how do customs work for Canadians?

[BenDMitchell]

When Canadians buy a card from the US, how much are customs for the buyer? Just curious as to how it all works.

 

[winniescards]

It all depends. I have had some pretty expensive cards/items arrive with nothing owing.
But I have also had a
few items arrive that were only about $120.00 and I have to pay before I can receive the item.When dealing
with friends it is often the case that the sender will keep the package a low value.But there is certainly a lot
of risk involved when you do.Imagine $500 card that the seller agrees to put $50.00 on it just to save you a
few buck on taxes and it gets lost.Insurance is only for the declared value of $50.00.Most business
will not agree to do this anyway because as you can see it is illegal to do this. So for me I just take the chance
and if I need to pay then I just go to the post office and pay and pick up the package. If it is a small package
and my letter carrier has it with him then I just use my credit card and pay the fees at the door. I just recently
bought a small lot of cards in California on eBay so they went through eBay.The total purchase was only
like $110.00 but I had to pay just under $30.00 at my door before the mail man would leave it with me.

I hope this helps you with a bit of information.I am sure there are others here that will chime in and have
likely had a lot different experiences.Thanks.

 

[BenDMitchell]

Yes, that does help. Thanks!

 

[BrownBullhead]

Presuming sellers are declaring at realized value; Our gov't typically lets things under declared value $50 CAD (even up to $100 CAD) "slide through", and stuff above that, you typically get charged the tax rates for the province you live in. Some provinces have a "harmonized" tax (federal and provincial combined) from 12% to 15%; others like Manitoba where I live, are 7% provincial PST and 5% federal GST. On eBay, eBay itself collects the taxes on behalf of the USA seller. The situation I described above i more for off-site sales. Hope this helps.

 

[BenDMitchell]

Presuming sellers are declaring at realized value; Our gov't typically lets things under declared value $50 CAD (even up to $100 CAD) "slide through", and stuff above that, you typically get charged the tax rates for the province you live in. Some provinces have a "harmonized" tax (federal and provincial combined) from 12% to 15%; others like Manitoba where I live, are 7% provincial PST and 5% federal GST. On eBay, eBay itself collects the taxes on behalf of the USA seller. The situation I described above i more for off-site sales. Hope this helps.

Thanks

 

[Tachyon]

It also depends on how often an Address receives mail from another country. If you only receive 2 packages a year worth $200 or less you are very unlikely to pay customs. If you receive a lot of international mail you will get hit with customs much more often.

I once had a large package come in from COMC.com (Washington State) and was dinged with customs, some $130+ if I remember correctly. I refused to pay saying that I already owned the cards. They were shipped there by me to a consignment company and now they were shipping them back to me. So they were sent back to Customs in Toronto and then an agent phoned me and was 100% cool with me not paying customs on this package because they were already owned by me and mostly purchased in Canada (that was a lie).

So there is a huge difference in a $100 package and a $1,000 package. Also a huge difference in 1-2 packages a year to 10+ packages a year.

I believe in the 12+ years I have been buying/selling on eBay and whatnot I have paid customs only once and also had the previously-mentioned scenario happen.

 

[BenDMitchell]

A little unrelated and pardon me if this is a stupid question but in Canada, do you have mail delivered to your home daily?

 

[will-411]

A little unrelated and pardon me if this is a stupid question but in Canada, do you have mail delivered to your home daily?

Most areas have ‘super boxes’ where we have to stop and pick up our mail (20 to 50 small post office boxes mounted in the subdivision somewhere or on a rural road) and Canada Post delivers to those daily. There is still some individual drop offs as well. Generally all daily.

Cory

 

[BrownBullhead]

A little unrelated and pardon me if this is a stupid question but in Canada, do you have mail delivered to your home daily?

If by daily, you mean Monday to Friday? Yes (as a general rule).

We get some weekend delivery during the Christmas season.

All of the above is in regard to Canada Post; "couriers" deliver seven days per week as far as I know.