Pizzawheel

If I have this correctly, there should be no import duty on car/ motorcycle parts/ spares. Is having the package clearly identified as "auto parts" sufficient on the declaration? Thanks for an advice on this!

Hemi Dave

Not sure where you are getting your info from as I have always had to pay tax. This is the case for Ontario anyway, might be different in your provence?

Former Lancastrian

They will be duty free if US/Mexico manufactured but you will still pay GST & PST or the HST depending where you live plus any Canada Post handling fees or courier brokerage fees if not self cleared unless the item is under $20 Cad or CBSA elect not to collect on a minimal value.

scrubbedexpat091

That seems to happen a lot, I always expect to have to pay taxes on stuff from the US when I order it, and then it arrives and nothing ever due, not even by land has any officer ever elected to charge anything.

Now with the poor exchange rate, my US buying is over, no savings anymore.

withabix

CBSA elected not to collect Duty, GST or PST on anything I've bought from the USA in the last 2 years delivered by USPS and CanadaPost....

Included expensive car parts which clearly said on the box that they were 'Made in Korea', having originally come from Hyundai....

I never use any other delivery company unless its unavoidable.

Usually I get free USA shipping to a Shipito.com handling centre and then choose USPS to forward it to Canada. The cheapest delivery option (as low as $3.xx) usually arrives within a week.

Pizzawheel

Hemi- Scarberia is the east (best) side of TO ;-)

Yes I know HST is unavoidable. I got absolutely gouged on some stuff off Amazon when I got here- flat 25% brokerage charge0 but seem to have avoided that since.

Withabix- that sounds interesting. The company I'm buying from is in California so I'll ask if they have options with Canada Post. It's a small parcel- a clutch cable, oil filter & a pressure switch so hopefully the shipping won't be excessive. It's for a classic bike btw.

withabix

If they send via USPS it will be transferred to Canada Post.

Alternatively have a look at Shipito - you get your own personal address. Some of the big retailers won't ship to Fowarders like them (probably because of the cut they get from the parcel companies), but most companies don't have a problem with them. You only pay $1 more than the actual postage cost, plus the card fee (2.5% of the postage cost) - they are the cheapest I have found by a long way and they ship out the same day as they receive the parcel, as long as you've got funds in your payment account (or top-up on a per-parcel basis from your credit card). You onl

Aviator

Canada Post use Purolator for larger packages. Canada Post charge a flat fee for brokerage if they deliver the package. FeDex are the cheapest in our experience, there is a flat fee of $7 per shipment plus duties and taxes. Whether you get charged or not is a crap shoot, but incoming goods are highly likely to be charged unless carrying in yourself, when you may or may not get charged.

Pizzawheel

Withabix- Shipito looks pretty good. So apart from the reasonable oncosts they charge, there's no flat brokerage rate? I don't mind the HST is is what it is, it's the extra flat rate that kills it for me.

I do like to do some online shopping (vehicle parts as much as anything else) and not knowing how much you're going to pay until it arrives always kills me.

withabix

They don't do Brokerage, they are just a parcel forwarder.

I've never had a single charge from Canada Post. With regard to the Purolator comment above from Aviator, I assume heavy/large USPS parcels would only be transferred to Purolator once they had arrived with Canada Post in Canada anyway and therefore would be post-brokerage and import.

I've not had any international parcels delivered by Purolator except when I knew it was coming via them, eg from B&H PhotoVideo in New York.

Pizzawheel

I've signed up with shipito. So I guess this is good for getting free mainland USA postage and then forwarding for a small sum?

If there's no free shipping I guess USPS/ Canadapost is the best?

withabix

That decision depends on how rip-off the USA to Canada shipping charges are from the supplier (often 2 or 3 times actual cost, if not more), which obviously also depends on the size and weight of the item.

It can be a bit hit and miss as to any saving using Shipito compared to direct delivery if there is no free USA to USA delivery, but I've only made the wrong decision once!

Oink

Why even keep the pretence of a border? If Europe can borderless boundaries you'd think the US and Canada would be similar.

withabix

...and you know how well that's working right now....

The 'mericans don't want their country flooded with drugs, weapons, radical Islamists and other 'illegals' across the Canada/USA border.

Personally I would have though the bigger problem was in the opposite direction...

Yorkiechef

It is the lower 48ers keeping the Alaskans out. Double border😉