How to avoid paying customs fees?

[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!

[chaddurbin]

not just UPS...i've received packages from germany and had to pay fees with fedex (about 10% of value). from reading the fedex invoice they paid a minimal amount at customs...and jacked up the premium about 3x in billing me.

{edit out a political rant between usa and rest of world }i try to keep my dealings domestically now...GOD BLESS AMERICA.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by 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!

Hi Bob,

A sad and all-too-common story.

As I implied earlier in this thread, for any international shipment, never ever use UPS.

Cheers,
Blair