kdf;240725 Wrote: > Customs brokerage and duties can be a killer. ... Canadians get stuck > with what can be up to 50% in surcharges for a package that comes from > as little as a 30 minutes away by truck. Don't expect much resolution > to this, as these fees are there for the exact purpose of > limiting/controlling international trade.
There are no duties on goods coming from the US and made in any preferred nation, including US, Mexico, Japan, China and so many others that you're unlikely to ever see a duty charge. Every piece of electronics seems to come from a preferred nation so you'll just pay the federal tax of 6% and the provincial tax, which in Ontario is 8%. Customs fees depend completely on who clears your package through customs. The post office charges $5 for items under about $1000 and approximately $15 for items above. UPS charges some flat base amount and then seems to apply some random factor to it. FedEx charges $15 flat for items at least up to $1000. I had UPS show up at my door trying to deliver a MAGAZINE ($5) and wanting to collect $37 in brokerage. I refused the delivery of course (it wasn't something I ordered anyway). You can arrange for your own customs broker or even go broker it yourself. Overnight and other premium shipping options generally include brokerage cots (such is the case with UPS's higher-priced options and FedEx). If someone is getting stuck with 50% charges it's likely the shipping documentation was improperly filled out and the customs value over-specified. I ship 20 to 100 packages per week to all points around the world. They're typically valued between $25 and $50 Canadian and I have yet to hear of anyone having to pay any import tax or duties into their importing countries, including the UK. Canada post classifies these packages as "samples" and this coupled with the low (but correct) valuation must be the reason why. UPS lost my SqueezeBox last year. But still tried to collect tax and brokerage on it. When SlimDevices shipped a replacement (which only happened after a UPS-induced lengthy delay) they processed it such that they would cover all costs for shipping and ancillary charges. UPS collected all these funds from Slim and still tried to collect them AGAIN from me. Luckily they delivered the package and tried to collect later, not at delivery time. I told them (and later the collection agency) to take a hike. I generally avoid all shipments via UPS, because it's not so much Canadian taxation policies that will get you in fees, but the carrier. Canadian service companies have a long track record of abusing public ignorance. Just look at the telecom and cable industries in this country. -- MelonMonkey Bruno *'Twisted Melon - Fine Mac OS Software' (http://twistedmelon.com) | 'mira - Personal Control for your Apple Remote' (http://twistedmelon.com)* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MelonMonkey's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8466 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39979 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
