Avoiding Taxes/Freight/Brokerage on shipments from US --> Canada (imports)?

[Gandu]

I ordered Klipsch 4.1 ProMedia speakers online for ~$300US and since I live in Canada that price had to be convered to Canadian and it was ~$450CD. You would be thinking why would I buy them from the states if I can get em in Canada? Well I did that to avoid the taxes charged in Canada and I ended up paying a lot more than I thought. I had to pay Canadian tax plus freight charges to UPS. so I ended up paying ~$150CD extra:| so those speakers cost me ~$600CD that I would have gotten for ~$500CD. God I hate paying taxes:| thats the story and here is the question. Is there any way to avoid the import taxes? Any kind of input welcome. If you got your stories to tell please go ahead and let us know about them.


Thank You

 

[RussianSoldier]

drive down to the states and pick them up?

 

[trek]

Have them sent as a gift?

 

[Gandu]

trek8900, I will give this a try, gotta bribe my cousin in the states.

Thanks and keep em coming.

 

[JayPatel]

nah..even sending them as a gift doesnt get you past the duties and brokerage fees....

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

Meet somebody at the American border and have them throw it over the fence.

 

[Gandu]

Man it pisses me off, prices in the states are a lot cheaper and there are no taxes applied unless you live in CA. So JayPatel, does that mean there is no way I can get past the taxes and freight charges?

 

[Gandu]

There out to be an easy way out of this? Come on somebody should know it?

 

[nomahe]

<< Meet somebody at the American border and have them throw it over the fence. >>


LMFAO!!!

 

[Gandu]

<< There are 56742 users registered to the AnandTech forum.
>>



I see that everytime I come to this board and a very few of them just help out. Somebody please come on, teach a poor guy some cheap tricks cuz I am getting my ~$2000USD worth of box being shipped to me in a week and I don't want to pay $1000 in taxes and freight charges on top of that. BTW my friend is building it for me and he will ship it to me in anyway I want it. Coming from Alabama(US) --> Toronto(Canada). Driving to states/meeting at border options won't work for me. Someone please, I beg ya, if ya got a trick to bypass those high amount taxes please let me know of them. Thanks.

 

[Gandu]

Does the topic help?

 

[sandorski]

Unless you smuggle them back, you have to pay taxes. Freight and brokerage can be avoided by not having them shipped across the border(these are the fees that suck most IMO)).

If you want to avoid taxes on purchases, you'll have to buy out of province, then you won't pay the PST. Assuming you don't live in Alberta.

 

[JayPatel]

only way you will escape any kind of duty or brokerage fee is if youve got lots of luck..even though the package may be arked as gifts..customs will still go thru the contents and have it valued...if u exceed the $40US maximum...you will get stuck with fees.

 

[littleprince]

have to get them stamped as retail samples with no value.
it wont really work if you get it from a retailer.
maybe direct from a small manufacturer.
gd luck.
i've done it once on gds from germany...
u cant really do it much more than that.

 

[Gandu]

How about declaring it as a Replacement or it was sent for repairs and they are returning it after repairs? Somebody comeon, give me something that will work, there are only a few days left before its ready and I want to have a method ready before then.


Thanks and appretiate your help.

 

[Ameesh]

sorry man id love to help i just dont know any tricks. wish i could help

 

[desertdweller]

<< only way you will escape any kind of duty or brokerage fee is if youve got lots of luck..even though the package may be arked as gifts..customs will still go thru the contents and have it valued...if u exceed the $40US maximum...you will get stuck with fees. >>




In Canada they actually will go through your packages just so they
can tax you?


DD

 

[Eug]

Duty had to be paid regardless of province, but most of the time these items do not incur duty, because of the Free Trade agreement. Taxes still have to be paid. GST always, and PST sometimes. Obviously in Alberta there is no PST. In other provinces it is up to their discretion whether or not they want to collect PST.

The killer is brokerage fees, and that's where UPS ground dings you. Note that US Postal Service --> Canada Post charges a flat $5 brokerage fee. Unfortunately, shippers don't like USPS because you can't track packages. FedEx standard air has ZERO brokerage fees, as does UPS's version of the fast delivery too. However, FedEx Ground charges a similar brokerage fee. You can get around it if you're willing to broker the package yourself, but that takes time during bankers hours and you have to drive to the airport to fill out a whole bunch of forms. In addition, the company has to know in advance you want to broker it yourself.

Also, at the border, there are companies that will accept packages for a fee. You can go pick it up yourself and avoid brokerage fees. However, given the hassle of the drive, I'd rather just pay the brokerage fees if I can't get the shipper to ship via US Postal Service.

 

[Gandu]

My friend can ship through US Postal Service, anything that will help but he can't come to border cuz hes in Alabama. I want to avoid paying the taxes cuz I know it will be a lot.

 

[Eug]

If your friend is buying it that won't help, because then he'll be paying state tax as well. He doesn't have to come to the border - dunno what you're talking about. You can ship to the border and pick it up there.

In any situation, you still have to pay the damn taxes. The only thing you can get out of is brokerage fees.

 

[Gandu]

He is sending it to me and i am in Toronto(Canada). How can he ship it to the Border so I can pick it up?

 

[Gandu]

Avoiding taxes is my first concern, and to avoid brokerage I will tell my friend to ship with USPS since they got a $5 flat rate. How about shipping the package to a business address instead to a home address? Will that help?

 

[Shazam]

Also, try Borderfree next time if you must order from the US. Note though that many electronic items are not covered under warranty once you ship them over the border.

 

[Gandu]

Whats Borderfree? Never heard of that.

 

[Jal]

BorderFree is where I get my USA stuff shipped over here.. Prices are very good.. Order anything from a USA Website via them. They tell you upfront the final CDN$ price you will pay, then you decide if you want to place the order, or cancel.