U.S. to Canada customs duty

[pcasciola]

Some guy from Canada just bought a set of Mustang headers I was selling on eBay for $250. UPS is quoting me a price of $25 to ship this 23 pound box. I know a lot of the Canadians here buy from the U.S., so I was wondering, will I, or the buyer, be hit with any additional import taxes by UPS or Canadian customs? I thought I remember someone here saying that UPS collects these fees up front, but I can't find the thread now.

[cosworth]

Ship it USPS or he'll get nailed for a $40 brokerage fee and headaches possibly.

Why do you think you would you get hit for a Canadian duty? No. He will pay the appropriate Provincial taxes once it's landed.

[pcasciola]

Why do you think you would you get hit for a Canadian duty? No. He will pay the appropriate Provincial taxes once it's landed.I could have swore I saw several people here post that UPS and/or Fedex collect the duty fees up front. I may have been mistaken. Maybe it's this brokerage fee I remember seeing. Is that a UPS fee of $40?

[ProAc_Fan]

That UPS fee is the brokerage fee they charge for remitting any taxes owing on behalf of the buyer. The fee is a minimum amount that escalates as the value of the item increases. There are ways around the fee if the buyer lives close to the point of entry but its probably just easier to ship USPS because the brokerage fee is then a flat $5 CAN.

Mike

[cosworth]

Shippers to Canada don't pay fees. If you do, someone is scamming you.

[pcasciola]

He will pay the appropriate Provincial taxes once it's landed.Any idea what's these taxes will be? He's in Ontario.

I guess I'll be going with USPS Airmail Post to avoid those outrageous brokerage fees even though it's about $10-15 more expensive than UPS for this weight.

[cosworth]

He'll pay $5 brokerage fee and GST plus Provincial tax. So %14.

Or mark it as "gift" and it's duty/tax free. But that is up to you.

[jimtfoto]

He'll pay $5 brokerage fee and GST plus Provincial tax. So %14.

Or mark it as "gift" and it's duty/tax free. But that is up to you.

If he's in Ontario, the tax adds up to 15% ..

cheers,
jim

[cosworth]

If he's in BC, he pays %14, if he's in Alberta he pays GST only. On "average" the prov sales tax matches the GST, except in Ontario.

So for the rest of Canada, I hope this information is helpful. No duties are paid on lenses, they are accessories. You pay a duty on bodies. Remember that duties and taxes are two different things.

[pcasciola]

Thanks, that's really helpful. I just received a charger that I ordered from Hong Kong that was labeled as an accessory. I guess that's why.

I'll let the guy that he might get hit with 14-15% sales tax, but that I'll mark the customs form as gift to try and avoid it, just so he's not shocked if they ask him for another $40-50 in taxes.

[ProAc_Fan]

Gift only works up to $60 CAN. Anything over that and he's paying the taxes on the value of the item gift or not.

Mike

[cosworth]

I've been "gifted" much more expensive items than $60. However there is the wording of the law you've misunderstood. You can import gifts for friends in Canada duty free and tax free, as long as each gift is valued at CAN$60 or less. If the gift is worth more than CAN$60, you will have to pay duties and taxes on the excess amount. You cannot claim alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, or advertising matter as gifts. Now do recognize that that is person to person within Canada. If the exporter (say a US citizen) gifts you a product this $60 limit does not apply. This gift limit is if your Grandma in Sarnia wants to send you a nice sweater from Hollister Co. when she was Stateside. She can claim it as a gift at the border and send it to you. The limit does not apply for people who ship stuff to you. It also applies to your Unlce from Detroit who visits you in Windsor. He as am American has a limit for $60 to send to you. Nice little loophole for shippers though. However, do notice that this is a don't ask don't tell loophole. Gift is never questioned. But if the receiver wants insured shipping you could get called on it. Be aware that this above statute is mostly applied at the border crossings. The 7-11 post office grunt doesn't give a hoot what you do.

I import a lot of stuff and export a lot as well. I even have a US shipping address now. I avoid all this hassle and just clear customs myself.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

The buyer pays all duties and taxes picking the package up.

This is not the worst, the brokerage fee from UPS is even more insulting! Sometimes it is cheaper to sent this overnight, as the extra shipping fees include brokerage. All in all, still the buyers issue.

Duties on most items are non-existant or negligable. if the product is used, mark this on the shipping paperwork, as taxes may be affected.

Depending on the weight, it may be better to shp USPS to Canada Post. Brokerage fees are much lower, and they're tax collecting is not as effective. Insurance is much lower too.

Even with taxes and shipping, more often than not it is cheaper to import than to buy local. something really wrong with that statement.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I could have swore I saw several people here post that UPS and/or Fedex collect the duty fees up front. I may have been mistaken. Maybe it's this brokerage fee I remember seeing. Is that a UPS fee of $40?

"up front" just means that they'll ask for it before they give it to you (the recipient)

[MTalley]

Ah, reminds me of my first US-Canada Ebay sale. I ended up losing money on the deal. Buyer bid $40 and won. Buyer sent me his UPS number to ship with and explicit instructions to put a $0 value and "Gift" on the customs form.

