Canada Customs

[Couchy81]

Today is a historic day for me. For the first time I've got notice I have to pay customs HST, full 13% on both my book + shipping from an eBay purchase. Doesn't look like there is additional fees/charges. Going to the post office after work to pick up. I have two books coming from different sellers but only received notice on one.. And it was the lower value one. Maybe the other one is lagging behind.

 

Update - second book arrived at the door with no customs charges despite being the higher priced book.

[comicwiz]

This experience speaks to an apparent back log of items coming from Asia. Over a year ago, a seller began selling a string of toy prototypes through a Facebook group. A lot of it was late 80's through to early 2000's action figures.

 

These were for the most part first shots, and his prices were between $20-$30 per figure, and this included shipping. I was able to do better on larger volume purchases, and in one case I was able to pay $10 per figure in a lot purchase of half a dozen figures.

 

The packages were usually small boxes no bigger than a can of soda pop. I remember after receiving the first few packages, I noticed how efficient they were packed, but more surprising was the cost to have something shipped from Asia to Canada - around $5 for registerred mail!!

 

Over the course of roughly 6 months, I began seeing some of these figures come up for sale on eBay from time to time from sellers located in the US, and not only where they 10 times the prices I was paying, but the shipping costs to Canada was never less than $30.

 

I cannot for the life of me understand why everything being sourced from North America - even when it's the identical product - costs more, in terms of actual product cost, right through to shipping. I can understand this is a part of the world that has displaced North America as THE manufacturing hub for the world, but on second-hand goods, there is simply no reasonable explanation for such a cost gap to exist.

 

In my case, I was looking for specific figural prototypes, so I would have dealt with any seller regardless of location, but when the cost of dealing with sellers from Asia turned out to be more economical, and this seller turned up some amazing pieces, there was no way I was paying the prices for the same items when they were turning up the odd time in the US.

 

I didn't mean for this to be tangential, but perhaps when you look at the way commerce favours certain parts of the world in a global economy, maybe these back logs are introduced to frustrate and force their hand to have buyers stick to sourcing in North America to avoid delays and hassles.

 

I'm not saying this is the only reason, but based on what I've seen, the clamp down on counterfeit goods seems like a good cover up to what looks an awfully lot like protectionism.

[VintageComics]

This experience speaks to an apparent back log of items coming from Asia. Over a year ago, a seller began selling a string of toy prototypes through a Facebook group. A lot of it was late 80's through to early 2000's action figures.

 

These were for the most part first shots, and his prices were between $20-$30 per figure, and this included shipping. I was able to do better on larger volume purchases, and in one case I was able to pay $10 per figure in a lot purchase of half a dozen figures.

 

The packages were usually small boxes no bigger than a can of soda pop. I remember after receiving the first few packages, I noticed how efficient they were packed, but more surprising was the cost to have something shipped from Asia to Canada - around $5 for registerred mail!!

 

Over the course of roughly 6 months, I began seeing some of these figures come up for sale on eBay from time to time from sellers located in the US, and not only where they 10 times the prices I was paying, but the shipping costs to Canada was never less than $30.

 

I cannot for the life of me understand why everything being sourced from North America - even when it's the identical product - costs more, in terms of actual product cost, right through to shipping. I can understand this is a part of the world that has displaced North America as THE manufacturing hub for the world, but on second-hand goods, there is simply no reasonable explanation for such a cost gap to exist.

 

In my case, I was looking for specific figural prototypes, so I would have dealt with any seller regardless of location, but when the cost of dealing with sellers from Asia turned out to be more economical, and this seller turned up some amazing pieces, there was no way I was paying the prices for the same items when they were turning up the odd time in the US.

 

I didn't mean for this to be tangential, but perhaps when you look at the way commerce favours certain parts of the world in a global economy, maybe these back logs are introduced to frustrate and force their hand to have buyers stick to sourcing in North America to avoid delays and hassles.

 

I'm not saying this is the only reason, but based on what I've seen, the clamp down on counterfeit goods seems like a good cover up to what looks an awfully lot like protectionism.

 

Us little people will never know the reason why.

 

But certainly, Federal policies in any country do change to protect the homeland. And sometimes those changes have more than one angle to them. I could see your scenario being a possible reason.

[cheta42]

I've done the route many times. Drove over the border into Blaine to pick up my books. Return to Canada Customs booth, show the invoices. They can decide to let me go or pay duty fees.

 

This year I paid duty fees twice since. Still worth my time on road. Sometimes books go to my home in direct. Depends on its value.

