25 customs/tax fee to ship audio to Canada ??

Be very careful when you ship to any other country with a lower declared value! If there should be damage, it is the perfect excuse for the shipping company to pay you only the value of what has been declared. Plus, Customs will sometimes check the insured value to see if it jives (they are not that dumb, they've seen it all). It should be very clear between buyer and seller that the seller takes responsibility for any excess value should there be damage.
Also, don't assume that damage can be fixed for a low amount. Speakers are the good example here. Try getting a replacement cost on a pair of cracked B&W Nautilus 801 cabinets and you'll find out what I mean (yes, this happened to us, the cabinets come from Germany and cost more $$ than the speakers sell for on the used market!).
Same thing with chassis metalwork, often more expensive to rebuild the amp than the amp sold for used.

Kevin
The Sound Broker

Thanks folks for the advice and guidance. Well, it looks like the tax was the reason for the chage. Hard to believe it can be so high. Just to answer Dogpile's question on the comparable tax/customs charge for goods into the US - I got a Supratek Syrah preamp about three weeks ago from Australia. I received the preamp and got my customs bill about two weeks later. The charge was 4.5%. Not bad, if you ask me. Certainly not prohibitive, wheras the Canadian charge does seem prohibitive. Well, thanks again for the info and advice. Cheers,
Outlier.

Actually, just wanted to ask one more clarifying question - does the fact that the preamp was originally made in Canada have any bearing on the tax charge, or would it need to be paid irrespective of country of origin? Thanks!!
Outlier.

It doesn't matter where the unit was made as it pertains to tax. Be it a Thor preamp from the US or a Sonic Frontiers from Canada your buyer was going to pay the taxes because the unit was coming into Canada. The Governments "pretend" like you were buying it locally where you would have paid the tax anyways. Now European and I assume Australian stuff as well would be subject to I believe 6% duties which are factored into the cost of the unit prior to administering the tax rates!

As I pointed out earlier - if you reside on the northern side of the border you should try all avenues before purchasing from outside the country. This negates all applicable taxes, duties and brokerage fees. All you'll have to pay is the freight assuming you are buying from a private individual as opposed to a dealer of used gear.

Gear availability is tied into demographics - there are 10 Americans for every Canadian and it only stands to reason that the greatest supply of used gear will be available from the USA.

Outilier:
So far as I know, it does not make a difference.
C'est las vie!

Jeff