EDIT: [To respond to Jen’s comment] NEVER. NEVER EVER. IN A MILLION YEARS. Have ANYTHING shipped UPS that crosses the border. They add on their own brokerage and customs fees and collect duty on EVERYTHING – even things that should be duty free. UPS SUCKS for cross border shipping.
Okay, we’ve had some interesting comments on my previous post from the usual suspects. As both Jen & Jason mention, I am very much aware of potential duties and GST on imports. I paid a shitload of duty when I imported Risk 2210. However, that said, EVEN factoring in the duties and GST – I would still be saving money on buying the camcorder in the U.S. and shipping it here. It would probably be in the neighbourhood of $150CAD that I would save. Also, thanks to poker, I have quite a few contacts down in the states that I could easily ship the camcorder to, have them re-box it, and then ship it up to me as a gift – thus bypassing import duties (I would still have to pay GST though – go figure). As for the DVDs (or books, or CDs), those will easily come into Canada without paying any extra duties (you *should* have to pay GST though). Amazon.com will only ships books, music, and DVDs into Canada. It actually says that right on their website. As for why Jen was charged a $10 duty on the swimsuit, that’s beyond me. I would have filed an appeal with customs in that case. Was the swimsuit made in the U.S. or Mexico? If it was, it should have definitely been duty free. Thanks to NAFTA, *almost* any product that is manufactured in the U.S. or Mexico should come into Canada duty free. To the best of my knowledge, even a foreign branded auto that was manufactured in the U.S. should be able to come in with no problems as long as a) you pay GST on the purchase and b) the auto conforms to Canadian emission standards.
Of course, the other option is to just drive over to the U.S. and buy the camcorder there. There are a couple problems with that though: Brick & Morter stores probably won’t have the product AS cheap as I can order it online. Also, I would still probably end up paying a duty/GST on the product (although there would be no silly customs “handling” charges).
I probably wouldn’t bother ordering the season of Everwood. If I *really* wanted it, I’d just fire up uTorrent and grab it that way. Far more convenient and cheaper (but slower).
Of course, the other drawback to ordering the camcorder from the U.S. is that I need to have the money up front to buy it. If I wanted to pay more, I could always buy it here NOW and finance it.
I’m sure it would have cost more than $10 to fight it. And I wanted that thing for the zoo trip. Hello, it’s totally cute. 😛
In a super quick search, it appears it is US made, although I couldn’t find the skirtini set, just the bikini. The webstore on Amazon.com doesn’t ship to Canada direct. But neither did any of the e-bay stores or stand alone websites I found it on. I’m also not sure if I ordered the skirtini through a webstore on Amazon.com or what. Just that it said “this item cannot be shipped to Canada” when I tried that.
I’ve had duty on a number of things. Dead Sea Mud (from NYC, but imported from Isreal), Dye (California) and DVDs and books from Cook’s Illustrated (Massachusetts? sp?). I think some of it is UPS, I have heard UPS does weird things with brokers and you don’t always get a choice of who you’re shipping with. The skirtini though came through USPS and Canada Post. They don’t take cheques, only cash or credit (the other duty collectors took cheque).