 

Bottom line. If you bring items into Canada purchased from the USA, you are only required to pay retail taxes on the items. This is provided the items were manufactured in the USA, Canada or Mexico (comic books apply here . This is per the NAFTA agreement. In most cases when taking them over the border yourself, or using USPS they will even wave the taxes (13% HST if in Ontario) and you pay ZERO extra. However if you use a 'service' such as UPS (total rip off scammers), they will charge ridicules 'brokerage' fees. This is just a way of filling their pockets with profit and taking you for a total sucker. FedEx and DHL are not as bad but they play the same game too. AVOID them at all costs. Always specify and use USPS where possible or take the package over the border yourself or be prepared to get ripped off. Nuff said!

 

I have asked several board members today, and I have received varying opinions and different answers on custom duties. I currently have a book coming in from the US and Fed Ex called me today and said I need to pay HST(13 %) plus broker fees. I freaked and said it is supposed to be 5% because its a children's book. Fed ex rep said no its HST at 13%. I am waiting for a call from their manager tomorrow.

Are they shaking me down or is there a new way of distinguishing comic books by customs

[bababooey]

Comics are 13% (Ontario), trade paperbacks w/out ads are only assessed GST 5%.

 

Postal customs officers get it wrong half the time, which usually benefits us comic buyers using that service.

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

I bring back comics regularly across the border and every customs officer I've spoken to (various locations and they all know they are vintage books) has confirmed that they are considered children's books and only 5%

 

Maybe new comics are 13%?

 

 

[comicwiz]

I've done the route many times. Drove over the border into Blaine to pick up my books. Return to Canada Customs booth, show the invoices. They can decide to let me go or pay duty fees.

 

This year I paid duty fees twice since. Still worth my time on road. Sometimes books go to my home in direct. Depends on its value.

 

Bottom line. If you bring items into Canada purchased from the USA, you are only required to pay retail taxes on the items. This is provided the items were manufactured in the USA, Canada or Mexico (comic books apply here . This is per the NAFTA agreement. In most cases when taking them over the border yourself, or using USPS they will even wave the taxes (13% HST if in Ontario) and you pay ZERO extra. However if you use a 'service' such as UPS (total rip off scammers), they will charge ridicules 'brokerage' fees. This is just a way of filling their pockets with profit and taking you for a total sucker. FedEx and DHL are not as bad but they play the same game too. AVOID them at all costs. Always specify and use USPS where possible or take the package over the border yourself or be prepared to get ripped off. Nuff said!

 

I have asked several board members today, and I have received varying opinions and different answers on custom duties. I currently have a book coming in from the US and Fed Ex called me today and said I need to pay HST(13 %) plus broker fees. I freaked and said it is supposed to be 5% because its a children's book. Fed ex rep said no its HST at 13%. I am waiting for a call from their manager tomorrow.

Are they shaking me down or is there a new way of distinguishing comic books by customs

 

I had purchased something from a US seller, and we chose to use FedEx because of the threat of a postal strike this past summer. The item was declared at $30. I received the parcel, and then a few weeks later, FedEx sent me a notice by mail asking for nearly $40 in taxes and brokerage fees. When I called them, the claimed most of it was taxes, which made no sense, since Canada Customs rarely if ever taxes on that threshold value amount. So I contacted Canada Customs and the person on the phone basically told me FedEx was making that up because there were no taxes levied on the parcel when they looked it up in their system. I wrote down her name/info, called FedEx and appealed the charge. About a week passed and they told me they looked into it and I still needed to pay, but never once did they come clean that the amount had nothing to do with taxes, but rather was entirely based on their ridiculous "brokerage" fee, which represented more than what the value was worth. I know UPS gets a fair bit of flack on the topic of extortionate brokerage fees, but FedEx is no better, and had it not been for the postal issues at the time, there would be no way I would ever use these services.

[VintageComics]

They're not better.

 

I don't think they used to charge so much but they likely saw UPS getting away with it and figured they'd get in on the action.

[bababooey]

I bring back comics regularly across the border and every customs officer I've spoken to (various locations and they all know they are vintage books) has confirmed that they are considered children's books and only 5%

 

Maybe new comics are 13%?

 

No. The sample book was MTU 59, I tried stale ads and every other lame-brained reasoning I could think of. I'm not posting up the entire ruling but this is the gist of it.

 

 

 

 

Also to comicwiz, the threshold for duties/taxation is legally $20 CAD.

[romanheart]

I've done the route many times. Drove over the border into Blaine to pick up my books. Return to Canada Customs booth, show the invoices. They can decide to let me go or pay duty fees.

