Fuck Canadian Customs

[high_contrast]

This might be moved but have you fellow Canadians been charged custom taxes on everything (from the States) lately?

I've received 4 packages in the last 2 weeks and all 4 have been taxed. Every package has been marked as a gift with low value too. Perhaps I buy so much shit that they automatically tax me now?

Fuckers.

[aaronk_83]

that's really shitty, but i haven't really experienced anything just yet *knock on wood*. Just bought a few new watches and some visvim items from japan and it's been the same as before...

maybe they have a list, and your name is on it ? lol

[khaltire]

nah, that cant be... I had some problems with canadian customs and now I dont anymore..

[jasonm]

ive never had an issue.

people have this false notion that having shit marked as gift gets you in the clear.. but you can get them to give you your money (or at least some) back.

[trees]

yeah its pretty random for me. some items get taxed and others dont.

[high_contrast]

ive never had an issue.

people have this false notion that having shit marked as gift gets you in the clear.. but you can get them to give you your money (or at least some) back.

I've never had an issue until recently. I thought I was unlucky the first 2 times but after 4 times it seems like I'm being targeted. How do I get them to give some money back?

[jot]

Yeah, this happens a lot to me.. in fact, pretty much every time. I recieved a package a few weeks ago marked as a $50 gift.. I was taxed $35 on it.

I am beginning to think that I'm on some kind of list though...

[aitsuka]

I get taxed to the ass when getting stuff overseas

I call the cutoms "customer service" about the tax issue and they just laugh and hang up on me...

[still]

just paid thos f*kers $22 for a $60 item today.

argh i hate them. once paid $175 for a item thats marked $600.

best way to avoid them is ask the seller to write something like this;

garment sample made in canada ..... $35 .....(x) Gift

and don't go for UPS. they are worse, huge brokage fees. USPS global priority is the way to go if buying form states.

[khaltire]

Oh, I thought I should mention that Ive never ever been charged on EMS items from Japan or HK... no matter what the value, whether its $20 or $150, it doesn't matter... usually comes through Purolator and isn't charged (even though it passes through customs)... UPS on the other hand, they are the worst, like someone mentioned.. I bought $65 in clothes and got charged $40.. wtf?? They have like a 35 dollar brokerage fee for nothing, the taxes are only like $5.

[Salad]

That sucks.

I was just thinking about this. In the recent months, I've gotten stuff from Japan, England and Canada (i'm in California) and haven't got hit w/ any customs. The packages from Japan were sent EMS and marked gift as was the package from England. The package from Canada was sent via Canada Post and the declared value was $150 Canadian and not marked as gift. Still, no customs. Lucky, I guess.

[freshtakk]

its been pretty random for me..but its frustrating when you order from one place and dont get hit..then order from them again sometime in the future with the same value and then get hit..pretty inconsistent..

i just tried cancelling an order coming from austria because they ship ups and i dont want to get raped with charges..hopefully the fufill my cancellation order

[Kane]

I routinely buy stuff from the US. Fortunately, I've got a mailbox just south of the border, so it's just a matter of making the drive. And so long as whatever I'm buying is under $100, the guy in the booth just waves me off.

I've found that if you really want to have the item mailed to you, the best deals are via post. Or, if you need it fast, do Overnight or expedited shipping. Anything shipped ground WILL get dinged by Customs. Guaranteed. UPS IS notoriously killer for slapping on a handling charge of $30 - $50 even for as little duty as $0.10.

Canada post will ding you GST, or PST. I forget which. That's it. If you drive stuff up past the border past your daily limit, you'll get GST/PST as well.

Gub'ment wants its pound o' flesh.

[sr20det]

you guys are just complaining about clothes. i used to get reamed for jdm car parts from the states! best rule to date: mark as gift, value $15. never fails.

[nairb49]

I have several bad experiences.

Firstly, with UPS, there are outrageous custom fees. I had to pay $65 customs for a $150 package once. With CanadaPost, if it's not a gift, be expected to pay customs. Even as a gift, the motherfuckers will randomly open some of your packages.

CanadaPost blows.

damn skippy.

[jasonm]

I've never had an issue until recently. I thought I was unlucky the first 2 times but after 4 times it seems like I'm being targeted. How do I get them to give some money back?

dude, to be honest i have no idea.. i was pretty much quoting what the lady at the post office told me. ive never had any issues ever, so luckily ive yet to look into it.

[k1 mil]

you guys are just complaining about clothes. i used to get reamed for jdm car parts from the states! best rule to date: mark as gift, value $15. never fails.

some sellers are hesistant to do that cuz if the package gets lost, their insurance will only cover the declared value

[Kasper]

funny, this thread pop ups every couple month for canadians to vent their anger at our stupid custom/post system. the reason why charges on item shipped via mail are so random is that canada post doesn't check every packages. like i said in a similar thread before, a friend's father is an exec at canada post and he say that at time when they are busy, they can check as little as 10% of packages. and declaring a low value and item as gift is safer, but can still be a little risky cause they sometimes check those and they can even charge you some fucking penalty charge for undervaluing the item (they don't do it too often, but it happened to a friend of mine). and yeah, fuck UPS, just ordered 350$ worth of book for a stupid finance exam and got charge GST already so these fuckers better not start to try to charge my they stupid brokage fee...

