Purchasing from the US

[bendova]

I have just pruchased a few things from the US and I was wondering how customs works.

When the item goes to customs do they open it and see what is or do they just go by the invoice?

What and how do they charge me for duty on the items?

Any help would be appreciated..

 

[red]

I have just pruchased a few things from the US and I was wondering how customs works.

When the item goes to customs do they open it and see what is or do they just go by the invoice?

What and how do they charge me for duty on the items?

Any help would be appreciated..

if its underwear, the customs guys/gals wear it for a week or so to see if it meets Cdn underwear standards and then send it on to you.

 

[bendova]

thanks for the info.

Now if is shipped by Fed-Ex do I pay when I receive it or how does that work?

 

[anonemouse]

It depends on the item. For some things (bicycle parts, for example) there's no duty from the US. But brokerage can be around 10 to 20% of the purchase price in my experience. As long as you factor it into the purchase price, you're set.

 

[SpaClient]

thanks for the info.

Now if is shipped by Fed-Ex do I pay when I receive it or how does that work?

Not sure if this applies for you but Fed-Ex and UPS will charge a brokerage fee (about 35-40$) plus any duties and taxes owing will all be collected upon delivery. This is after any shipping and handling charges you might have prepaid.

If the item you are having sent is relatively inexpensive, have it shipped by the United States Postal Service. There are no brokerage fees with USPS. Upon arrival, the Canadian post office will collect the duties and taxes, but only if the value of the item is over $20. The downside is that, depending upon the size/weight, you may have to pick the item up.

 

[great bear]

if its underwear, the customs guys/gals wear it for a week or so to see if it meets Cdn underwear standards and then send it on to you.

Is that why you get so many wedgies?

 

[einar]

SpaClient's remarks should be heeded. If you are dealing with a small US company or retail store, ask them to please send you the parcel via the US mails -- and not via UPS, FedEx, or whomever they are proud to be affiliated with. They will be a little surprised, but not if you explain to them that you may well be dinged for $30-$40 of silly customs paperwork costs with these for-profit firms. I once bought a bottle of vitamins from the US by mail and the fees were more than the value of the vitamins.

That's what you want to avoid on your next cross-border mail-order purchase.

OTH, if you deal with the huge outfits like Lands' End, they handle all Cdn. duties internally, without extra fees.

 

[Anynym]

When the item goes to customs do they open it and see what is or do they just go by the invoice?

What and how do they charge me for duty on the items?

The shipper has to fill out a Declaration form indicating what is in the item.

Brokers, like UPS and FedEx, take care of this paperwork for the shipper (and charge you an arm and a leg to do so). Shipping USPS, the merchant has to fill out the form themselves.

Either way, Canada Border Services will open a somewhat random selection of items (or if an item is identified as "risky") to verify that the declaration is accurate.

There are also a few merchants in the States who use a service called "Canada Post BorderFree", which helps with cross-border issues.

 

[tboy]

The form is as simple as can be: where was it made? what is it? What is it's value in US dollars? then vendor name address etc.

ALWAYS SHIP USPS even if your brokerage is included in the courier "first rate custom fly only one package at a time next day by 9 am a hot blonde delivers it personally to you". Unless it is thousands of dollars it isn't worth the cost IMO.

As rub said: UPS is nothing more than legal robbery.

If the item is made in the US there won't be any duty due to free trade. You will pay GST and maybe PST depending on the item.

If you really want to know exactly, you can look up the duty rate on the Rev Can website.

 

[markvee]

Is GST and PST charged for used items (not underwear!) purchased from the US? I got GST and PST reduced to being on the sale price rather than appraised value, but I wonder if I really needed to pay any sales tax at all.

 

[tboy]

If your buying from a company that regularly ships to canada it's no big deal,just give credit card number and pay the bill when it comes in they usually have fixed charges for shipping so you know were you stand only thing is the exchange rate and that's not an issue at the moment

LOL dude, do it your way and you could pay $50.00 and up for brokerage fees!!!

If you don't mind handing out $50.00 for nothing then hey, send it over here!!!

 

[keyser]

I can echo some of the comments re. UPS brokerage charges. I was charged $80 for the customs clearance. This was not including the duty, GST and PST that was payable on the order. Another item shipped by mail was $5 for the clearance.