Shipping equipment to Canada?

[pfuller88]

Has anyone bought lenses or cameras in the US and shipped to Canada? Are there duties and/or extra costs? With the stronger Can$ I see some great deals in the US, although, I do not want to get creamed on duties.

[Fills]

I have... and yes there are some good deals, but I stick to reputable places like B&H. There is taxes, shipping, conversion on the dollar, but I still saved over $250 on the 50 1.4 with hood and filter.

[addida]

Has anyone bought lenses or cameras in the US and shipped to Canada? Are there duties and/or extra costs? With the stronger Can$ I see some great deals in the US, although, I do not want to get creamed on duties.

You have to pay all taxes + border fees.

if it's ship by a non-commercial and mentionne as a gift, you have a chance to do not pay taxes.

[Vinny454]

Camera equipment is duty free, but you will get nailed with PST & GST or HST, whichever applies to you. There was a good discussion about this in the link below.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39633

CONK had also psoted the link below in the above thread to the Canada Customs refering to importing camera equipment.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/...04/table-e.html

Read that thread as there are very useful points of interest.

The highlights are

1: You will pay tax but no duty
2: Do not use UPS and if you have to use them choose AIr not Ground delivery or you will get nailed outrageous brokerage fee's (that applies to any UPS international shipment not just camera's)
3: Choose a reputable dealer like B&H.

Hope this answers your questions.

BTW. Yes I have purchased many items from B&H. Good price's, great service, fast delivery and zero hassels at all.

[drisley]

The highlights are

1: You will pay tax but no duty
2: Do not use UPS and if you have to use them choose AIr not Ground delivery or you will get nailed outrageous brokerage fee's (that applies to any UPS international shipment not just camera's)
3: Choose a reputable dealer like B&H.



I have purchased from the US, and the above rules hit the nail exactly on the head.
Btw, Adorama is pretty good too.

[CaseyScofield]

I send stuff to Canada daily at my day job.

Ship the items via FedEx, or Post. UPS always charges **TONS** of brokerage fees (unless the company you purchase them from pays for them in advance), and UPS always has a hang-up at the border for at least a week (usually longer)!

[Bob_A]

I started this thread a few weeks ago:

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=56650

Other than GST and PST which you would have to pay anyway (unless purchasing from Alberta) there are no additional taxes/duties when importing camera equipment from the USA to Canada.

Visa appears to charge about 2.5% on top of the current exchange rate.

NOTE: There were NO additional brokerage fees, insurance fees or hidden fees when I shipped from B&H to Alberta via UPS expedited. For my 24-70 2.8L the UPS cost was exactly $35.50 US ... which was what B&H said it would be ... no surprises at all (the cost INCLUDED brokerage fees and insurance).

After getting my Visa bill I have confirmed all charges and saved $660 Cdn over buying the lens from a reputable local camera shop, and over $500 from the best on-line deal in Canada.

Oh, I forgot to say ... I ordered the lens on a Sunday night ... confirmed my information with B&H on the Monday night and received my lens on the Thursday. 3 days from the USA to Alberta for $35.50 US is pretty good value and great service IMO. The UPS tracking site was pretty interesting to visit also.


Bob

[Persian-Rice]

Some people are extremely misinformed so ill just explain it all.
I have not only researched this and experienced it, but my mom is a federal (GST/income etc etc) auditor, she knows the tax system better then she knows herself.

You will pay GST+PST(rate of the province it entered in). BTW you will be taxed for both shipping and the item in Canadian dollars based on the current Bank of Canada rate. Pretty much, there are no duties on camera equipment, there is, but only some stuff, you should not be charged on the normal lenses and whatnot.

If you get the item via USPS which is now picked up by Canada Post, their assigned customs agent will probably charge you a $5-$10 handling fee. If you get it through UPS, everything but UPS ground is brokerage free. UPS ground will rape you with outrageous brokerage charges, which they are billed for from the government. You guys must realize that they have government assigned agents in the receiving stations, those brokerage fees are set by those agents.
UPS ground does not have a set delivery time, and you can wait up to 3 weeks to get an item besides paying tons of brokerage, so make sure you get express(1-3) or expedited(2-4).

FedEx is good, but their shipping fee's are much more expensive then that of UPS. All of FedEx's parcels have a small handling fee except for their ground, which is the same as UPS, but slightly less expensive. In general, unless the store has a deal with FedEx, don't use them, you will end up spending more on shipping then you have to. BTW, with FedEx, if you make more then 100 transactions, they will ask you to register a VIP/Business account, which costs even more money. If you don't, you can't use FedEx anymore.........

IMO, buy it from the states an pick it up(if possible), I would much rather spend $60 on gas and get a day-off rather then spend $200-$300 bucks in taxes. That is if you buy expensive gear :D.

[eastcoast909]

This is a link that I had posted a while ago from a thread over on Fred Miranda. The author discusses various means of shipping photography related items (lens, cameras etc) by various means (fedex, ups, usps) and their associated costs.

http://www.imageswest.ca/cross-border_shopping.htm

Very good info.

[pfuller88]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.

[Brianbar]

If you purchase from RitzCameras or ecost.com, they will ship via Borderfree, which I believe is a division of Canada Post, with a guaranteed price delivered to your door, including all taxes, duty and shipping.
If you check their web site they may have other suppliers of camera equip.

www.borderfree.com

Brian Winnipeg