are offered in just a single size (0-2 or Extra Small in the US & Canada, or 4-6 in the UK), which has attracted criticism from some customers.
Does Brandy Melville Ship To Canada?
No, Brandy Melville does not ship to Canada, but I’ve designed a process for getting any Brandy Melville order shipped to Canada with zero headaches.
It involves using a package forwarder: a warehouse in the United States that will accept your Brandy Melville order and forward it on to you in Canada.
Here’s the exact process, explained step-by-step.
How To Get Brandy Melville Orders Shipped To Canada
Step 1: Choose A Package Forwarder
Choosing the right package forwarder is a big deal, because that decision will determine how quickly you receive your order, and how much you have to pay for the service. I spent many hours doing some deep research on eight different package forwarders, scoring each of them on a wide variety of relevant metrics. Here are five of the main metrics I looked at:
Service Fees: How much do they charge to provide their core service of accepting and shipping packages, plus ancillary services such as long-term storage, re-packing, package consolidation, and more.
Monthly/Annual Fees: How much do they charge in monthly or annual fees, if at all.
Pricing Transparency: How much do I know about their pricing structure before sending my order to their warehouse.
Speed: How quickly will they process my package.
Customer Service: How satisfied are other users with their service, and how thoroughly/quickly do they respond to my questions.
After reviewing the data I collected on these and other metrics, it became clear to me that Planet Express was the best choice. Their customer service team responded to my emails quickly and thoroughly, they have thousands of 5-star reviews online, and their fees were consistently lower than all of the other package forwarders I looked at.
Our #1-Rated Card Of 2021
Earn up to 50,000 welcome bonus points (valued at $1,000 – $1,500) with the American Express Cobalt Card, our #1-rated card in Canada.
Bonus: $100 annual hotel credit.
APPLY NOW
LEARN MORE
Here are a few other things I like about Planet Express:
Planet Express has a tax-free warehouse in Oregon, so you can avoid paying sales tax on your orders.
Planet Express will consolidate multiple packages into a single box, significantly reducing shipping costs when you make multiple purchases.
Planet Express sends you free photos of your package as soon as it arrives at their warehouse.
Planet Express offers extremely cheap storage for your packages. Every package receives 10 days of free storage, but after that, Planet Express only charges one cent per pound per day. That means storing a 1-lb package in their warehouse for a month only costs $0.30!
LEARN MOREStep 2: Ship Your Order To Planet Express
As soon as you’ve signed up for Planet Express, you’ll receive a unique mailing address at their warehouse. Once you decide on the items you want to buy, just enter your Planet Express mailing address instead of your home mailing address and you’re all set.
If you’re not able to enter your home address as your credit card billing address, you should also be able to use Planet Express’ warehouse address without any issues.
To learn more about Planet Express—including what it looks like inside the Planet Express dashboard—watch my video here.
Step 3: Forward Your Package
As soon as your order arrives at Planet Express’ warehouse, they’ll send you photos of the package to let you know it’s arrived. You’ll also be given a series of shipping options to choose from.
I find that there’s generally at least 4 shipping options corresponding to 4 different price-speed combinations. Sometimes there can be as many as 10 or more shipping options—it just depends on the weight, size and value of your package.
Four of the shipping options I was presented with for my order. There were much faster shipping options available as well, but I chose a slower, cheaper option, since I wasn’t in a rush.
My Personal Experience
I’ve used Planet Express more than a dozen times to ship packages to different parts of the world, and the experience has always been very smooth. Here’s how things went the last time I did it.
First, I had my order sent to my unique address at the Planet Express warehouse. Less than 48 hours later, I received an email from Planet Express letting me know that my order had arrived, which is extremely quick.
Second, I filled in Planet Express’ super-easy customs declaration form with the four pieces of information required:
The item being shipped
The number of items being shipped
The value of the item
Whether the item contains batteries
Third, I chose the shipping option I wanted from a list of eight. Prices ranged from $6-$35 USD, plus insurance at an additional $2 USD, so I chose the cheapest one ($8 USD, including the insurance), and I was done. My package was shipped out later that same day, and when it arrived, everything was in perfect shape.
The Best Crypto Exchanges In Canada
LEARN MORE#1 CoinSmart
Supports 13 cryptocurrencies
Lowest trading fees in the industry
24/7 customer support
Signup Bonus: $20 when you deposit at least $100
LEARN MORE#2 Crypto.com
Supports 100+ cryptocurrencies
Trade with up to 10x leverage
Earn daily interest by staking your coins
Signup Bonus: $10 of CRO when you stake $1,000 of CRO
LEARN MORE#3 Bitbuy
Supports 9 cryptocurrencies
Extra secure cold storage of coins
Instant account verification
Signup Bonus: $20 bonus when you deposit $250 or more
The Costs (Customs & Duties)
In my experience, the price I paid ($6 USD + $2 USD in insurance) is pretty standard for shipping packages to Canada. You also won’t need to pay any customs or duties on your imports thanks to the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal that came into effect on July 1, 2020, which allows Canadians to import up to $150 CAD worth of goods from the US or Mexico without paying any customs or duties. This is a huge jump up from the previous threshold ($20 CAD), and means you probably won’t have to pay any customs or duties on any of your imports moving ahead.
If your purchase is worth more than $150 CAD, this table shows the customs duty you will have to pay.
In Summary
Overall, getting Brandy Melville items shipped to Canada is extremely easy and smooth. The costs are low, and in my experience you’ll actually end up saving money, since buying direct from Brandy Melville is often cheaper than buying from other comparable retailers in Canada. If you’re buying from Brandy Melville, or any other retailer that doesn’t ship to Canada, I’m confident this method will serve you well.
