Paying for custom and duty.
 

I've been trying to support the vendors on this forum and many of them do have reasonable pricing. What I am most concerned about is the hidden fees in duty and custom.

How do you guys do it? What should I expect to pay at my door when it gets here?

I got a long list of mods, I just bought KWV3s locally at a store because I can get it right away and without any uncertainties (for a small premium).

My sparcos came from Canada and it cost like 20 USD for duty's/customs.

If the parts are made in North America, there is no duty (NAFTA). You do need to be creative (read: don't use UPS) and avoid "brokerage fees". Some vendors, such as Stillen, have GST numbers and will take care of paying the taxes when you pay them.

Provincial and federal taxes are like death...unavoidable.

UPS and FEDEX rape Canadians for sure on the brokerage fees and shipping costs. USPS will be more reasonable but will not handle larger items. Sometimes it's worth a trip down to pick stuff up, depending where you live....

the duty you pay is mainly based on what the vendor puts as value of the contents of the package before they ship it. I've had headlight components worth $200 bucks sent to me and on the package it said it was backyard lighting worth $15. So to be sure you can always talk to the vendor about putting something of that sort on there. It would obviously be harder on a box that says "MADE IN JAPAN" with a popular brand on it.

You only pay duty on an item if it's not made in North America. Yes, the duty fee is based on the value of the item. It's usually a 13% duty rate.

You should be very careful about "revaluing" an item because you want to pay less in duty. If you get caught, you could lose the item outright and also be subject to a fine.

Some sellers will misrepresent what's in the packages they send, most will not. It's fraud and can cause all sorts of problems for vendors if they get caught. Why would they risk their business to save you tax, brokerage and possible duty? I wouldn't worry about receiving a package like that, but I would never try to revalue it or misrepresent the country of manufacture at a boarder crossing. One bad customs dude having a bad day and you won't believe the hassle you will have. Like 6MT says, be prepared to lose it, pay a fine and have your name flagged for a few years in their system. Just ain't worth it.

If your package is shipped UPS, Fedex, or any other courier, be ready for a very unpleasant surprise on brokerage fees. As mentioned, they will rape you. For instance, on a $250 package, UPS charges $47.00 in brokerage. That equates to a whopping 19%. You can see the full raping table here.

If your seller sends the package USPS, it will arrive at your door via Canada Post and they charge a flat $5 brokerage fee. But as mentioned, there are size and weight limitations.

Taxes - you will definitely pay it with a courier. With Canada Post, it depends on the size of the package and the declared value. I'm not sure what the cutoff is, or if there even is a rule, but I get a lot of small packages that are declared less than say $50 and for some reason, they don't collect the tax. On larger more expensive stuff, they do. I'm not sure why some of the cheaper stuff slides through. You never get away with anything with a courier. I suspect because Canada Post is also a federal agency, they have some sort of leeway in excusing taxes on certain things. Kinda of a "not worth the hassle" sort of thing. If you have to pick up the package at the post office, you'll be paying for sure. If it's dropped in your mailbox, often you'll get away with it if its a small value.

Duty - As above. Smaller stuff, you'll get away with Canada Post, but you will always pay with a courier. Duty is only charged on non US or Mexico manufactured goods. Currently, for auto parts made outside US or Mexico, duty is 8%.

Now, you live in Toronto, so consider this. You can have stuff sent to a US address in Niagara Falls NY. This place is awesome:

US Address

It costs next to nothing and it's so easy. You drive down, pick up your stuff and drive back. That eliminates any brokerage fees but the big advantage is shipping costs. For most suppliers, the cost of shipping within the US is a fraction of the cost of shipping to Canada. A lot of US suppliers have free US shipping. Taxes and duty will be same. Again, sometimes you luck out with the boarder guy and he just says "have a nice day" when you come back.

Looking at that table you posted If you ship express you dont pay those fee's? I know that is not true, I still get tagged no matter what service I use through them.

Just get your item shipped via USPS/Canada Post when ever possible. It has worked out for me perfectly. I still get the items cheaper than buying "local".

I have gotten the best pricing and service from Jomer at Fred Beans Nissan.

I stopped shipping parts to my house because it's just not worth it so now everything is shipped to various border mail centers. Not only do I save on shipping fees (take advantage of free shipping within the US) but I also save on brokerage fees. That alone makes this well worth it. When it comes to the border, sometimes I pay just tax or tax and duty or they just let me through no charge. At the same time I'll take advantage of the cheaper price clothing, gas and food while in the US picking up packages and the border is just over an hour away.

yup, I pretty much do what nogoodname does.

Border Centers are the best.

Often when you are bringing multiple things across, I'll often only claim one or two. I normally get away with just claiming one. Its normally the people who say "I'm not bringing anything" that get caught or checked

And lately, when I hit the border I mostly get asked about the car and let through, so thats awesome!

I'm sure there are a bunch in Michigan or Niagra which is close to you

Outside of that, see if they can use USPS, thats really the only other way to avoid it.

I wish I was closer to the boarder, it would be about 5-6 hour trip one way for us up in Edmonton.

Being in Edmonton, I take adavantage of the guys driving down on business etc to pick up small items or to "double" their orders to reduce shipping fees. It works out pretty good most of the time!

For those near the border or willing to go there. Check out kinek.com it's a must.

Thanks for the help guys, very informative.

I live in Richmond Hill, I'm going to have to think of creative ideas when I'm getting my Amuse kit.

I might lean towards a Motordyne E370 instead of Greddy Ti-C if I can save on duty...

On another note, I am quite offended with some of the vendors here, maybe the price they quoted are not final, I'm not familiar with buying stuff through vendors. They give me a quote for my KWV3s, way too expensive, I tell them I bought it locally for cheaper but am interested in exhaust systems from them, they respond by telling me they could've beat that and good luck on finding the exhaust without even returning a quote. What kind of service is this?