Canadian Secret Santa 2018

[lachaton]

**Sign-ups are closed**

Hi everyone! Since dyslexia cannot organize the exchange this year, I'm willing to head up a Secret Santa. I made a few changes to her rules, so please review this post carefully before signing up. 

Rules for 2018:

1. Open to both Canada & US. If in US, you must be willing to ship to Canada. If in Canada, you can specify that you want to only ship within the country.
2. Active BIC participant: Must have have a minimum 600 hearts and must have posted at least once within the last 3 months (since July 10, 2018). Since this is my first time running this exchange and we've had the recent change from BT to BIC, I'm going to be strict with this requirement.
   You can check your hearts by going to your profile at https://www.sephora.com/users/[YOUR USERNAME HERE] scroll down to posts, and click on "view all" - top right will show your total hearts received. 
   It isn't intended to reinforce a clique at all, but since we are exchanging some personal information, I want to ensure that the people who sign up will follow through. One of the ways we do that is by selecting an eligibility requirement based on activity and involvement in the community. If you don't meet the requirements this year, please be encouraged to continue to participate in the community in the future! 
3. Exchange will run via Elfster -- when you sign up please PM me with your email address so I can send your invite.
4. Deadlines:
   Sign-up cut off date: Friday, October 26, midnight EST. 
   Matching day: between Saturday, October 27 and Monday, October 29 Please also have your Elfster wishlist(s) up to date by then.  
   Ship-by date: Tuesday, December 11th (based on Canada Post shipping guidelines for 2018). Feel free to send sooner!
5. Spending minimum is CAD$50. This is a minimum, not a maximum. You may go over the minimum limit, but there is no expectation nor is it necessary for you to do so. This is a total, so it can be made up of either one bigger item, or a few smaller items.

Participants:

• lachaton
• bakeamuffin
• GG84
• myxducky
• Kim888
• Indy701
• Guessgal
• shopaholic15
• melissapurple22
• Aaliaa
• scott1201
• seymore3
• Nickelliebear1

[bakeamuffin]

@Indy701 I know that there’s many BIC’ers who have shipped accoss the boarder with no issues/packages searched, etc. @itsfi  has sent many packages from the US to Canada with no issues; old threads also have great shipping breakdown for limits and stuff I just can’t remember who wrote up all of that amazing information 😓 

[itsfi]

@Indy701, things I have been mindful of when I ship gifts to Canada - 

(1)  identify it as a gift. Specifically note on the Customs Declaration that the shipment is / that the contents included are: a gift.

(2)  the exchange rate. When you list (or are asked by the USPS or FedEx rep to identify) the value of the contents, the value is listed in US Dollars, for purposes of determining whether duties and/or sales tax is owed on the gift, the amount in Canadian Dollar will be what is used to determine whether taxes are due and owing on the package.  There's currently a $60 CAD (Canadian Dollar) exemption for gifts. Since the minimum for this Secret Santa is $50 CAD, if you were to declare that the total value of the entire contents of the package is below that amount, you should be fine. BUT remember, when you fill out your Customs Declaration, the value you assign to the contents will be in USD (not CAD) - if you declare the value of the contents to be $60 at the time you ship the package, the recipient will have to pay duties and taxes because today, $60 USD converts to $78.14 CAD. You should check the conversion rate before you send the package. I've read that it's the calculation/conversion at the time the package arrives in Canada but, for the most part, in general, the fluctuation in conversion rate will probably not be so great so as to deviate from the amount at the time you mail off the package. 

(3)  include a card inside. I usually include a card anyways since I like cards. But even if I didn't, based on what I've read, before mailing gifts to Canada, I recommend (a) including a card to support that the package is a gift and (b) specifically listing in the "description of contents" field in the Customs Declaration that there is a card included and list a value for the card.

@bakeamuffin

[Indy701]

@itsfi  Thank you.  I was reading the customs page last night. I highly recommend before bed. Seems they are cool as long as you are just transparent.  

