How to avoid paying customs fees?

[jb217676]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure what to call these different fees. Instead of calling them "customs fees" i'll call them "taxes". I never gave this subject any thought before because I have never had to pay these taxes. I just found it strange that I all of a sudden had to pay three times in the same week when I haven't had to pay once in over a year. Would Canada Post be targeting me specifically or is this just bad luck on my part. The card I paid $600.00 for (seller marked the value at 480.00) slipped through but lately I am having to pay $13.00 in import taxes on a $60.00 card.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by jb217676

...lately I am having to pay $13.00 in import taxes on a $60.00 card.

Wow - that is rare in my experience...they don't always bother with such small amounts. But the quick math tells me they probably hit you for the $5.00 carrier's fee plus your taxes in Ontario (provincial tax plus GST). That would total around the amount you paid.

Cheers,
Blair

[barrysloate]

Hosers!

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Hosers!

Take off, eh!

[Jim VB]

A nice "toque"????


Is that like "One Toque Over the Line Sweet Jesus"? Seems that might cause trouble at the border!

[aro13]

I have found that anything with a declared value of over $100 is going to get taxed. Anything less has been hit and miss, for me at least.

What I think is important, though, is to make certain the seller puts the declared value as the price that you paid and not the BOOK value.

[jb217676]

That's what I thought too. But in December I had a package with a declared value of $480.00 slip through without having to pay any taxes on it. This past week, I have had 3 packages with a declared value of around $50.00-$60.00 each that taxes had to be paid on before I could claim them.

[tbob]

I recently ended up paying (as the buyer) UPS $32.75 in brokerage fees for a package of cards I received from a Canadian seller. (The seller had to pay UPS up front for shipping etc., but neither of us had any idea about these brokerage fees coming due to me). Luckily I dealt with a seller (thanks Richard) who was thoughtful and considerate enough to reimburse me with a couple of cards to make up for the fees I had to pay but I wanted to give a shout out to anyone considering using UPS to send a shipment of cards from Canada to the US. Highway robbery!

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by jb217676

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure what to call these different fees. Instead of calling them "customs fees" i'll call them "taxes". I never gave this subject any thought before because I have never had to pay these taxes. I just found it strange that I all of a sudden had to pay three times in the same week when I haven't had to pay once in over a year. Would Canada Post be targeting me specifically or is this just bad luck on my part. The card I paid $600.00 for (seller marked the value at 480.00) slipped through but lately I am having to pay $13.00 in import taxes on a $60.00 card.

Anything sent by Canada Post that has a value for duty over $20, Canada Post gets to charge $5.00 to collect the HST. Many times Canada Post will feel that the small amount of tax collected is not worth the trouble, and deliver the item without collecting the tax.

As others have said, the value for duty has to be properly declared. It is an offence to do otherwise. (I don't need more clients)

Max

[FUBAR]

Max is correct.... it is $20 cdn value. They are more lenient with it now then they used to be. Back when ebay first started, they used to open my packages and assign values to my items. I once bought a 10$ card but the customs people assigned a $1200 price tag on it after they assessed its value and guess what value they taxed me on. Even though i proved to them their mistake, i was told it was too bad! I filed to get my money back but it never came!

No one has ever refuse to put down the declared value i asked them to, but a few here seem to have issue with it. I have a US friend for such instances should they ever occur.

To me, collecting taxes on a second hand item shouldn't be allowed, its double dipping at its finest. And if trying to avoid paying more taxes then i already do makes me a bad person, then so be it! The gov't already bends me over daily!