 

This year I paid duty fees twice since. Still worth my time on road. Sometimes books go to my home in direct. Depends on its value.

 

Bottom line. If you bring items into Canada purchased from the USA, you are only required to pay retail taxes on the items. This is provided the items were manufactured in the USA, Canada or Mexico (comic books apply here . This is per the NAFTA agreement. In most cases when taking them over the border yourself, or using USPS they will even wave the taxes (13% HST if in Ontario) and you pay ZERO extra. However if you use a 'service' such as UPS (total rip off scammers), they will charge ridicules 'brokerage' fees. This is just a way of filling their pockets with profit and taking you for a total sucker. FedEx and DHL are not as bad but they play the same game too. AVOID them at all costs. Always specify and use USPS where possible or take the package over the border yourself or be prepared to get ripped off. Nuff said!

 

I have asked several board members today, and I have received varying opinions and different answers on custom duties. I currently have a book coming in from the US and Fed Ex called me today and said I need to pay HST(13 %) plus broker fees. I freaked and said it is supposed to be 5% because its a children's book. Fed ex rep said no its HST at 13%. I am waiting for a call from their manager tomorrow.

Are they shaking me down or is there a new way of distinguishing comic books by customs

 

I had purchased something from a US seller, and we chose to use FedEx because of the threat of a postal strike this past summer. The item was declared at $30. I received the parcel, and then a few weeks later, FedEx sent me a notice by mail asking for nearly $40 in taxes and brokerage fees. When I called them, the claimed most of it was taxes, which made no sense, since Canada Customs rarely if ever taxes on that threshold value amount. So I contacted Canada Customs and the person on the phone basically told me FedEx was making that up because there were no taxes levied on the parcel when they looked it up in their system. I wrote down her name/info, called FedEx and appealed the charge. About a week passed and they told me they looked into it and I still needed to pay, but never once did they come clean that the amount had nothing to do with taxes, but rather was entirely based on their ridiculous "brokerage" fee, which represented more than what the value was worth. I know UPS gets a fair bit of flack on the topic of extortionate brokerage fees, but FedEx is no better, and had it not been for the postal issues at the time, there would be no way I would ever use these services.

 

Highway robbery. Easily stopped if the government put their minds to it. I wonder what the payola is to allow them to continue in this way.

 

I don't use the private couriers anymore for the sole reason that I do not pay unexpected fees anymore. All funds must be up front for me.

[Brock]

I know some shops use the presence of staples as a distinguishing feature... floppies are comic books, and taxed at 13%, while TPBs are charged at 5%.

 

I can't say whether the distinction is legitimate or not, but it's out there...

[bababooey]

I know some shops use the presence of staples as a distinguishing feature... floppies are comic books, and taxed at 13%, while TPBs are charged at 5%.

 

I can't say whether the distinction is legitimate or not, but it's out there...

I don't think it was the defining criteria but that was one of the 10 or 11 distinctions they sought clarification on prior to making their decision back in Nov of 2012.

 

"the comic book is 32 full pages and there are 10 pages of advertising. The cover of the comic is stapled not bound"

 

[Fan Boy]

I've done the route many times. Drove over the border into Blaine to pick up my books. Return to Canada Customs booth, show the invoices. They can decide to let me go or pay duty fees.

 

This year I paid duty fees twice since. Still worth my time on road. Sometimes books go to my home in direct. Depends on its value.

 

Bottom line. If you bring items into Canada purchased from the USA, you are only required to pay retail taxes on the items. This is provided the items were manufactured in the USA, Canada or Mexico (comic books apply here . This is per the NAFTA agreement. In most cases when taking them over the border yourself, or using USPS they will even wave the taxes (13% HST if in Ontario) and you pay ZERO extra. However if you use a 'service' such as UPS (total rip off scammers), they will charge ridicules 'brokerage' fees. This is just a way of filling their pockets with profit and taking you for a total sucker. FedEx and DHL are not as bad but they play the same game too. AVOID them at all costs. Always specify and use USPS where possible or take the package over the border yourself or be prepared to get ripped off. Nuff said!

 

I have asked several board members today, and I have received varying opinions and different answers on custom duties. I currently have a book coming in from the US and Fed Ex called me today and said I need to pay HST(13 %) plus broker fees. I freaked and said it is supposed to be 5% because its a children's book. Fed ex rep said no its HST at 13%. I am waiting for a call from their manager tomorrow.