[Indy701]

@bakeamuffin Thank you 😊 

[bakeamuffin]

@Indy701 and any other shipping from the US: @alexasteph has so much great information in this thread regarding shipping, check out the spoilers. Thank you so much @alexasteph! https://community.sephora.com/t5/Rouge/The-Random-Acts-of-Kindness-Gift-Exchange/m-p/2661047

When I shipped to the US, I didn’t create an account and shipped through Canada Post but followed most of the other tips from this ☺️

[myxducky]

@bakeamuffin @Indy701 I used to have a lot of packages shipped from friends in the US when the CAD/USD was closer to par and had this theory that the more packing tape and duct tape you put on/around the box, the less likely CP would flag it for inspection because they didn't want to fight with a box all taped everywhere. It's probably not true though 😂😂

[Indy701]

@myxducky Thank you. Festive duct tape it is 😂 

[myxducky]

I'm not @lachaton, but Canada customs is always so hit and miss if you ship via regular mail as opposed to a courier, as CP only randomly inspect packages and not all packages. I find they are more leanient during the holidays, possibly on the basis of higher volume and just wanting to get things through as fast as possible. At the moment, I think the gift threshold is $60 CAD before they are subject to duty.

[scott1201]

I would like to participate, @lachaton! I'm in the US but absolutely willing to ship to my lovely neighbors up North. 

I'll send you a DM with my email info 🙂 

[bakeamuffin]

Happy to have you join @scott1201! 😄😄 

I was so surprised at how affordable shipping across the boarderwas, it was only a few dollars more than shipping from AB to ONT. 

[GG84]

@bakeamuffin it's really not that much of a price difference 

[GG84]

@lachaton I'm on! I'll send you my email.

[Aaliaa]

Thanks for setting this up @lachaton! I think a $50 minimum is fine and I would't increase it. If I'm being honest, I think 600 hearts and having posted at least once in the last 3 months is pretty lenient. I haven't done a group exchange/gift change before (I have done individual exchanges) so if this is the norm, I'm fine with it. To those who don't meet the minimum this year, I was that person last year so I feel you but continued participation will mean you'll be ready for next year. 

Long story short I'm in but I would prefer to ship in Canada, I'll set up an Elfster account and send you my email later.

[lachaton]

@Aaliaa My previous TSBs all required a minimum of at least 500 hearts, so I've upped this one. Last year, we had minimum of 600 posts or 500 hearts. Before that it was 500 hearts. I just chose to up the hearts on this one, rather than have a post requirement. 

If it helps ease any potential concerns, I've been an active part of the community for 4+ years. I've also hosted 3 TSBs previously and participated in others. I hope I'm coming into organizing this with a bit of experience that may help alleviate potential issues 🙂 (although issues have been few in my experience). 

The simplest way to keep things very contained is to do invite-only. But given the changes within the community recently, I opted not to do invite-only this time. 

[Aaliaa]

Thanks for the added info @lachaton, I’m in and I’ll pm you my email.

[lachaton]

@myxducky @Guessgal @Aaliaa @fatimamummy @GG84 @dyslexia

I know you all expressed interest in potentially participating!

[myxducky]

thanks for the tag @lachaton! sometimes it's easy to miss posts on the new BIC.II would love to participate in the Secret Santa exchange!

I think the $50 min is a good amount. Enough to get a few smaller items or at least one nice thing!

I prefer to ship within Canada, but if you need someone to ship within the US, I might be open to that as well. I'll PM you my email address.

[Guessgal]

Thanks for the tag @lachaton and for setting this up!! I thought about it and would love to join! This will get me sooo pumped for Christmas! 😉 I’m fine with the $50 min amt and would prefer to ship in Canada. I’ll send you my elfster email when I get home 🙂

[lachaton]

For those of you signing up - can you also let me know if you think the spending minimum should be changed? I wrestled a bit with that, about whether to increase it or lower it. 

Feel free to post here, or PM me if you'd rather share your opinion privately. It's a minimum, not a maximum, but I know participants are normally quite generous but I don't want anyone to be left out.

[bakeamuffin]

@lachaton I am comfortable with the $50 minimum, I think it’s reasonable jumping off point. 

I also like the requirements you’ve set 😊

[dyslexia]

I think $50 is good. It was upped last year from (I think) around $35 to bring it more in line with actuality of what people were spending.