What will Cheapies Actually Cost in Canada?

Let’s talk about ordering cheap cloth diapers from an overseas wholesaler. If you’re American, this post probably doesn’t apply to you because money things are different down there. However, my dear Canadian’s, let’s pull up a chair and talk. 

I know, our American friends to the South they constantly recommend cheap cloth diapers from oversea’s wholesalers. You can buy them direct from brands like Alva, or you can buy them through wholesale servers like AliExpress. 

But what will it actually cost you? 

There’s different levels of cheap diapers – there’s incredibly cheap and these diapers tend to be okay, but really maybe only last you one kid okay. Then there’s cheap and they are better than okay, but could have some discrepancies. Those are the two categories I’m going classify. We’re going to go with the cheap level in this comparison, because I just can’t even suggest the okay level. 

We’re going to go with Happy Flute and the we will compare the price comparison to Alva. These are two fairly popular cheapies in the cheapie space.

Now the thing is, AliExpress is constantly adjusting and fluctuating prices. I’m going to grab prices from today, but these might change. Also they do sales periodically, and this influences the price, yet again. 

Also, I would never recommend buying 24 of one diaper, but for the simplicity of this price analysis, that is what we are going to do. 

The four pack of Happy Flute Cloth Diaper starts at $14.60 without inserts. It’s an extra $6 for 4 inserts and $12 for 8 inserts. 

Total cost for 24 cloth diapers with 24 inserts is $123.60 USD which at a recent exchange rate is about $162 Canadian Dollars.  Not bad, 24 inserts is probably not enough as most children will out pee an insert within the first 3 months, if not you have a light fairy princess wetter. This means for 8 inserts, 24 diapers it’ll be $208 Canadian. 

Now, some people get away with importing large value parcels without any problem, but it would be naive of me to not let you know that you are responsible for duties and taxes upon arrival into the country. Some people get smacked with those duties and taxes as it is our responsibility to pay that. I have seen estimates from 20-40-60-80 depending on the courier and size of the order. Often they will ship with a courier like DHL, but not always. At an average of 8% duty, that should only be $16 + a ridiculous processing fee. 

If you’re order is under $60 CAD it is unlikely you will face duties and taxes but not always. 

If we look at Alva cloth diapers, it’s a little different. These are about $6 each and they come with one isnert. You can upgrade you insert to a different textile for a different price point. If you needed 24 of these that is going to cost you $146 USD or $191 Canadian. This includes free shopping and your package is susceptible to the above and duties and taxes. 

You’re right, you just can’t buy a full stash of 24 pocket cloth diapers for less than $200 in Canada from a Canadian retailer. You can buy an entire stash of cloth diaper covers and prefolds for under $200 from a Canadian retailer and I would argue that’s the better route because prefold and cover users seem more satisfied, but I understand the hesitations you might have to only spend $95 on 6 covers at full price (most go on sale or hit the clearance bin for 15-20%) and $104 on 24 premium sized Osocozy Prefolds for a total of $200 plus taxes from Lagoon Baby. There are ways to cloth diaper for the same amount as overseas cheapies, and they might not be as neat and tidy as the concept of a pocket cloth diaper, but they can work for families and often they work better. 

At the end of the day you choose what works for your family, I just want the world to remember there are other cheap diaper options out there.