[espressoo]

There seems like a lot of members from Canada on these boards so maybe they can chime in as well. For those of you who have purchased or sold used car parts (wheels/mods or etc) between the two countries, what's your experience with customs/duty charges? Is the buyer being slapped with a 20% custom bill on top of the purchase (declared) price? I'm thinking of purchasing something but the purchase is less appealing if a 20% cost is tack on thereafter.

[MaximusB]

I’m in Canada and have purchased/sold countless parts from the states. Yes you will have to pay duty on top of the sale price. Amount of the duty, I believe, various depends if it is used or new. For something big like wheels you may also have to pay for freight charge. That is an extra shipping companies will tag on top of the item is deemed too large or heavy, and they need “special” handling. Some time that is BS but it is still their policy that you can’t avoid. I purchased a CF good before (for my other car) and UPS wanted to charge $450 freight as they claimed the box had to be forklifted and they need use a “special” truck to delivery it. I called several times explaining to them that the box is big (because it is a fucking hood) but it only weights like 5lbs, so no special handling is required. Also shipping companies will charge you a brokerage fee for clearing customs on your package that you need to factor in.

There are several options that you could lower all shipping associated costs:

1.) ask the seller to declare a lower value. But shipping company will only insure the package based on the declared value. So think it through to see if it is worth the risk. I don’t recommend this if you’re buying expensive. Also the declared value still need to be reasonable as CBSA do check the declaration against the goods. If they believe the declared value is in correct they’ll either seize the item and assign a new value that they think it is fair or they return it to sender. So don’t ask the seller to declare like $100 on a set of wheels.

2.) ask the seller to declare the goods as sample. Again I don’t recommend this because usually samples have no value, so it’ll be very difficult to get shipping insurance. If you’re buying like an emblem then you’ll probably get away with it.

3.) if you live close to US border then you can simple ship it to a receiving company. Usually they are located very close to the Canada/USA border, and they will receive and hold your package for pickup for a small fee. There are tons of them around the Vancouver/Washington border, the company I use charge $3.50 per package per week hold. Most of the time you don’t get hit with heavy duty with this option. Most of the time they will just let you through, at least I’m my experience. Also shipping is cheaper with this option because the seller is shipping within the US.

[Never_Enough]

Done it many times. Send as gift.

[tdott]

When I lived in Canada, I used to have stuff shipped to Buffalo and pick it up when I'm there as we usually visit every couple of months, or since I used to travel to the US often for work, I'd have stuff shipped to my hotel and bring it back in my luggage.

Having it shipped directly to Canada is usually a last resort because of the additional taxes/duties/fees.

For a US person shipping to Canada it's really no big deal, it's just an extra few fields to fill out, value, what it is, etc. Nothing will be charged back to them, but there might be additional shipping options, some offer the shipper to pre-pay the taxes/duties but it is not a requirement.

[espressoo]

Good info. Thanks guys. I’m from the US and having something shipped to me from Canada. Picking up in person isn’t an option for me.