Canada import duty

[jamesphw]

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).

 

[Firefox]

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.

 

[FidelCashflow]

nvm - I already posted in this thread a few years ago - lol

 

[Firefox]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Firefox]

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.

 

[FidelCashflow]



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.

CBSA should spend more time looking for drugs and less time chasing people to pay GST on packages - and they know this.

 

[jamesphw]

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.

 

[Firefox]

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.

 

[BootsCanada]

Well I just did a little research,

Here's what I came up with, I was considering some Cheaney shoes out of England. $240£. Convert to CAD $$416.45 (fx $1.00£ = $1.7352CAD). Now Remember CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) accesses the value on the CAD dollar value converted by the Bank of Canada (fx rates). So $416.45 + 18% duties + 13% HST (Ontario) = $74.61 + $54.14 + brokerage (variance of arbitrary brokerage fee levied by courier company [DHL has a standard $10.00 CAD admin fee / UPS is somewhere around $30.00CAD / CanadaPost $8-$10.00]). for a grand total of $416.45 (CAD Value of Goods) + $74.61 (Tarrifs/Duties) +$54.14 (Provincial Harmonized Sales Tax) +$10.00(Brokerage Fee) = $555.10

So that $240£ shoe from England has a Canadian value of $555.10

Although, having said the above calculations. I do not know what the VAT cost is to someone in England, who could ship privately as a gift. with a value of $60(CAD). thereby avoiding the duties/hst/brokerage.

My 2 pennies worth. LOL

 

[BootsCanada]

OH and I did a little further checking for everyone. VAT currently is 20% of item in England. SO. $240£ + 20% = $288.00£ converted to CAD is $498.xx CAD and you still need to add shipping on charges on. SO at the end of the day, while buying direct from Cheaney, may seem expensive with the duties + hst + brokerage. It also is currently offering free shipping. Where getting your friend to ship it to you. Puts you out $30 - 40.00 + $498 = so you really only save about $20 bucks CAD for your head-aches since $498.xx+$40.00 = $538 vs $555.

 

[yoshiwaan]

Sorry to necropost but I thought it better to ask in a relevant thread than start a new one. I wanted to buy some shoes from Skoaktiebolaget (in Sweden) as it seemed initially like a slightly cheaper option than getting C&Js from Andy Trot and Enzo Bonafe makes an attractive shoe.

So I just wanted to confirm that pretty much all the taxes you can think are applied in this instance. So a pair of $609CAD shoes should actually be

Shoes = $609.00
GST = $ 30.45
PST (7%) = $ 42.63
Duty (18%) = $109.62
Broker Fee = ???
Total = $791.7 + broker fees

That's almost 30% more, surely that's not right? : /

In Australia there is an import rule that says anything under $1000 is untaxed for imports if it's for personal use. What are the options here? Just AE/Alden/Go on holiday to Europe/Get shafted?

 

[LeviMay]

Not sure the percentage, but I just got hit $82 on a pair of Meermins. So yeah, probably.

 

[emidyl]

Sorry to necropost but I thought it better to ask in a relevant thread than start a new one. I wanted to buy some shoes from Skoaktiebolaget (in Sweden) as it seemed initially like a slightly cheaper option than getting C&Js from Andy Trot and Enzo Bonafe makes an attractive shoe.

So I just wanted to confirm that pretty much all the taxes you can think are applied in this instance. So a pair of $609CAD shoes should actually be

Shoes = $609.00
GST = $ 30.45
PST (7%) = $ 42.63
Duty (18%) = $109.62
Broker Fee = ???
Total = $791.7 + broker fees

That's almost 30% more, surely that's not right? : /

In Australia there is an import rule that says anything under $1000 is untaxed for imports if it's for personal use. What are the options here? Just AE/Alden/Go on holiday to Europe/Get shafted?

at the worst it will be the taxes plus $10 for Canpost "handling" fee. I have never been hit with the duty rate. And as others have mentioned before when dealing with Skoak, canpost will get through 90% of the time as is. I received mine last month with no additional fees. It is a crap shoot with Canpost. UPS and Fedex you are guaranteed to be paying everything.

Not sure the percentage, but I just got hit $82 on a pair of Meermins. So yeah, probably.

wow, $82 for what a $300/pr or less pr of shoes? This was with Canpost? Do you have the paperwork showing you the details of breakdown WRT taxes, duty, handling?

 

[LeviMay]

I think a good chunk of it was FedEx, and GST (no PST in Alberta yet...).