Author Topic: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada  (Read 4853 times)

Offline RayStensen

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Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« on: May 01, 2020, 04:16:38 PM »
Hey guys,

Any Canadian poster collectors here? Has anyone had experience shipping from US to Canada and an idea of the costs?

I know I will pay sales tax (HST), but just wondering if anyone has been burned with high brokerage fees.

I can always ship to a friend in the US, but have no idea when that could potentially play out.

Thanks!
-Jay

Offline Crazy Vick

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Re: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2020, 08:21:07 PM »
Sawasdee Ray.  I see you have a Thailand tagline - are you still over there?  Loooove Thailand, though i haven't been back in almost 10 years.  I had sex with my (now) wife on a beach in Thailand once, we thought no one could see us but a boat cruise full of people went by and honked and everyone cheered.  Felt like Ferris fuckin' Bueller!

In any case, shipping from US to Canada in my experience if you keep it in the approx 200$ USD value range its likely to get through without any additional duties.  Go beyond that amount and you will likely be asked to pay import fees. 

Other observations:
-tubes for some reason appear more likely to get held back for fees compared with flat packages. 
-certain "services" appear on the radar more than others e.g. USPS Priority mail over USPS First Class.  Of course these are haphazard observations and might have zero meaning...
-sometimes a relatively inexpensive purchase will still generate taxes (e.g. $100)
-I had a recent package over 250 USD and was just waiting to eat it and yet - zero duties... with the COVID handouts right now Iwonder if the border service have been asked to cool their jets a bit and give folks a break?

A Canada Post employee once told be they sometimes randomly select a truckload of packages and charge taxes on all of them, regardless of value, while others are let through with no scrutiny (other than the xray machine I hope!)

Are you buying from ebay or auction sites?  What sort of posters do you collect? 

Offline RayStensen

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Re: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2020, 01:44:37 PM »
Hey Vick, haha, I was actually in Vietnam for a month years ago. Not Thailand, but very close! Could use that tagline as a response haha! SE Asia is wonderful.

Thanks for the response. I have shipped lower valued posters before and paid some HST and brokerage. Heritage shipped FedEx I think and that was the worst one. I'm glad Emovie auction uses USPS. Seems like you'll pay tax and a flat brokerage fee, but nothing close to UPS or FedEx.

I was mostly hoping to hear some personal experiences (thanks for sharing yours!) and play the odds. IE: ground vs air, or certain types of service which appear to be flagged less frequently. In reality, I think you're right that it's just luck, but always good to monitor and see if certain methods seem to work better.

I've shipped more expensive posters to my friend in the US before and they just bring them back when I go to visit. However, right now that's not possible. I'm shipping a Thunderball one sheet and just have a feeling I'm going to get nailed on the HST, but just didn't really have any other options. It was purchased from Emovie and they use USPS. Will let you know the outcome. Interesting to hear your experiences with it.


I have bought some stuff from Heritage, but Bruce has been my favourite go-to. I'm not a huge collector, but pick up stuff when I can. Most specifically 80s horror/sci-fi drawn style. Movies I grew up with. Keeping an eye on some James Bond stuff. How about yourself?

Offline CSM

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Re: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2020, 10:55:38 AM »
Basically any time you use UPS or FedEx you're nearly 100% likely to get dinged.

USPS is hit or miss as Vick outlined.  I have also found that when you use an USPS expedited option also more likely to be charged fees.
Chris

Offline RayStensen

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Re: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2020, 08:21:33 AM »

USPS is hit or miss as Vick outlined. I have also found that when you use an USPS expedited option also more likely to be charged fees.


That's the kind of thing I was curious about. I wonder if there's a reason behind it (Fewer expedited packages passing through a separate channel than regular packages?) or if it's just random luck.....

Offline RayStensen

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Re: Duty/Brokerage fees from US to Canada
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2020, 06:35:07 PM »
If anyone was curious, the poster arrived. The total charges were about $68. Much less than I anticipated.

The "value used for duty" was only about 25% of the total value of the poster? Which reduced the amount significantly.

I'm glad it wasn't crazy expensive like some other things I've shipped from the US, but it has also increased my confusion about what goes on crossing the border...