When you shop with Bear Dance Crafts you are supporting a small business with personal service – your items are packed and shipped right here, and not by a 3rd party service. We don’t have as many shipping options as we’re rural and on Vancouver Island, as there would be in a larger city. We normally ship within 1-2 business days, unless stated on the homepage (holiday, post office holidays, etc).
**IMPORTANT INFO ON SHIPPING OPTIONS FOR CANADIANS**
“lettermail” usually means oversize lettermail. It does NOT have tracking.
If you choose “lettermail” and it is a big order, it might get shipped as a package because that’s easier – but generally it will ship as lettermail without any tracking.
Lettermail is a max 2 cm thickness; so for example if you order 15 sheets of felt, it will ship in 2 separate envelopes (together is too thick and requires parcel rates). “Lettermail” is only offered on items that can fit through the 2 cm slot. It doesn’t account for amounts. 1 metre of doll knit fits, 2 has to go in separate envelopes, etc.
It’s just stamps and usually cheaper, but again, no tracking.
Did I mention “no tracking” on lettermail?? You will not get tracking if you chose “lettermail”. Sorry!
The other Canada Post options listed:
“expedited” is basically regular parcel shipping ($100 insurance at no extra). Shipping times vary by location, expect 2-7 business days.
“xpress” is a faster service, or supposed to be. Please note that due to Canada Post strike action that they do not guarantee any delivery dates (they are delivering, just sometimes it takes longer). Xpress is usually 2-3 business days, but can take longer in more remote locations.
There is a chance that if a pre-paid box can fit your order, and costs less than Expedited shipping, then it will likely ship that way (sometimes Canada Post runs out of boxes during the busy holiday season). Shipping differences over $1 will be refunded. You will still receive tracking.
There is also a chance that if a bunch of orders are shipping via a 3rd party service (sometimes we courier batches of orders to Vancouver, especially if CP is on strike), your order might get shipped that way if it makes sense.
Purolator and FedEx are now options, as their drop location is only about 12 km away.
Also important: Please put your mailing address on your order as if you were ordering from either Canada Post or a courier. If you have a PO box, please add it incase your order ships with a courier then goes CP ‘last mile’. We assume you know how you get your mail, but if you need to make a note or special delivery info (ie: driveway on left) put it in your order and it will be added to shipping instructions.
SHIPPING POLICY: Orders are usually shipping within 1-2 business day. Orders placed over the weekend are usually shipped on Mondays. Exceptions are holidays, power outages, and things beyond our control. Crafters gotta craft, so getting your order out asap is our goal! If there is a problem with your order, it will be on hold until we can reach you. We will attempt to reach you (most likely by email) several times before cancelling your order. Please use an email you actually check for your order, as we head into the busy autumn of 2021 combined with the issues getting some products stocked we might run into issues and need to contact you.
WHERE DO WE SHIP? Since autumn 2021 we are only shipping in Canada and the USA. Sorry. It’s just taking ridiculously long to ship international – like months – even if I am putting “airmail” postage on it’s likely going “surface” 🙁 Edit: Australia was added to the list, but with tracking it’s super price, sorry! USA Autumn 2025 Update: Tariff pre-payment requirements are a bit complicated, and pricey. Due to the variety of products and different tariffs that need to be added, shipping to USA is currently disabled until an easy solution can be found. The current solution is email orders – thank you to my USA customers who have been my guinea pigs testing this so far 🙂
SHIPPING CHOICE: If you choose to ship Oversize lettermail (in Canada) or Small Packet Airmail to the USA or International, none of these shipping choices come with tracking or insurance. By choosing one of these methods (oversize lettermail or small packet), which is definitely cheaper than adding tracking/insurance then you forfeit your right to a claim. We can’t make a claim with Canada Post without tracking. We have shipped thousands of packages this way, and it normally goes just fine. Should you live in a country where the mail goes missing a lot, we retain the right to insist on tracking and insurance for shipping an order.
SHIPPING COST: Our shipping rates are via Canada Post rates, and believe me we sure wish it was cheaper too!! We are not located in an area that can participate in some of the cheaper shipping services. As a big fan of sayings, the one “there’s no free lunch” can definitely be applied to shipping here… when we offer ‘free shipping’ we are eating the shipping, it’s not actually shipped for ‘free’. Nov 2025 update: we have added Purolator and FedEx to the list of options.
SHIPPING MATERIALS: We try to be mindful about what we’re using when shipping, trying to protect product and be environmentally conscious at the same time. Items usually have a ziplock or thin plastic bag to help keep them clean, and help them not take on smells or weather while in transit. Your order might come in a paper envelope (we use these a lot!), maybe with some extra tape strapping to make sure it stays in (heavier items). Recycled clean boxes are often re-used. If you receive a ‘pizza box’, it has (sadly!) never seen a pizza,,, these are new. Sometimes when a craft business closes they will offer their shipping mailers to BDC, so we sometimes have very plastic envelopes that we would normally not purchase… better to use them at least once before they end up tossed.
DELIVERY: Your order will be delivered by Canada Post, or your countries postal service, such as USPS. Delivery by or before a specific date cannot always be guaranteed given possible weather conditions or other circumstances impacting the mail carrier – we apologize if your order does not arrive timely – but sadly we don’t control the postal service. We don’t use a courier service. From our rural location on Vancouver Island (mail will have to go on a ferry or aircraft off-island) it doesn’t make sense and you will usually pay more and have a longer ship time. If you need it in a super speedy (like yesterday sort of thing) time frame usually a courier is too ridiculous price wise.
CUSTOMS CLEARANCE: Please be aware that delays may be imposed by your country’s customs clearance. Bear Dance Crafts is not responsible for paying any import fees, duties or rates charged by customs agents/agencies in your country. These charges are the responsibility of the customer. If you are ordering from Canada, your order is shipped within Canada and will not go through Canada Customs to reach you. If you outside of Canada, items shipped may incur customs and duty.
DELAYED OR LOST ORDERS: We cannot take responsibility for orders delayed or lost by Canada Post or your countries postal system. If your order does not arrive in a reasonable amount of time, please contact us!
P.O. Boxes?: Yes, we ship to P.O. Boxes! Make sure you include your post office box if Canada Post does not deliver mail to your door. If you only provide your street address, they are not obliged to deliver it if your mail is supposed to go to a P.O. Box.
WRONG OR INCOMPLETE ADDRESS: Please take the time to check that we have your correct mailing address. If your package is returned to us due to an incorrect or incomplete address, you must pay all delivery cost to re-deliver your order to a corrected address. We are not responsible for the loss of your order if the address provided at checkout is incomplete or incorrect.
REFUSAL TO SHIP: We retain the right to cancel and refund your order, and not ship it. Reasons this might happen is there is something we need to contact you about, but you aren’t responding after repeated attempts to reach you. Also, if you live in a country where mail tends to go missing, we will insist on tracking and insurance before shipping.