I had a book requested from my shelf. The person who requested it was very nice lady, and she asked me to send the book to a family member who lives in Canada. I would love to fill her request, but I cannot get to the PO easily or reliably, so I send all my books out with printable postage/DC from PBS. I've looked through the help docs and cannot find anywhere that tells me if  or how I can send with printable postage to Canada.

Could anyone help me out on this?

Thanks so much!

I don't know if you can.  PBS is not set up for international shipping.  I believe you would also need a custom's form even if it's just to Canada. 

You can look up the postage cost on the USPO website and maybe adjust the weight on the PBS to get it to the right amount.  You can also do the customs form online.  But I think it has to be handed to a postal employee.  ETA: not sure if that would work either as it might say Domestic Mail on the label-Maybe through PAYPAL?

Also on another trading site I've used-I've heard that shipping ot Canada is expensive.  In fact a lot of the Canadian members have in their profile that they'll send to the US but not to fellow Canadians because of the cost.  The price of a credit may not cover the postage.

My BFF from school lives in Toronto, and the shipping is not cheap - also you can't ship media mail because it is not domestic.

Would it be against the rules to ask for a second credit to cover shipping?

I did not think you could send PBS internationally unless it was an APO.. I would inform her that you will send HER the book and then she can send it to canada.  Cheapest I saw for a flat rate envelope that could hold a mass market PB was $10.95   so not even close to the price of one credit.

well here's what the help center says

At present, we are a US-only club.

• PBS members must be able to receive mail at an address served by USPS.
• The PaperBackSwap system uses Media Mail postal rates provided by the USPS.
• Media Mail rates are good for:
  • all 50 US states
  • US territories and commonwealths (American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands; Washington, D.C., the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico),
  • APO/FPO addresses
  • If you live in any of these areas, you can belong to PBS. 

We've had requests for international membership from all around the world.

• Eventually, we hope to expand.
• We have had a LOT of requests from Canada!
  • We have been working on shipping issues regarding the Canadian postal system. Until we work these out, we will not be able to trade across borders with our system.

i agree with xengab. tell her you'll send it to her and SHE should be the one sending it to canada. it is not your responsibilty to mail international

I suggest copying and pasting the rules posted above by Deborah into a PM to the requestor, and shipping to the requestor.  She can then ship the book to canada.

If you send it ground, it's not too expensive but it does require a trip to the PO and a customs form.  To get tracking or a confirmation # for Canada, that would be very expensive.

Ground to Canada does not go very fast either so it'll take a while.

I would recommend sending to the requesting member as well and let them worry about shipping it to Canada.

I really appreciate everyone's help and feedback on this. You are all such a great help!

Thank you all!

I would send the book to the requester and ask her to forward it on to Canada. I wouldn't bear the expense and we;re only supposed to be shipping in the U.S.

I would send the book to the requester and have them mail it on to Canada too. Not because it's overwhelmingly expensive, but because that's the rules here. This site isn't international yet and things are required of international packages. 

Now thinking about this has me worried though, because I sent packages to Canada and the Philippines this week-- it was fairly inexpensive, about $4.00-- but the clerk didn't have me fill out Customs Forms. :\ I didn't even give it a second thought because I was shipping PBS books and had it in my mind that everything was local. Grr.

There is no ground shipping to Canada with the post office anymore.

A small book would not cost a bundle to ship but it is your decision if you want to do the work. A 5 ounce book is $2.27 to go to Canada. You can use stamps, but it cannot be mailed from home. It would need a customs form. I do not know of a way to use printable postage from any company for first class international. You can send priority with printed postage and mail from home but the cost starts at $10.95 as noted above.

I'd ship it to the person who requested it,  and let *her* ship it to Canada.

Get a good accurate weight on the book and go to the USPS website to the "calculate international postage" area and see how much it would be.  It isn't cheap, I agree, and you do need to fill out a customs form, but I would personally send it, myself.  I have sent a lot of stuff internationally, though, so it doesn't scare me.  I see no reason why you couldn't request an extra credit to cover the postage and hassle---I doubt that this is against the rules.  You can "gift " somebody a credit for any reason (or no reason) I think.