Buying non-mainstream brand badminton shuttlecocks from China are much more affordable.
One of the best places to purchase them is TaoBao.
To order and ship them to Canada, there were 4 main options:
- TaoaBao Direct - JCEX - UPS (佳成-UPS)
- TaoBao Direct - Zhongshan Express (中山速递)
- TaoBao Direct from Seller
- Use an agent like Superbuy
TaoBao Direct via their Overseas Shipping option is one of the cheaper options. 110RMB for the first Kg and 26/500g after that.
Using an agent like Superbuy is 77RMB for first 500g and 38/500g after that. You do get additional services with Superbuy (e.g. QA pictures). However, they charge you in USD via PayPal, which makes the exchange from RMB to CAD very poor (RMB --> USD --> CAD).
I recently wanted to purchase 25 tubes of shuttlcocks from TaoBao via my regular direct shipping method - JCEX -UPS.
Unfortunately, they no longer ship shuttlcocks to Canada! The package was denied for storage and I had to send it back to the shipper.
I contacted the JCEX and they just said they don't ship shuttlecocks to Canada. I also contacted Zhongshan and they said they can ship to Canada.