Canada import duty - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinc2162 

Please let us know how it turns out from your Saddleback order. I am interested in ordering too. Good luck man.

I'll post here when I get it -- I'm not an expert on Canadian duties, so it may have been foolish. I probably should have investigated it, considering I could have easily just had it shipped to a US address while I'm travelling there (and legally carried it back).  Too late now, it's ordered. Live and learn.

Also for anyone's reference, I ordered from LL Bean in Sept 2012 (bought US-manufactured goods), and they calculated the tax directly on their website when I was checking out, which is a big plus for me (makes life much easier).

I ordered some stuff from Land's End last year (Asian-manufactured shirts) and duty was charged. IIRC, they charged it at the checkout as well. Which is kind of nice, since it lets you know up front how much you are going to need to pay.

So in the end, the fees consisted of HST, duty, and a $10 (+HST) "rod fee". I assume that the rod fee is a fancy name for the FedEx brokerage charge.

The weird thing I noticed is that the HST appears to have been charged on the total cost, i.e. including shipping. I don't quite understand that, as I would have thought that HST would only be charged on the goods themselves. The difference is less than $3, but I still find it strange.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohde88 

Or you can go through a US proxy. I ship as gift to Canada all the time.
The seller need not mark as gift, but a proxy can. I've never been hit with a duty.

I learn something new every day here.

My only concern would be the potential legalities. Has anyone ever looked into that? I would think that Canada Customs (or any such national agency) would look at this as a form of customs evasion. Whether they would be concerned enough to do anything about it is a different story altogether, but would be curious if the topic had already been discussed by those in the know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinc2162 

Please let us know how it turns out from your Saddleback order. I am interested in ordering too. Good luck man.

To update: the item shipped via USPS, and I was charged HST (Ontario - 13%) but no duty. However, I do not yet actually have my bag since I missed the delivery and will have to pick it up over the weekend... hmph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesphw 

 

To update: the item shipped via USPS, and I was charged HST (Ontario - 13%) but no duty. However, I do not yet actually have my bag since I missed the delivery and will have to pick it up over the weekend... hmph.

Good to know. HST I can live with, duty not so much.