[tsukasa]

Well make sure if the seller is undervaluing the item they don't keep the price tags or receipt in the package. You can apply to get your money back if you fill out the form on the back of the customs sheet. Takes about 2 months to get a reply though.

[homme.homme]

I'm not from Canada BUT when i bought a digital camera online shipped from Hong Kong to Sydney the seller maked it as goods repaired under warranty - returned... Or something like that.

I'm not sure what the regulations are here but I didnt get charged any tax and the correct price can still be marked on the box.

[philpl]

I'm not from Canada BUT when i bought a digital camera online shipped from Hong Kong to Sydney the seller maked it as goods repaired under warranty - returned... Or something like that.

I'm not sure what the regulations are here but I didnt get charged any tax and the correct price can still be marked on the box.

thats sneaky ahah...but most ppl buy clothes...so i doubt it'd work

[Kasper]

I'm not from Canada BUT when i bought a digital camera online shipped from Hong Kong to Sydney the seller maked it as goods repaired under warranty - returned... Or something like that.

I'm not sure what the regulations are here but I didnt get charged any tax and the correct price can still be marked on the box.

canadian customs are special, and not in a good way. they spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy trying to bust ppl who have bought things in the states (or elsewhere abroad) when they could be using that energy to most useful thing. there was actually a federal commission or something like that last year and they suggested that the custom stop caring about being being stuff from abroad (that mostly apply to ppl traveling, but still). they haven't changed shit since then, seems like protecting Canadians is not as important as making a few bucks on goods bought in america...

[homme.homme]

Man that sucks for you guys... I just checked and in AUST we dont have to pay any customs tax if the item is below $1000. But if it is over $1000 its like a minimum of 10%.

[tsukasa]

it is $20 here, and if you import clothes from out of north america, then taxes + fees + duties is around $5 + 31%+... If it is within north america then it is $5 + 13%+, unless you are getting it shipped by UPS then you are screwed even more.

[Bandwagonesque]

I'm going to get flamed to hell with this, but rules are rules, and customs agents are just doing their jobs. If you don't like being zinged with taxes and duties, just make sure that the items are made in a free-trade area, like the US or Mexico. I've recieved many items marked as a gift, and they've gotten through OK. However, when something gets taxed, you just have to suck it up. Whenever I purchase something abroad, I always assume it's going to get taxed.. if it doesn't, I consider it my lucky day.

Nobody likes being taxed, or paying duties... but agents aren't dumb either. They can search any package being sent into Canada, and they know when something is undervalued. My biggest beef is used items being taxed at full retail value, or items purchased on sale being taxed at full retail value.

I'm not a fan of duties. I don't like the idea of them. I think they are just another protectionist tool, and a way to create jobs for customs agents and bring in revenue. Even worse is the friggen complicated schedule of duties.. if you've ever read this, holy fuck... what a boring, bloated piece of trash. Big government can suck my dick.

Until then, OP should just suck this one (or 4) experiences up, shell out the cash, and just lube up for the future...

EDIT: UPS brokerage fees are NOT the same thing as taxes and duties. These piece of shit charges are levied by most (all?) courier companies. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure it's being shipped by USPS, and not FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. Brokerage fees are only charged on cross-border purchases, and do not apply to domestic shipments.

[Bandwagonesque]

Man that sucks for you guys... I just checked and in AUST we dont have to pay any customs tax if the item is below $1000. But if it is over $1000 its like a minimum of 10%.

That's insane! The cut-off here is around $20/parcel, though if it's under $30, most don't care. If you mark it as a gift, you're allowed $60. Incredibly small, and ridiculous amounts! I don't even know if these amounts are indexed to inflation, and knowing our system here, likely they are not.

These amounts should be upped to at least $200/parcel, or $500/gift. Would save a lot of time, hassle, bad PR, and simplify the customs process/speed.

[grapz]

Most likely the reason why u get charged so much even if they mark the value down is probably because they opened the package and thought that it was worth much more then the marked value and taxed u based on their value.

[tsukasa]

I think most Canadians would not care as much if the people in the US didn't get off so free. The limit is suppose to be $200 in the states, but even then you can get off with something way higher than that, not to mention once you get something out of north america, the duties are just crazy on top of our crazy taxes.

[triniboy27]

I couldn't care less if the US buyers get taxed or not - their good luck has nothing to do with the fact the Canadian customs can be a right bitch at times.

[tsukasa]

Well it makes me a bit bitter knowing our close neighbours get such treatment, although this does give me options to avoid such costs.