I've bought most of my current gear from the States and have not experienced any nightmares, unless you count the taxes, duties and/or brokerage fees. :-)
I think Markphd was referring to the legality or lack thereof of purposely misdeclaring the value for Customs purposes. Insurance fraud is a totally separate issue. Customs couldn't care less what one declares in terms of insured value, it is, as correctly pointed out, a matter between buyer, seller and the shipping company. Declared value on the other hand is a bit more sticky insofar as Customs law is applicable. If you get caught undervaluing, you must pay the applicable Customs duties and Goods & Services Tax (GST, which help to fund things like public health care, the military and bridges) on the correct value (as determined by those wily Customs agents, with reference to the Harmonised Code in use in most nations around the globe), plus a penalty (again as sanctioned by Customs law) and interest on amounts overdue. Usually, the importer gets the bill, since they are responsible for bringing the item into the country. (And, yes, I used to work for Customs). ;-)
Markphd may have a perfectly good reason for playing it squeaky clean, but that's not much of a reason to start wailing on him.
Kleech, when taking a relatively high value electronic item out of Canada into another country, one should stop at the nearest Customs office to obtain the appropriate document for the item indicating that it was bought in Canada and will be brought back at some point (I forget the correct term or doc #). It indicates what the item is and its worth and when returning to Canada, you present the doc to Customs in order to bring it back without paying any duties or taxes. Otherwise, they can't know whether it was purchased abroad and should be subject to duties/taxes. Smart thing to do that is not widely known, especially for those taking an expensive camera on vacation or laptop on business travel.
Just my 2 cents (3 cents US).
Max
I think Markphd was referring to the legality or lack thereof of purposely misdeclaring the value for Customs purposes. Insurance fraud is a totally separate issue. Customs couldn't care less what one declares in terms of insured value, it is, as correctly pointed out, a matter between buyer, seller and the shipping company. Declared value on the other hand is a bit more sticky insofar as Customs law is applicable. If you get caught undervaluing, you must pay the applicable Customs duties and Goods & Services Tax (GST, which help to fund things like public health care, the military and bridges) on the correct value (as determined by those wily Customs agents, with reference to the Harmonised Code in use in most nations around the globe), plus a penalty (again as sanctioned by Customs law) and interest on amounts overdue. Usually, the importer gets the bill, since they are responsible for bringing the item into the country. (And, yes, I used to work for Customs). ;-)
Markphd may have a perfectly good reason for playing it squeaky clean, but that's not much of a reason to start wailing on him.
Kleech, when taking a relatively high value electronic item out of Canada into another country, one should stop at the nearest Customs office to obtain the appropriate document for the item indicating that it was bought in Canada and will be brought back at some point (I forget the correct term or doc #). It indicates what the item is and its worth and when returning to Canada, you present the doc to Customs in order to bring it back without paying any duties or taxes. Otherwise, they can't know whether it was purchased abroad and should be subject to duties/taxes. Smart thing to do that is not widely known, especially for those taking an expensive camera on vacation or laptop on business travel.
Just my 2 cents (3 cents US).
Max