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Dear Canadian friends: Anyone been charged duty for books shipped to Canada?

Started by Michelangelo,

36 posts in this topic

Ares

Ares

Posted
Posted
Did a search on this but didn't find anything.

 

Has anyone (from Canada) bought a book from an American seller and been charged duty/taxes upon it's delivery?

 

Has anyone been lucky enough to avoid paying?

 

Yes.

 

You have two choices...

1) get them to lie about value

2) Pay it

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427Impaler

427Impaler

Posted
Posted

Not often but it does happen. I bought several lots from the same seller off of ebay, the first few couple through no problem but by the third I was getting hit with duty and every package from that seller afterward. All USPS.

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bababooey

bababooey

Posted
Posted

There's no duty on books, comics, periodicals.

You pay 5% GST tax plus the provincial tax or HST on any comics - ad free books (TPB/Omnis) shouldn't get the provincial/HST.

The no duty/no tax threshold is $20 - anything over should get taxed. The exemption only applies when your shipment is not consolidated with others (think e-bay's global shipping/no exemption for under $20) Courier/mail moves are individually presented and eligible.

 

USPS - Canada Post will be the most lenient on tax collection, expect to pay on anything over $20 and in reality most shipments valued under $100 won't get processed because they are too lazy to process the paperwork when the tax amount isn't worth their time. Commercial companies UPS/Fed can't use that discretion but cheat a bit.

 

 

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pickycollector

pickycollector

Posted
Posted
Of course. Anything $60 and above can be levied. USPS is usually the best option. The other companies usually factor these charges in their price.

 

This and among all other companies avoid UPS AT ALL COST.

 

UPS will charge you a prohibitive clearance customs fee in addition to the GST/PST. It's not unusual for them to charge you $120 in fees for a $100 value book.....

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Mio

Mio

Posted
Posted

Ah - the things I miss about Canada...

 

Getting a package of comics which was opened by customs, to find the most valuable one missing;

Getting a package of comics that I bought at a deep discount and having to pay taxes based on the inflated price tags the seller forgot to take off the mylars after customs courteously opened the package; and

Paying a "handling fee" + taxes on almost every import of comics I ever made.

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Artboy99

Artboy99

Posted
Posted
Ah - the things I miss about Canada...

 

Getting a package of comics which was opened by customs, to find the most valuable one missing;

Getting a package of comics that I bought at a deep discount and having to pay taxes based on the inflated price tags the seller forgot to take off the mylars after customs courteously opened the package; and

Paying a "handling fee" + taxes on almost every import of comics I ever made.

 

I have had a couple of packages go "missing" that were tracked and tracking went to the Customs step and that is where it disappeared.

 

I also purchased a rare D&D miniature off Ebay once: the 25th anniversary Imperial Red Dragon on treasure mound by Ral Partha. It was still in the original box!

 

Customs decided they needed to open it, removing the original cellophane and opening the package. I can only imagine the pieces of the model spilling everywhere because when I got it several parts of the model were missing.

Communicated with the seller and he assured me he sent the package unopened. He was a 100% feedback with lots of feedback seller so I believed him.

Luckily had insurance on it, so got my money back that way. I would have rather had the miniature :(

 

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Mio

Mio

Posted
Posted
Ah - the things I miss about Canada...

 

Getting a package of comics which was opened by customs, to find the most valuable one missing;

Getting a package of comics that I bought at a deep discount and having to pay taxes based on the inflated price tags the seller forgot to take off the mylars after customs courteously opened the package; and

Paying a "handling fee" + taxes on almost every import of comics I ever made.

 

I have had a couple of packages go "missing" that were tracked and tracking went to the Customs step and that is where it disappeared.

 

I also purchased a rare D&D miniature off Ebay once: the 25th anniversary Imperial Red Dragon on treasure mound by Ral Partha. It was still in the original box!

 

Customs decided they needed to open it, removing the original cellophane and opening the package. I can only imagine the pieces of the model spilling everywhere because when I got it several parts of the model were missing.

Communicated with the seller and he assured me he sent the package unopened. He was a 100% feedback with lots of feedback seller so I believed him.

Luckily had insurance on it, so got my money back that way. I would have rather had the miniature :(

 

I see I am not alone with my outstanding experiences then! I was quite happy not to pay taxes on books anymore after moving to the UK - yet to experience an issue.

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CAMPER49

CAMPER49

Posted
Posted

I don't get nailed too often by the Customs guys but it does happen occasionally.

I just pay it and move on.

A few times, I was nailed for a lot more than I paid for. For example having to pay $25 tax for a package I only paid $30 for.

The refund process is actually quite easy and clean.

 

I only buy stuff from the USA if the seller ships USPS.

If the seller only ships UPS, I won't buy from him.

Same as Global Shipping Program, I won't buy from those sellers either.

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