Does anyone have experience of buying goods from companies based in US via internet/telephone and having them delivered to Canada? Do you have to pay import duty as in UK or just local GST & PST? What is the limit of purchase before any charges are made?

Thanks

I recently bought a bottle of crime scene clean up fluid from Seattle. It was about $20Canadian for the product, $20Canadian for the shipping and $23Canadian in import duties PST and GST. Anything shipped via a courier is going to be subject to all of these costs so it's usually better just to drive over to America, buy it, and lie to the customs.

I'm not sure what the limits are but do be careful.

I recently purchased a basketball shirt for my daughter. On entry to Canada I had to pay GST which I expected. However the courier company also decided to charge extortionate customs clearance charges which in the end amount to over 50% of the price of the shirt! If you insist it comes by standard mail I think you avoid this, but certainly don't let them use UPS.

Incidentally I did get the money back from the US internet store.

If the value of the imported item is over C$20, you have to pay import duty, GST and whatever PST is applicable in your province.

In the case of books, magazines, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, you have to pay duties and taxes regardless of the value of the items, i.e., in those categories duties and taxes are applied to items that cost less than C$20.

Duties and taxes are applied to items that are shipped through the regular postal system as well as items that are shipped by courier.

Because of the exchange rate between the US dollar and Canadian dollar, the shipping charges and import duty, I rarely find it worthwhile to import goods into Canada.

My younger son imports vinyl records from the UK. He has an interest in a very specific genre of music. Except for occasional finds in secondhand stores, he cannot find the records he wants in Canada. Because of his very specific preferences, he's willing to swallow the shipping costs and import duties.

When you cross the border in person, the rules are different.

After an absence of 24 hours or more, each person is allowed to bring in goods (except tobacco and alcohol) up to a value of C$50 without paying duty.

After an absence of 48 hours or more, each person is allowed to bring in goods (including some tobacco and alcohol) up to a value of C$200 without paying duty.

After an absence of 7 days or more, each person is allowed to bring in goods (including some tobacco and alcohol) up to a value of C$750 without paying duty.

Details are contained in A guide for residents of Canada returning to Canada.

I've had contact lenses delivered from Georgia with no duty payable (despite being 100+ CAD in value and the packet clearly being marked with the description and value), eBay stuff has sneaked through from the US uncharged, but everything else I've had to pay for.

Places like LL Bean tell you what the duty will be before you buy on their website, and charge you there and then at time of ordering, so if there's a choice of things I try and pick US/Canadian made for that reason.

I ordered two rings from a company in LA got one and had to pay $23 bucks duty only paid $8 for the ring, and one never even got here!!!

I wouldnt order anything from the states again, however i do have a friend that travels across the border every day so i get stuff sent to him in US address and he brings it over for me

What you will pay depends on the country of origin for the item you bought. Anything made in the US will fall under NAFTA and there will be no import duty, but you will have to pay GST and PST. If it is shipped via mail, Canada Post will tack on $5 for a handling fee to any taxes charged. If it is shipped by air (FedEx, Purolator, UPS Air) they generally won't charge extra over the taxes, but the shipping will be hideously high. NEVER use UPS ground shipping as they charge a brokerage fee in addition to any taxes or duty which starts at about $20 and goes up based on the declared value. Sometimes this is more than the value of the item, especially if the sender declares a higher value for insurance than you paid. I had this happen once and had to let it bounce back to the sender since it was $125 in taxes and brokerage for a $90 item!

Remember that some US places won't ship to Canada or will charge so much for shipping that is isn't worth it (like one place that wanted $50 to ship a book). Some won't accept credit cards from a non-US based bank or with a non-US billing address. Some places won't ship particular products outside the US (Amazon.com does this with some electronic items).

There is no value at which commerical shipments (i.e. merchandise you order) will not be taxed, they will tax it regardless of price. You can receive gifts up to $60 tax free, but they have to be marked as a gift and can't come from a business address (the govt. assumes that anything from a business is commercial and taxable even if it really is a gift).

