Can anyone give me a clear explanation of how customs/duty/excise tax works from the US into canada?

I recently bought some records from the USA, i thought i got a pretty good deal, about $100 canadian for a 4xLP and 2xLP set.

but, when the records got to my house, i had to pay another $40.36 in customs charges, in addition to the shipping charges.

this SUCKS, but i paid it anyway.

what i want to know is, how did they come up with $40.36? just pick a number out of a hat? is it a percent, or some forumla?

now, i am thinking of buying something privately from a seller in the USA. The item is used, so i shouldn't have to pay tax on it. I want to avoid, or at least minimize my customs charges. I have heard that your package is exempt if it's a gift under $20.

how do they determine that? what i am buying is defintely worth more than that, but is it possible to fool these people? they don't know what a dj mixer is worth do they? will they open my packaged and check or what?

if anyone has experience with this sort of thing, i would appreciate hearing from you.

I think they charge random amounts.. I have ordered alot of items from the US before.. and about 1/2 the time I have to pay customs, the other half the time I dont. Sometimes they leave the package at my front door, and I get it no tax no money at all. Sometimes they leave it at the postoffice and I have to pay huge amounts. When I baught a DJ package online for about $1000 CND, I had to pay $200 additional junk.

they determine the value, becuase when shipping something like a mixer across a border, they make you fill in things like that. its volountary, so if you can have the guy on the other end fill the customs form in saying mixer, value nil broken they just might waive the fee. but that is fraud

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Retired TA.

hmmm...

i wouldn't want to do anything illegal.

but, i also don't want to pay 40% extra like i did on my records.

i don't like this, spin the wheel and see what you get thing.

that spin the wheel thing isnt true. You either get charged what you owe, or get lucky and pay nothing.

Sattelite records for example writes not to be sold. for promotional use only. That reduces the price significantly.

___________________
Retired TA.

i bought a CD last year from a german company. they shipped it to me from their florida office or some shit like that. on the customs form it said 'CD used' and i didnt pay a penny. another time, i ordered a CD from another german company, they too shipped it from their US office and they just wrote CD, i had to pay $15 for it. couple of months ago, i bought a book from amazon, got it sent to me, didnt have to pay anything cause it was just below $20
the best thing to do is either order CDs by one, or a mixer by pieces j/k j/k just ask the person to write used or gift on it and then you wont have to pay taxes. they cant check if its a gift or not

you still have to pay duty on gifts.

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Retired TA.

quote:

Originally posted by j_spot you still have to pay duty on gifts.

really???? how does that work? you're not paying for it at all, and since it is already payed for taxes are already payed as well

exactly, i shouldn't have to pay tax on it, it's used.

i don't mind paying the handling fee, but i don't want to pay tax on the thing.

it's already had the tax paid on it. if i pay tax on it again, then tax get's paid for it again? that don't make sense. what if i sent it back, does the original sender pay tax a third time on it?

i'm don't want to break the law, but i don't want to pay more than i have to either..

they determine the charge by the value of the object

i recently purchased an oakenfold shirt from the UK (bandmad) and customs charged me 15$

Maybe someone can help me with figuring out how much this will cost in CDN $:

I plan to buy 2 CDs from amazon.com in the US and have them shipped to me in Canada. Total cost is about $50 US so how much would it cost me, final cost in CDN $? (ie: after tax, shipping, and duty)

US$50 = C$78.93
shipping is US$3.49 = C$5.51
buy your CDs as a gift, who knows, maybe you wont have to pay customs (amazon marks 'gift' on the pakage)
amazon also puts the value of the shippment on the box. they put the US dollars value but dont indicate it so that may help you a bit with paying less taxes. if the tax is 40% then figure out what 40% of 50 is, add everything together and you're all set

if you need to convert more US$ to C$ go here http://www.royalbank.com/travel/fxconvert.html