Custom fees US to CAN

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BYOB

BYOB

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Hey just wondering how often you guys get hit with these custom fee's. I just ran into a little problem with shipping and now with custom fee's it is going to cost me $50 which is about 1/3 or 1/4 of what the card is worth just to ship. Just want to hear others opinions from people that have had to deal with this same situation. Were you held responsible for the custom fee's? I sent express mail so there would be tracking to the border for $25. When I send normal mail it costs me $1 and normally takes the same amount of time, but tracking was requested by the trader. Just a little ticked off right now and am contemplating not trading outside of the U.S. This is the first time I have heard of or had any problem sending across the border.

Let me know your thoughts.
:|:|:|
Nick
 
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SkyFire47 said:
how can you get hit with customs fees if you're from the US? we don't get customs fees.
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I sent to Canada. The trader got hit with custom fee's and is requesting I pay them before he sends my end of the trade. I don't see what else I could have done by already paying $25 to ship express, I fail to see where this is my fault.
 
It's not a "customs"fee it's a sales tax, which the buyer in Canada is responsible for, not you!!
 
Khabby said:
It's not a "customs"fee it's a sales tax, which the buyer in Canada is responsible for, not you!!
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Thanks for the clear up. I was thinking the same thing, I shouldn't be held responsible for that and now the card I am supposed to get is being held up. I think at most I would split the total tax. How often does this type of thing happen? I have traded to CAN probably 50 times and nothing like this has happened. I have also sent express in some of those trades and some were upwards of $1000.
 
BYOBdenverBYOB said:
I sent to Canada. The trader got hit with custom fee's and is requesting I pay them before he sends my end of the trade. I don't see what else I could have done by already paying $25 to ship express, I fail to see where this is my fault.
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You have no responsibility to pay his taxes... since he lives here in Canada, he has to pay the fees to import goods to Canada. If he refuses to pay, the package gets sent back to you. If he has ALREADY paid, well that's just part of the cost of doing business across borders - blame Revenue Canada, not the American seller/trader who's just trying to do a deal.

I've been dinged with $hundreds of fees... it sucks ***, but the only way to not pay it is to get CRA to change the rules.
 
sales tax on a single card seems suspicious to me - how often do you get them for your cross-border shipments?
what company did you ship with? UPS charges the declared net value of the package upon delivery. I once ordered a box of low end football, about 30$, off the bay - cost me another 30$ once it arrived.
Either that, or you should've checked off "gift" somewhere, or something.

Anyway, that's definitely a bummer...if it's a single card I'd be in touch[w/ your shipping company] finding out what the additional fee is/was for?

edit: I am also of the belief that you shouldn't have to pay this fee, however, provided it is just a sales tax.
 
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Oh, and it depends what value you put on the package. If you put $100, then he'd pay about $12 in taxes... they generally don't tax parcels of $25 and less. Of course if you wanted shipping tracking/insurance, you have to put the true value and about 75% of the time the package will make it through without taxation...
 
NewfieNeelyFan said:
sales tax on a single card seems suspicious to me - how often do you get them for your cross-border shipments?
what company did you ship with? UPS charges the declared net value of the package upon delivery. I once ordered a box of low end football, about 30$, off the bay - cost me another 30$ once it arrived.
Either that, or you should've checked off "gift" somewhere, or something.

Anyway, that's definitely a bummer...if it's a single card I'd be in touch[w/ your shipping company] finding out what the additional fee is/was for?
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That's not how UPS does it. They charge the taxes on the declared value, and then a brokerage fee for clearing the package through customs. They don't just charge you again for the item.

As for this instance, if you declared a reasonable value for the card on the customs form, then I think you are fine on this one. If you inflated that value, then the trading partner might have reason to be annoyed.
 
NewfieNeelyFan said:
sales tax on a single card seems suspicious to me - how often do you get them for your cross-border shipments?
what company did you ship with? UPS charges the declared net value of the package upon delivery. I once ordered a box of low end football, about 30$, off the bay - cost me another 30$ once it arrived.
Either that, or you should've checked off "gift" somewhere, or something.

Anyway, that's definitely a bummer...if it's a single card I'd be in touch[w/ your shipping company] finding out what the additional fee is/was for?

edit: I am also of the belief that you shouldn't have to pay this fee, however, provided it is just a sales tax.
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I shipped with USPS express mail. I marked Gift and only put a value of $100 on a card that probably sells for $150 $200. It was only 1 card.
 
this is definitely on the other trader's end then. was you sending first part of the agreement? the fact that the other guy hasn't sent the package yet is suspicious. also, is the guy here on HI or on another board?
 
You shouldn't have to pay anything. It's up to them to foot the cost and if they're not educated on what might / will happen (the taxes) that's not excuse.

As for people asking how often it happens, I've only received 2 packages marked over about $40, one was marked $140 and the other $71, neither got taxed. It's a total crap shoot.
 
SkyFire47 said:
this is definitely on the other trader's end then. was you sending first part of the agreement? the fact that the other guy hasn't sent the package yet is suspicious. also, is the guy here on HI or on another board?
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I am fairly sure he is trustworthy trader good rep on beckett honest guy, I just don't think me or him have ever dealt with a situation like this. Sending first was part of the agreement even though it would be both of our first trades on here. Also HI is the only board I am apart of.
 
I agree, everyone in Canada knows that we are risking these fees when we deal with American traders/sellers. It sounds like you completed your end of the deal pefectly fine.
 
When customs opens a package the automatically charge $5.00 + tax. Then they add on the tax for the value of the item. I have had this happen a few times. It's the $5.00 + tax that burns me.
Also, it is my understanding that customs is not supposed to open anything marked as a gift.
 
victor580_1 said:
When customs opens a package the automatically charge $5.00 + tax. Then they add on the tax for the value of the item. I have had this happen a few times. It's the $5.00 + tax that burns me.
Also, it is my understanding that customs is not supposed to open anything marked as a gift.
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The scanned bill says $14.19 in taxes and a $8 handling fee.
 
I got hit with customs fees for both my Gaborik 07/08 Signature Patch and Limited Logos. The sellers in each case marked the full value of each (both in the $100 range), and customs charged me $18 and $20 to pick up the cards. One of them even appeared to be opened by customs while being processed. The people at the Post Office told me anything over $45 declared value gets taxed, but I don't know that for sure. Since then I've had to ask sellers/traders to refrain from putting the full value of the card on the form if it's more than $50 because the fees up here are ridiculous.
 
Customs can open anything they want, if they couldn't open something marked "gift" every drug smuggler would be sending a lot of gifts.

There are no automatics with customs, it's a luck of the draw kind of thing.
 
It amazes me how few people seem to understand their own country's taxation laws, although quite a few people on here seem to have it right.

As Trish said, if you assessed the card at $100, then the bill presented sounds about right. She is also correct in stating that Express Shipments have a higher brokerage fee of $8.

Bottom line, it's not your responsibility to the other trader to pay HIS cost of doing business. If they requested tracked shipping with full declared value, then they have to accept responsibility for the possibility of paying the taxes and brokerage fees. If they are refusing to live up to their end of the bargain, then please PM me their username so I can ensure I don't deal with them.

Stand firm on this one and don't let them get away with holding your stuff for ransom.

** A few notes**

Canada Customs can do whatever they want when it come to bringing items into the country. If the declared value is more than the personal exemption of $25, be prepared to possibly pay taxes and/or brokerage fees. Marking a gift doesn't mean squat, except it increases the exemption value (up to $50 IIRC). We DO NOT PAY DUTY on sportscards, since they are manufactured in North America. This is what NAFTA is for...
 
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