I will buy from US eBay sellers as they will generally mark things a gift and you rarely get dinged for taxes. I infrequently buy from mail order in the US to be shipped here just because of the taxes and especially the extra fees charged to collect them. I have a box in the US (Niagara Falls) where I get orders shipped and pick them up myself when I go down since I do go there once a month or so. It also gives me an address to keep one credit card bill sent and I get a magazine subscription sent there that would cost an extra $100/year to have sent here.

UPS ground is the worse to use because of those "brokerage" fees. The weird thing is if you use their air service (2nd day blue lable or next day red label) they don't charge it! FedEx doesn't charge it either, but their price to ship here is like $26 for an "economy" document envelope!

[QUOTE=dbd33]I recently bought a bottle of crime scene clean up fluid from Seattle.

Is there something you are not telling us dbd

[QUOTE=Steve&Tanya] It's supposed to remove any type of human fluids from anything. It doesn't.

I see you have all learned what I was going to say!! And that is - DO NOT USE UPS!

Its daylight robbery. My son bought something from the States and had to pay almost as much as the item cost to UPS for customs handling or some such crap. I will not buy anything no matter how much I want it unless they will send it by USPS - US Postal Service. I have bought lots of things. Had them delivered by mail and never paid any customs duty whatsoever.

I have had a couple of experiences lately. I bought a linen shirt for the exorbitant price of $4.99 on eBay. It never arrived and the seller refunded my money. Then I bought the BBC series Coast on DVD - that never arrived and I got my money refunded. I am sure it wasn't the sellers' fault. It costs money to list items on eBay and there is no point in listing stuff and not sending it and refunding the money. I suspect things get lost or perhaps even stolen in the postal service, but so long as you deal with reputable sellers and maybe insure the item, you should be OK. I didn't insure and I still got my money back with absolutely no hassle.

I don't know how UPS can get away with those charges, but it is ridiculous. The charge starts at like $20 or $25 and goes up based on the value of the item. My first experience with it was a wedding gift not long after I moved up here. The brokerage on it was like $35 and I my learning experience that UPS sucks. Once I had a box of books (value to me $0 as they were review copies, cover price was maybe $80) with $115 in brokerage fees that I just refused delivery on. They guy resent when they came back via regular mail and there was no charge. I also had a print that we bought on our honeymoon and declared to customs when we got home as an item to follow which meant there would be no tax or duty on it. The cost was $90 and it was supposed to be sent via FedEx. They sent it UPS and the brokerage was $150 of which only about half would be refunded if I filed a claim with the government (UPS won't refund any of their brokerage even if no tax was due) so I let it bounce back. The company just wouldn't sent it via FedEx like they had promised (and we paid for) so it would up going to the UPS office in Niagara Falls eventually for us to pick up.

I will also say UPS sucks as far as deliver service up here too. Once they delivered a package to me that was not for me. I have no clue why they decided to send it to me, but it was for someone with a completely different name in a different city (I was in Scarborough they were in Oshawa!). I wound up driving over there to give the lady her digital camera she ordered. They even called my house before delivering it so I don't know how that cross up occurred. Their delivery guys (at least where I used to live) were horribly rude and lazy. They would buzz, count to 5, and then leave (we were in an apartment building so you had to buzz first) so you almost never caught him the first time and would have to call to reschedule delivery.

Yep - I've bought loads of stuff this way. Customs Canada will charge $8.00 handling fee (if they decide to open your package), then they decide what the 'value' of the item is in Canada and charge GST (and PST) if relevant to your province based on that. Duties can also be applicable, but in my experience seem to be somewhat hit and miss. This varies depending on the item and I've no idea what criteria they use. If it is an Antique there is no tax if it is over 100 years old. I have paid taxes/handling on things as low as $20.00.

Basically - if you're getting a really good deal, it's usually worth it. But try sourcing it locally first to get an idea, as shipping costs alone can be quite steep especially if it's a large item, or needs special packing etc.

Thanks for all the good advice posted on this thread.