How Much Are Canadian Customs on US Made Imports

If you ship via USPS there is no brokerage fee. DO NOT use FedEx or UPS if you can help it. I usually get my items shipped to a postal office in Washington and drive across from Vancouver to pick up the purchase.

Obviously, they are used items. I have only had to pay the sales tax (which is stupid, considering you don't have to pay sales tax on used items from Canada). No questions regarding the origin of the item and no duty thus far..

Incidently...sorry for hijacking the thread.... for Americans purchasers, does UPS and FedEX charge a brokerage fee on items sent from Canada? Any other special levies or charges?

Tobias is correct. I believe that you can import speaker drivers or spare parts from other countries (outside NAFTA) without import duty - however all finished products (like a speaker) get the 6% or sometimes higher "import duty" if not "manufactured" in NAFTA or a special status trading partner. (so technically you should pay import duty on a used US Brand player that says "Made in China" on it) Companies can get around some of these rules by manufacturing most everything overseas and then doing "final assembly" in the US.

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.