Are they shaking me down or is there a new way of distinguishing comic books by customs

 

I had purchased something from a US seller, and we chose to use FedEx because of the threat of a postal strike this past summer. The item was declared at $30. I received the parcel, and then a few weeks later, FedEx sent me a notice by mail asking for nearly $40 in taxes and brokerage fees. When I called them, the claimed most of it was taxes, which made no sense, since Canada Customs rarely if ever taxes on that threshold value amount. So I contacted Canada Customs and the person on the phone basically told me FedEx was making that up because there were no taxes levied on the parcel when they looked it up in their system. I wrote down her name/info, called FedEx and appealed the charge. About a week passed and they told me they looked into it and I still needed to pay, but never once did they come clean that the amount had nothing to do with taxes, but rather was entirely based on their ridiculous "brokerage" fee, which represented more than what the value was worth. I know UPS gets a fair bit of flack on the topic of extortionate brokerage fees, but FedEx is no better, and had it not been for the postal issues at the time, there would be no way I would ever use these services.

 

Did you have any copy of recipit to show that you had paid the book by value or the customs duty fee before you receive this book? You could use it against Fed Ex.

 

Happened to me once. I decided to refuse accept the parcel (by FedEx). It went back to the seller and FedEx bugged seller to pay the fees. The fees was about twice the value of item.

[bababooey]

Customs wouldn't have any visibility to be able to distinguish if duties/taxes were paid on a low value shipment arriving via FedEx. The payments of duties/taxes are generally deferred by one month and the compliance verification is in-house at Fed - Fed Ex essentially creates an internal "entry number" which Customs would only be able to review after the master slush entry is filed and in order for Customs to find it they'd have to try to associate the airwaybill with the K84/master entry after that entry is completed by the 25th of the following month & paid for by the last day of that same later month.

 

Also to follow up on a couple earlier posts in this thread.

-international transportation should not be subject to duties/taxes

-an exception to the under $20/free rule is when goods arrive in a consolidation that doesn't allow them to take advantage of the courier/postal remission order (Pitney Bowes had that issue for some time with the Cdn bound e-bay stuff, not sure if that is still the case)

 

 

[comicwiz]

Customs wouldn't have any visibility to be able to distinguish if duties/taxes were paid on a low value shipment arriving via FedEx. The payments of duties/taxes are generally deferred by one month and the compliance verification is in-house at Fed - Fed Ex essentially creates an internal "entry number" which Customs would only be able to review after the master slush entry is filed and in order for Customs to find it they'd have to try to associate the airwaybill with the K84/master entry after that entry is completed by the 25th of the following month & paid for by the last day of that same later month.

 

When I contacted customs, my initial inquiry was "why was I charged $40 in taxes on a package with a declared value of $30" (something FedEx was adamant the charged related to)? The person who I spoke with on the phone asked me for a tracking number of the parcel. I supplied this information and she confirmed the value was in fact processed with a declared value of $30 and that there were no taxes levied on the parcel. I asked if it was possible customs had reviewed the contents and assigned a higher value, and she said no, it was processed with an acceptance on the declared amount cited on the parcel. I then confirmed if it was ok to use her name in addressing this issue with FedEx, and if there was a file/identification/reference number I could attach with the details of our conversation with my complaint and she said the tracking number of the parcel contained all the pertinent information. My grievance with FedEx was that whoever I spoke with basically made up that the amount owing was to cover taxes they had paid up front to allow the parcel to be accepted, but in fact the assessed value was entirely a brokerage fee.

 

I'm not sure how my interaction meshes (or still doesn't) with your explanation, but what I described above is exactly what happened.

 

Eventually, I gave up trying to dispute the charge because of course FedEx starts to add incremental pentalties to outstanding/unpaid charges and I was tired of seeing those letters arriving in the mail. I may be a bit more sensitive than the average person about settling outstanding payments to avert having an entity (even if it's run by a bunch of hacks) potentially ruin my credit history. I feel the priniciple of the grievance was never properly addressed, and quite frankly, when a corporation can arbitrarily force their hand in a consumer situation by threatening to wreck your credit, I really feel there should be more government oversight and/or consumer protection safeguards against the questionable practices of commercial delivery services, especially in situations when consumers turn to them as a service of last resort during a postal dispute.

[comicwiz]

Also to comicwiz, the threshold for duties/taxation is legally $20 CAD.

 

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned this because, knowing the $20 CAD threshold, I wondered why I was charged so much ($40). Even with the exchange rate, on $30 USD, the woman I spoke with confirmed that even though the amount did go over the threshold with the exchange factored in, the parcel did not have duties levied on it, and she emphasized at least twice during my conversation that any fees FedEx was attempting to collect from me was in no way connected to any taxes collected by Canada Customs for allowing the parcel to enter into the country.

