Official Customs, Duties, and International Shipping Questions and Stories Thread

[curiouscharles]

That's unfortunate. I guess we're still bound by the ridiculous $20 limit. Guess I'll be sticking to shipping goods to the US.

hold up, story is developing...

okay, after 5 hours on various phone calls to various branches of government, brokerage companies, and fedex... i have the DEFINITIVE answers.

i just got off the phone with the deputy director at Global Affairs Canada's trade policy division.

she told me no, that is bullshit, individuals are allowed duty exemption to "casual goods" [so **** you buy off the internet] so long as it satisfies the Annex 5 or 5a requirements [meaning, is a made in EU good, from made in EU parts] - just like me or my business.

the FUNNY PART, is she says she is STILL receiving calls every day from CBSA agents asking her for guidance on the CETA policies.

so yes, it's just a transitionary period, where people don't know how to do their jobs under these new rules.

it's only natural that it will take time for people to adjust.

edit: i should add, i've been doing all this research because FedEx has still been charging me duties erroneously on ~30% of my shipments (so, doing it right 70% of the time, pretty good!), and i needed to put together an email explaning exactly how they went wrong (for dispute purposes) with information sourced directly from the government - so thought i'd share the findings that were relevent to this discussion.

 

[asaa1000]

Just ordered some de Bonne Facture from Matches and opted to not to prepay duties. Will report back on how much DHL charges.

Feel free to chime in if you'e done the same.

Cheers.

 

[asaa1000]

Got the Matches package, paid $20 for fees, much less that the $45 they asked for DPP.

On a different note, how much have people been getting hit with when ordering from Superdenim to Canada? Cheers.

 

[Regg]

can someone remind me whether shipping counts towards the $800 threshold?

 

[whorishconsumer]

can someone remind me whether shipping counts towards the $800 threshold?

I'm also certain it does not - the value of the item is declared independently of the cost of shipping, which is never reported on any customs forms, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Sym]

hold up, story is developing...

okay, after 5 hours on various phone calls to various branches of government, brokerage companies, and fedex... i have the DEFINITIVE answers.

i just got off the phone with the deputy director at Global Affairs Canada's trade policy division.

she told me no, that is bullshit, individuals are allowed duty exemption to "casual goods" [so **** you buy off the internet] so long as it satisfies the Annex 5 or 5a requirements [meaning, is a made in EU good, from made in EU parts] - just like me or my business.

the FUNNY PART, is she says she is STILL receiving calls every day from CBSA agents asking her for guidance on the CETA policies.

so yes, it's just a transitionary period, where people don't know how to do their jobs under these new rules.

it's only natural that it will take time for people to adjust.

edit: i should add, i've been doing all this research because FedEx has still been charging me duties erroneously on ~30% of my shipments (so, doing it right 70% of the time, pretty good!), and i needed to put together an email explaning exactly how they went wrong (for dispute purposes) with information sourced directly from the government - so thought i'd share the findings that were relevent to this discussion.

Thanks for the information. Were you able to find anything government sourced that indicated the exemption? I haven't been able to find anything and when the customs officer searched he wasn't able to as well.

Also, I've been eyeing you store more and more. Those 795V are beauties. Being a 44 in CP and 45 in MMM I probably wouldn't fit in the 44 right? Are the prices CAD?

 

[eglbc]

I have a seller in Denmark asking if he needs to fill out customs on a shipment to USA, he should correct? And mark item value as gift or zero? Never dealt with B&S something from denmark, pardon my ignorance.

 

[wurlwyde]

I have a seller in Denmark asking if he needs to fill out customs on a shipment to USA, he should correct? And mark item value as gift or zero? Never dealt with B&S something from denmark, pardon my ignorance.

He has to fill out a customs form, or it'll be stuck in clearing. He shouldn't declare the value $0 as that'll be suspicious. You can bring in something up to $800 without getting dinged on it.

 

[Kwaker]

Does CBSA have any restrictions around down-filled clothing or clothing comprised of fur/shearling coming into the Canada?

 

[Eis]

I wonder whether anyone has the same experience buying from Mr. Porter from Canada. How do we request a refund of incorrectly charged duties in Canada? Recently, I purchased a pair of made-in-Canada Viberg from Mr. Porter. I thought I can have Mr. Porter refunding the duties, seeing how this must be a mistake.

Here is the reply that I got back. Prepare for the humor...

"Thank you for your email.

After reviewing you order...I see that the product was made in Canada and is being sent to Canada.

As per our policy, if you have purchased an item labelled "Made in the USA" and your chosen shipping destination is Canada, we can refund the duties for this piece.

Regretfully, the Viberg - Leather Derby Boots do not qualify for duties refunds."

I would imagine that a company as big as the Yoox group would have a better understanding of the law and regulations. Do they even do process reviews? If my company pull the same thing, we would be written up on the spot.

 

[PattyC]

I wonder whether anyone has the same experience buying from Mr. Porter from Canada. How do we request a refund of incorrectly charged duties in Canada? Recently, I purchased a pair of made-in-Canada Viberg from Mr. Porter. I thought I can have Mr. Porter refunding the duties, seeing how this must be a mistake.

Here is the reply that I got back. Prepare for the humor...

"Thank you for your email.

After reviewing you order...I see that the product was made in Canada and is being sent to Canada.

As per our policy, if you have purchased an item labelled "Made in the USA" and your chosen shipping destination is Canada, we can refund the duties for this piece.

Regretfully, the Viberg - Leather Derby Boots do not qualify for duties refunds."

I would imagine that a company as big as the Yoox group would have a better understanding of the law and regulations. Do they even do process reviews? If my company pull the same thing, we would be written up on the spot.

Yoox won't even refund your customs and duties fees if you return something, you have to email and threaten them to refund you fully

 

[blacktoku]

I wonder whether anyone has the same experience buying from Mr. Porter from Canada. How do we request a refund of incorrectly charged duties in Canada? Recently, I purchased a pair of made-in-Canada Viberg from Mr. Porter. I thought I can have Mr. Porter refunding the duties, seeing how this must be a mistake.

Here is the reply that I got back. Prepare for the humor...

"Thank you for your email.

After reviewing you order...I see that the product was made in Canada and is being sent to Canada.

As per our policy, if you have purchased an item labelled "Made in the USA" and your chosen shipping destination is Canada, we can refund the duties for this piece.

Regretfully, the Viberg - Leather Derby Boots do not qualify for duties refunds."

I would imagine that a company as big as the Yoox group would have a better understanding of the law and regulations. Do they even do process reviews? If my company pull the same thing, we would be written up on the spot.

Hit them with the link below, refer to #7. Even big companies are remarkably clueless when it comes to this sort of thing, especially if you're dealing with a CSR who has little to no knowledge of all the technicalities.

http://www.international.gc.ca/trad.../nafta-alena/fta-ale/questions.aspx?lang=en#7

 

[CityHunter]

Got hit with my first customs fee ever. $80 from SSENSE (never got hit with anything from them in the past). This leads me to my question: I purchased a leather jacket for slightly over $1000. Was it the price or the material of the jacket that led to the customs fee? This may alter future purchases

 

[Regg]

Come on now. Imports over $800 will get hit. 8% isn't bad, and the item and materials determine that percentage

 

[malcb33]

Any Canadians have experiences with duties from ordering from Unionmade? I believe they use DHL?

Also any updates with CETA? @curiouscharles
Does CETA apply when ordering EU made goods purchased from a US based store?