Shipping from the states (how to avoid duties)

[gpomp]

Is the anyway I can avoid paying duties and all those other fees when buying stuff from the states? I heard something like FedEx air can do that or something?? Anyone know? BTW, I'm thinking of shipping wheels, so don't say USPS marked as a gift.

[rage2]

There are no duties, just GST. If you get busted doing it, the wheels are seized, bye bye wheels.

Assuming the wheels are $1000, that's $70 worth of GST. Is it worth getting $1000 seized, or paying $70?

Ship Fedex, they don't charge outrageous Brokerage fees. If you ship UPS, they'll slap on $50+ worth of fees.

[ryder_23]

Cant you just ship it valued at custom as 9.99 as a gift? lol, thats what i always do, but everything is usually under 100$. Is that what ur talkin about being illegal rage? thanks

[bart]

shipping fedex air you dont pay brokerage fees, they're already included in the price of shipment. probably the same for ups, if you ship ground, its like $30 for the dumbasses to fill out some papers on your behalf.

whenever they call me, i say, DID I ASK YOU TO DO THIS FOR ME??? MAYBE I PLAN ON DOING THIS ON MY OWN! ahah, then a pause on their side.

[buh_buh]

Originally posted by rage2
If you get busted doing it, the wheels are seized, bye bye wheels.

haha, actually I did that. Except I was bringing them over the border myself, and I told them they were worth a lot less than they actually where. And somehow they managed to find out how much they actually were, and threatened to seize my wheels. But I convinced them I was a student and I had to work all summer for them, so they just let me go hahaha.

[SpoonEK9@STRD]

i try to scam it all the time, some times it works...most of the time it doesnt..

gift works only during holidays... mainly christmas.

Heres how to get around with out paying duties or paying broker fees

Get the sender to mark for warrenty/return... but by doing this you have to claim value really low, like 10 bucks or less or what ever... this means no insurance....if you mark high value, they will think your trying to scam.

If item is fairly cheap $500 US or less... mark value for customs as 70$ or less... 70 or less so you wont have to pay those brokerage fees...

I bought some calipers for 100 us, they charged me 50 dollars at the boarder... now thats a rip off... ahh welll ill rip them of at a later date.

[CRXguy]

UPS next day is supposedly not so bad, since brokerage is included. Best bet is go through USPS, although it'll take a bit longer to arrive.

[max_boost]

Fed Ex rocks
I picked up my Apex-I V-AFC from them, no duties, brokerage or GST!! LOL Unless Titan Motorsports in Florida did something?

Didn't even have to sign for anything, just show ID and I was on my way hehe

[gpomp]

Hrm, FedEx air sounds pretty good.

[littledan]

avoid UPS ground like the plague!!!

[xkon]

I always ship UPS, they can broker it for $20... the gift thing only works for small items

for $20, i cant be bothered!

[Cam]

Originally posted by max_boost
Fed Ex rocks
I picked up my Apex-I V-AFC from them, no duties, brokerage or GST!! LOL Unless Titan Motorsports in Florida did something?

Didn't even have to sign for anything, just show ID and I was on my way hehe

Was that just in the last couple days? Because they've got a nasty habit of sending a tax & brokerage bill in the mail a couple weeks after you get your delivery. They got me on my exhaust like that...

If it was a while ago, nice work!

[VWhooligan]

I hate it when you get carparts sent from the USA and you think its all good. Then a month later you get a letter in the mail asking for $70 brokerage fee's. That just hurts.

And it always seems to be $70. My $300 spoiler was $70, my $700 wheel was $70. HRMM

[kenny]

If you're gonna ship something up as a gift, just get the sender to actually wrap the package in gift wrap Makes it look all that more real haha.

[sml]

Originally posted by bart
shipping fedex air you dont pay brokerage fees, they're already included in the price of shipment. probably the same for ups, if you ship ground, its like $30 for the dumbasses to fill out some papers on your behalf.

ah... HELL NO! But I'll give you that you're right, Fedex doesn't charge you brokerage, but their 3rd party brokerage firm and Mr. Canada Customs WILL!!! And if you're thinking UPS, they got their own brokerage within the company and let's just say that you might as well start unbuttoning your pants and bend over... I don't think you can avoid taxes and duties/custom fees. I think if you understate the cost of the item being shipped and something goes wrong with it, then your insurance will only cover you up to the amount that you wrote down. You'd be royally screwed if ANYTHING happens to those rims during the transition!

And there are UPS worldship which doesn't charge duties, but I think they're VERY expensive + you have to be a buisness to use it... Generally, UPS within the country is pretty good, but if you plan to ship international, then you're gonna feel the pain.

[davidI]

I'm ordering up an exhaust from teh states and the guy is sending it UPS. I asked him to write warranty replacement but we'll see what happens!

[sputnik]

USPS is definately the way to go.

If the package isnt huge or terribly heavy its easy to get away with the "gift" method.

[DSMer4Life]

Ther's no duty on:

Items valued under $20US or about $13CDN
"Made in America" parts
"Used" parts
"Warranty/replacement" parts
"Gifts"

Avoid UPS like a dirty diaper. And USPS works best, IMHO, if you're not in a rush.

[roopi]

Well were is the product made? That will make a difference. If it is made in the U.S.A. it will fall under NAFTA so no duty. If it is made in Mexico then it is still under NAFTA but the rates are lower.

From Canada Customs:

Your goods qualify for the U.S. duty-free rate under NAFTA if they are:

for personal use and marked as made in the United States or Canada

or

not marked or labeled to indicate that they were made anywhere other than in the United States or Canada

So what rage2 said is right if the products is made in the U.S.A. Other wise you will pay duty.

http://www.aacb.com/taxdutycalc.asp is a handy little calculator for duty charges.

I've shipped alot of items to and from the U.S.A.

USPS - slow but low brokerage fee of only $5.00 because that is all Canada Post can charge when it gets here.

UPS - fast but if customs does decide to open the package they take forever and UPS doesn't do shit about it. They also charge a minimum brokerage fee of $15

Fedex - fast and no duty. costs more to ship. sometimes you get a bill in the mail a few months later for duty/brokerage

Purolator - fast and no duty and i always get a bill a few months later for duty.

[gpomp]

I said I was shipping wheels so about 1/3 of these posts don't relate...