[bababooey]

Customs wouldn't have any visibility to be able to distinguish if duties/taxes were paid on a low value shipment arriving via FedEx. The payments of duties/taxes are generally deferred by one month and the compliance verification is in-house at Fed - Fed Ex essentially creates an internal "entry number" which Customs would only be able to review after the master slush entry is filed and in order for Customs to find it they'd have to try to associate the airwaybill with the K84/master entry after that entry is completed by the 25th of the following month & paid for by the last day of that same later month.

 

When I contacted customs, my initial inquiry was "why was I charged $40 in taxes on a package with a declared value of $30" (something FedEx was adamant the charged related to)? The person who I spoke with on the phone asked me for a tracking number of the parcel. I supplied this information and she confirmed the value was in fact processed with a declared value of $30 and that there were no taxes levied on the parcel. I asked if it was possible customs had reviewed the contents and assigned a higher value, and she said no, it was processed with an acceptance on the declared amount cited on the parcel. I then confirmed if it was ok to use her name in addressing this issue with FedEx, and if there was a file/identification/reference number I could attach with the details of our conversation with my complaint and she said the tracking number of the parcel contained all the pertinent information. My grievance with FedEx was that whoever I spoke with basically made up that the amount owing was to cover taxes they had paid up front to allow the parcel to be accepted, but in fact the assessed value was entirely a brokerage fee.

 

I'm not sure how my interaction meshes (or still doesn't) with your explanation, but what I described above is exactly what happened.

 

Eventually, I gave up trying to dispute the charge because of course FedEx starts to add incremental pentalties to outstanding/unpaid charges and I was tired of seeing those letters arriving in the mail. I may be a bit more sensitive than the average person about settling outstanding items even when I feel the priniciple of the grievance was never properly addressed, and quite frankly, when a corporation can arbitrarily force their hand in a consumer situation by threatening to wreck your credit, I really feel there should be more government oversight and/or consumer protection safeguards against the questionable practices of commercial delivery services.

I am explaining that Customs can't tell you whether duties/taxes were paid until almost two months after your package arrived.

If you still have the invoice from FedEx, that should break down, by service code, the amounts paid (duties/taxes) and the service charges (brokerage, processing fee or whatever)

The invoice should also give you Fed's entry number & their monthly LVS slush entry number - they are legally required to provide you with a copy of the entry documentation.

 

Overall, I'd be interested in learning more...for years Fed has been fast and loose with the $20 dollar threshold (when it dropped from 40 down to 20 they just sort of ignored it) If they're actually creating a billing for duties/taxes they never paid out, well that's fraud.

 

[comicwiz]

If they're actually creating a billing for duties/taxes they never paid out, well that's fraud.

 

I know if it was a government agency who I would have contacted by now (Office of the Ombudsman). I'm sure the tracking information is long gone from their website too, but I can't remember if I took a screenshot of it at the time. I'll have to go back, but in the meantime, is there any oversight on this kind of thing with commercial delivery services?

 

The one thing I can remember like yesterday is the cynacism of the person I spoke with from Canada Customs when I described the situation. She seemed to be completely on my side, and had referred to FedEx's billing practice as a "common" complaint they hear about.

[comicwiz]

Also, IF they are collecting "anticipated" duties on a $20 CAD threshold that never gets paid, even though most consumers won't be bothered to follow-up on it like I did, they should return that amount to consumers. They didn't in my case, even after I paid the amount, all while complying with their protocol in addressing such matters by using their dispute mechanism, with confirmation from Canada Customs there were no duties collected on the parcel.

[bababooey]

If they're actually creating a billing for duties/taxes they never paid out, well that's fraud.

 

I know if it was a government agency who I would have contacted by now (Office of the Ombudsman). I'm sure the tracking information is long gone from their website too, but I can't remember if I took a screenshot of it at the time. I'll have to go back, but in the meantime, is there any oversight on this kind of thing with commercial delivery services?

 

The one thing I can remember like yesterday is the cynacism of the person I spoke with from Canada Customs when I described the situation. She seemed to be completely on my side, and had referred to FedEx's billing practice as a "common" complaint they hear about.

 

It would be penalized through the Administrative Monetary Penalties first, probably this one (a wrist slap) but it would be very difficult to prove it as fraud through a civil suit and as a manner of doing business, a few class action suits (based on questioning a courier's authority to customs clear at all under 32.4/5 of the Customs Act) were unsuccessful.