How Much Are Canadian Customs on US Made Imports

After a few costly experiences, both ways, I do not ship to or from Canada. I do buy from Canada, but I insist that the seller ship the item from a US town. If they can't do that, I do not buy. I do buy from the UK, and find, even with duty and shipping cost some items can be landed for 20% less then us dealer prices in my state. But lately, with the exchange rate being high, I've stopped.

Tiger, and other anti-Canadianites...lol..I don't understand why you wouldn't ship to Canada. We're like best buddies.

It's your choice of course, but aren't the inherent risks (non-payment etc) the same with a US purchaser.

The shipping seems pretty straight forward. USPS being the best option because there is no brokerage fee. I did return some vitamins once (first time buying over the internet) because the UPS brokerage fee was more than the value of the goods...

And the valuation declaration is the same as declaring value for insurance purposes. All applicable taxes are the responsibility of the buyer upon arrival of package.

Since it's the buyer who forwards the money first, wouldn't all the risk be on the buyers' side?

Us Canadians like having access to the very large US market, and with the US dollar the way it is, it's all gravy..... talk about pent up consumer demand. Thank you George and Dick.

If you ship via USPS there is no brokerage fee.

Not quite right: There is a CDN$5 brokerage charge on any standard mail parcel that is charged with PST/GST, and a $8 charge on EMS parcels.

Its just that for UPS and Fedex those charges are higher (starting at around $15 for packages above $20) and depend on the declared value.

Does the sender pay the $5fee, because I've never had to pay the brokerage fee.. I just received some cables from the US yesterday.. with a "declared" value of $10, and it arrived at my door. I didn't even have to pick it up at the post office.

I live in British Columbia.

Elf73, sometimes Canada Post lets a package through without fees. This appears to be accidental, but it is much more common with lower-value packages.