How accurate is IP targeting by Country?

[AffiliateDreamer]

Hi,

I am setting up shop finally (err..hopefully!).

I have a Canadian retail location, and a US fulfullment house.

Not all products are in both locations so I need to IP target the visitor and filter products accordingly.

How accurate is IP targetting for Canada? Basically anyone who is NOT in canada will be the other display filter.

[Philosopher]

Geolocation to country is pretty accurate these days. I use maxmind and they claim 99% for country level geolocation which has seemed fairly accurate in my usage.

[justgowithit]

Not all products are in both locations

Throw me a bone here....
What does that have to do with not be able to ship from either location.

If product 'B' is at your retail store and a US customer orders it, why not just ship from your retail store where the product is?

[LifeinAsia]

If product 'B' is at your retail store and a US customer orders it, why not just ship from your retail store where the product is?

I guess you've never tried doing that. :) I think there are several posts here related to the horrors of cross-border shipping, especially such a "trivial" task as shipping between the U.S./Canada. It's not just an issue of general taxes (which is a whole world unto itself), but depending on the product it could be subject to quarantine, import/export quotas and tariffs, or even be outright banned.

[londrum]

you could always do it the way that Amazon does it.
if you go their .com site as a UK customer, it says something like "Shopping from the UK? Visit our Amazon.co.uk website" and it gives you a big picture to click on.

maybe you could target people like that. help them out by providing a link, but don't actually redirect them there.

[justgowithit]

I guess you've never tried doing that.

No, I haven't ever done cross-border shipping. I suppose (especially now-a-days) that could get messy.