If the item is made in Canada, the US or Mexico, then no duty is charged. You will only pay taxes.

And if you are going to have it shipped here, for God's sake do not use UPS. They will rape you on brokerage fees. ALWAYS use USPS for shipping. Their brokerage is a minimal set fee ($5 if you get charged at all) as they have an agreement in place with CanadaPost.

 

All this sounds like a load of work.

Contact the seller on eBay and ask if he will mark it as "Gift" on the parcel. You will avoid ALL fees, taxes, and . I have done this many times and never been hit for taxes? I dont see why no one mentioned this lol.

Its a lot easier then all of this lol.

 

You should look into self-clearing border fees through CBSA (Canada Borders Service Agency).

Heres an article explaining all about UPS/Fedex/etc brokerage fees that are absolutely outrageous.

UPS Brokerage Fees

 

Ya if your lucky enough to find a vendor that won't mind losing his *** if he gets caught. Fine and dandy if a 'friend' marks it as a gift, but if a business ships it as a gift, they are subject severe penalties 'if' caught.

 

The reason no one mentioned it is because that's incorrect information. No offense, but it's just outright bad to recommend. The fact you haven't got caught is fine, consider yourself lucky.

Anything over 60 bucks is taxable, even if declared as a gift. Seeing most people don't send receipts with "gifts", count on Customs looking up the part and charging you full-value on it. And forget about the birthday card bs, it doesn't work.

 

I compete in spl comps .i live near buffalo ny .I have friends from canada that compete in the same org. as i do . They have had equipment shipped to a certain location in the u.s. , and then would meet up at comps to pick up equipment . They would take what they needed out of the box ,discard the evidence and mount it in thier car/truck and drive over the boarder like it was in thier car/truck the whole time .

 

thats good in all but were the border crossing is in western canada theres absolutly no car audio scene in washington or oregon so would be pointless to go across the border

 

when I pick stuff up at the border I usually end up paying around 6% taxes. Its pretty significant savings.

 

when i put in orders i just have everything shipped on one weigh bill only usually pay around 150 to 200 for 10 items which isnt bad

 

I had a friend gift me a parcel a few months ago that was insured for 600 dollars with a declared value of zero and i paid not one red cent when Canada Post dropped it off at my residence. Now it was actually a gift/trade so i wasnt breaking any laws but if declared value is 0 and its a gift then its a gift, if it has a declared value at all even if declared as a gift then you pay tax regardless.