Not understanding such things completely, I declared a value of $40 on the contents (for insurance purposes, I suppose) and forgot the "Gift" part.

Buyer was understandably upset when the package arrived from UPS with more than $40 US due in the abovementioned fee and duties. I refunded the entire amount to the seller by Paypal-ing him $40 US. I ended up eating the Ebay fees and Paypal fees.

I subsequently put in my auctions that I'll only ship to the continental 50 states. Whenever someone from Canada asks about me shipping to them now, I tell them I will if they agree to be responsible for all duties, etc. due on their end. I ship USPS to avoid them having to pay UPS's high fees, but I refuse to mark "Gift" on items just so they'll avoid any customs/duties. I'm not going to get myself in trouble over such things.

[7SLOTS]

do be sure to mark on the package "automotive parts made in the USA"
there is no duty on US made parts should only be gst and possible pst , 7 and 8 % respectively
but never ship via United parcel service, the stories are true. USPS is best.

[pcasciola]

This guy is making me nervous. First, he says Paypal called him to confirm his address, yet his address still shows up an unconfirmed when I check the transaction. These are $300 headers so I'd hate to take the chance and ship to someone with a zero ebay rating as well as an unconfirmed address. I specified in the auction that Paypal payments must be shipped to confirmed addresses only.

I've seen plenty of Canadian buyers with confirmed addresses, so I'm guessing this is just as easy to do in Canada as it is here? Is there anything I can tell this guy to make it easier for him to confirm his address?

[7SLOTS]

If paypal has his credit card info then his shipping and billing address must match I would think.
But if Paypal wont confirm the address then I would be suspicious also.
Where in Canada is this guy?

[pcasciola]

He's in Cambridge, Ontario.

He's actually been really helpful, and I called Paypal on the phone, because he sent me a digital photo of his screen showing me that his Paypal account does in fact show "Confirmed" (within 5 minutes of me asking), but on my end it shows "Unconfirmed" on the transaction record. ???

I called Paypal, and the agent said his ebay and Paypal addresses must match letter for letter, and are case sensitive as well, and sure enough, there were some inconsistencies, but now the Paypal agent says I might have to refund the payment and start over for it to show as confirmed on my end, because he made all the changes on his ebay account and it's still showing unconfirmed when I bring up the transaction record.

I feel bad for this guy now because this is his first ebay purchase and he has to go through all this.

[Bob_A]

I could have swore I saw several people here post that UPS and/or Fedex collect the duty fees up front. I may have been mistaken. Maybe it's this brokerage fee I remember seeing. Is that a UPS fee of $40?

With UPS Edpedited the customs broker fees are paid up front. For camera equipment there is no duty.

[7SLOTS]

I wonder if a US money order sent to you would be better? there are quite a number of ebayers that only accept that form of payment. In Canada I have used email money transfer through my bank to another and the payment has arrived in the bank within minutes. Not sure if your bank has that.

[ssim]

I just got in some photo accessories from the states. They were valued at 80.00CAD and I ended up paying 18.00 in duty and taxes. They were shipped fedex. I ordered something very similar last year at about the same value and being shipped vias UPS the charges came to 45.00. The difference was in the brokerage fees.

[Bob_A]

Did you really pay duty, or was it just PST and GST?

[pcasciola]

Has anyone in Canada got hit with any duty or taxes on the POTN straps and vests?

[Bob_A]

Has anyone in Canada got hit with any duty or taxes on the POTN straps and vests?

I didn't pay anything extra for my strap.

[Gordon S.]

Its often completely random. I haven't gotten dinged on a dozen car parts this year but got hit with $60 duty on the 28-135IS I just bought off a seller here.

[cjm]

Gift is no guarantee of not getting duty.

For example. My mom inherited an old painting from my Great Aunt in IL and the nursing home marked it as "gift". But because of the amount of mail I had sent to my parents house (safer then an appartment) Canada Post must have flagged their house because she was dinged with customs charges.

The only way that I know of to get no duty is mark the value of the item between $10 & $15 and not check anything else. But it has its share of risks such as it will only be "insured" for that much.

[cjm]

Its often completely random. I haven't gotten dinged on a dozen car parts this year but got hit with $60 duty on the 28-135IS I just bought off a seller here. Yeah me too. I've bought things for hundreds of dollars from the USA and Europe and didn't get dinged and then other times I bought something for $25 and got dinged. I've learned over the years that it is unpredictable. So as a rule of thumb, expect to pay Duty and if you are not asked to take it as a gift from the Federal Government (Cause we all know that we don't get that too often!).

[Gordon S.]

Gift is no guarantee of not getting duty.

The aforementioned 28-135IS was marked as a gift. It really has no impact.

[Bob_A]

Here is a link to a pdf on the Government of Canada site by the Canada Border Services Agency giving the 2005 tariffs for importing goods into Canada. Photographic equipment tariffs are in section 90 (see section 90-06 starting on page 1531), and lenses and cameras are shown as "free".

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/publications/tariff2005/01-99r5-e.pdf

If anyone imports new camera equipment into Canada from the US and pays duty they should argue their case and get their money back. Fortunately all of my orders have arrived as they should - duty free.