Has anyone purchased goods over the internet and had them shipped to Canada
by FedEx or any other courier? How much is Duty?
To be specific, I want to buy some golf clubs for about $800.00 Canadian, they will be shipped by FedEx.
Any advice on previous experiences,
or roughly an estimate on the so called "hidden" or unexpected costs will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
MountainHip
i bought a loaded sub box that is about 60lbs of ebay that was about 150cdn and it cost me 50 for shipping and another 50 in customs...you pretty much need to get a sweet deal on the price to make it worth it
The amount of duty depends on the items. Some items (such as computers) are duty free. Either items will make you wish you'd just bought in Canada.
If you go to the gov't's website and do a search on "duty" you should eventually find a phone number to call to find out if golf clubs are duty free or not. (I say eventually because it is a nasty, nasty site when trying to find a specific piece of information). If they aren't duty free, like thedarkcanuck said, it will need to be one hell of a deal to make it worthwhile - not only is there duty but there's GST and one of those "handling" charges as well.
ok, i've done cross border shipping on tonnes of things, computer parts, digicams, car parts, books, clothes, you name it and all I can say is that it is hit and miss.
I've had $200US of car parts come in and only paid $10CA in duty. Other times I wished I just bought them over here...
One time I almost blew a gasket because customs charged taxes not only on the item but also on the cost of shipping which totally pissed me off and it was too much of a headache to bother attempting to get a refund from the government.
One word of wisdom I have is to avoid FedEx or UPS and have your stuff shipped USPS Priority. With FedEx/UPS you end up paying brokerage AND tax and get totally raped in the ass. Just to put it into perspective, I bought something for around $90US and thought I was getting a good deal on it, the thing fit into a box about 5x5", less than 1lb, and paid like $60CA in brokerage. This was when the exchange rate was not nearly as good as it is now, so it cost me a helluva lot more than I was prepared for... but at that point, what do you do?... say no I'm not paying and have UPS return it to the seller... not exactly good form on an ebay transaction.
I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're close to a border crossing maybe somebody stateside on the hipbase here would be willing to accept the packages for you. Then you go pick them up and on the way back you tell the customs guy that you went golfing, no tax, no worries...
Never have anything shipped cross-border via UPS.
I worked for a publisher in the States at one point and they kept sending my manuscripts back UPS, so I paid brokerage fees to retrieve my own property, based not on Canada Customs but on what some brown-suited flunky thought the contents of the package were.
I'd expect the same from Fedex.
surely to god you can find a decent set of clubs in canada for $800