# Best way to ship duty-free??



## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Okay folks, I need some help, here.

On the advice of another ehmaccer, I had my dual G4 upgrade shipped via the United States Postal Service. I was told that this was the best way to avoid duty and taxes/brokerage fees etc. Of course, it wasn't promised as rock-solid (nothing of this sort ever is), and sure enough I got dinged.

So, what's the experience out there for shipping from the USA to Canada. Weigh in on the best way you know to get stuff over the border.

Thanks!


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

All shipments, even when there are no tarrifs and/or duties are subject to GST and PST. USPS/Canada Post will ding you $5.00 brokerage, FedEx $7.00...UPS huge$$$$$. All will collect the GSP/PST.

Buy your stuff locally and there's a good chance it'll cost you less when all is said and done.

Personally, if I do buy some special item in the US, I prefer FedEx overnight.


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## Gerbill (Jul 1, 2003)

If you can talk a supplier into shipping by USPS instead of courier you will be spared the obnoxious ripoff known as brokerage fees, but you won't avoid taxes, and they will charge you a fee for collecting them. That said, they will sometimes just deliver your package and forget to collect anything - I had this happen last week with my TechTool Pro upgrade.

Cheers :-> Bill


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Thanks, guys. Seems the best way _is_ the way I was recomended to do


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## rhythms (Sep 24, 2003)

i have always found the best way is to take a vacation. I get my stuff shipped to a friend's place in the US, and then go for a road trip. If you stay for 7 days, you have an allowance of $750 CDN. Still, if you go over, you might have to pay GST for the excess amount. Even if you do go over, depending on the mood of the border customs officer, you might get lucky and they'll let you thru.

This happened to me just this past weekend. I was way over the limit, but he just wrote some stuff down, and then said, "Ok, you're all done here." Just like that. I guess it helps if you bring your wife and kid too, maybe...







sympathy vote...


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## Pamela (Feb 20, 2003)

I agree. If you can, drive over the border yourself and get it. Depending on the price of the item, some Canadian border guards will just pass you through. That has happened to me a few times.

If you're REALLY lucky, like I was once, someone will steal your item from a mailboxes etc, and smuggle it across for you. Then get it delivered right to your house by a Private Investigator  LOL! That's how I got my 23" Cinema Display across! Didn't have to pay a red cent extra  I never would have been able to smuggle that huge thing through myself either (not that I was going to).


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

That's _wild_, Pamela!


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## Kardnal (Feb 5, 2003)

I was chatting with a UPS delivery guy last year about the subject of Brokerage Fee's. (He was dropping off a package in the building I worked in, and there was $90 in fee's on a $200 watch...)

Anyway, he told me the best thing to do was to spend the extra $$ and get it shiped via air (ie express, or express overnight). He said you'd pay more for shipping up front, but anything that comes in via air avoids the brokerages fees, so it winds up costing you less in the end. (or the same, but you get it sooner)

I've never checked it myself, but this was straight from the man-in-brown's mouth.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

I live fifteen minutes from the US border by speedboat. Thirty minutes as my yacht travels. (Four or five hours if you are a sailboat freak).

BTW....I buy all of my stuff locally, here in Canada (mostly from PosterBoy).  

But I have brought the odd bit of high performance car equipment and car stereo gear back from across the border while in my musclecar. Usually ATTACHED to my car, BTW.

If you should care to risk life and limb and personal freedom while doing this...then I've got a few tips for you:

1) Do NOT buy any of this stuff, or get it installed anywhere near the border. Get well down into the States before you make your purchase (fifty miles or more. Preferably a hundred and fifty miles)...and try not to reveal the fact that you are a Canadian when you buy. Use US cash. NOT a Canadian credit card. NOT Canadian cash or a Canadian cheque. The Americans (especially in the border regions) cannot usually tell if you are from Canada unless you make it obvious.

NOTE: There ARE people down there who will report you to the Canadian authorities, if they see you buying big ticket items. I kid you NOT. A buddy of mine went down to Seattle and had a new set of expensive tires put on his car. When he went back through the Canadian border, the Border Nazis pulled him aside and asked him SPECIFICALLY if he'd bought a seven hundred dollar set of tires while he was down there. They knew he was coming, and were ready for him...no lie. (the BC licence plates were probably the giveaway while his car was up on the hoist)

2) Take the reciepts and warrantee cards and put them in a big envelope. Go to a US Post Office and mail them to your home address back in Canada while you are still down there. More people have been busted for having reciepts and the like from purchases they've made in the States than I care to remember. NONE of his stuff should be on your person when you cross the line. Ever.

Just a few thoughts on this. I have several more...but I'm saving them for my own use right now.  

[ May 29, 2004, 06:42 AM: Message edited by: macnutt ]


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## Pamela (Feb 20, 2003)

I know! You can just imagine my surprise when the P.I. came to my door with my display in his hands! I had no idea any of it had happened and I was wondering why this strange man was in front of my door with MY display! He proceeded to explain of course. Then I jumped on Ehmac to find out if this was some kind of scam or something. Turned out to be legit.

I guess I had built up some good Karma


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

Why not just pay your tax? It seems like people have lots of opinions on the way things are done in this country, but also want to get out of paying for it...

I agree that you should use any legal methods to avoid tax, but to blatantly evade tax in an illegal manner is wrong, IMO.


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

> Anyway, he told me the best thing to do was to spend the extra $$ and get it shiped via air (ie express, or express overnight). He said you'd pay more for shipping up front, but anything that comes in via air avoids the brokerages fees, so it winds up costing you less in the end. (or the same, but you get it sooner)


This is true, but the charges that you pay for UPS air are going to be considerably more money that USPS ground.


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## anal-log (Feb 22, 2003)

> Why not just pay your tax? It seems like people have lots of opinions on the way things are done in this country, but also want to get out of paying for it...


Hmm how much tax do you pay in Calgary? Just GST?


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

I don't mind paying tax, but if there's a way the system is allowing us to not have to on these odd occasions, then why not? I don't think I am alone in this opinion. Most important oss avoiding those brokereage fees. You can't blame me for wanting to avoid those, can ya?


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## MBD (Sep 1, 2003)

It's not the tax that bothers me, I don't mind paying that so much as the sometimes outrageous brokerage fees that you can't easily predict.


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## HJS (Sep 12, 2003)

> the sometimes outrageous brokerage fees that you can't easily predict.


Predicatable, guaranteed with UPS; via USPS/Canada Post, only a $5 flat handling/brokerage fee, plus applicable taxes(GST/PST) on declared value in CDN$, if the package is held and examined by Customs...no duty on computer parts, etc.


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## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

> Hmm how much tax do you pay in Calgary? Just GST?


Yes, just GST. I live in a province that doesn't have to collect PST. You could too if you lived here!



> I don't mind paying tax, but if there's a way the system is allowing us to not have to on these odd occasions, then why not?


I agree 100%, if it's done legally. There are plenty of legal methods for avoiding the tax/brokerage charges.


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## rodkin (Jan 7, 2003)

> "All shipments, even when there are no tarrifs and/or duties are subject to GST and PST."


Actually, anything that's valued less than $20 is not subject to either tax.


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