Canadian Customs/Duty and US Suppliers

[pixelObsession]

I have a coulple questions for fellow Canadian builders before I start placing orders.

Have you ever gotten gouged with extra duty/customs charges when ordering form US parts suppliers (mainly GGG and Ultimarc) ?

If so, are any savings by ordering south of the border offset by this, and I might as well order within Canada (Playdium/Starburst, Canadian Joy... etc)

Any super secret Canadian suppliers that aren't easily found via the Google?

Thanks!

[brad808]

http://www.multicade.ca/ he's a good guy I've gotten from a few times.

I've also been screwed on duty from the states. I recall being hit pretty hard on a few orders. It all depends on dollar amount though.

PS. Ultimarc is in UK

Sent from my Nexus 4

[BobA]

I have never paid more than about $10 for duty and tax and most of the time nothing.  I usually keep my orders in the $100 range.   NEVER NEVER get anything sent UPS from the US to Canada.  They hit you with a 30 or 40 dollar handling fee for customs even thou they do not have to do anything.

[Cynicaster]

I ordered all my parts from the US and got hit with no fees to speak of.  Shipping can be much higher though.   

[BadMouth]

I have never paid more than about $10 for duty and tax and most of the time nothing.  I usually keep my orders in the $100 range.   NEVER NEVER get anything sent UPS from the US to Canada.  They hit you with a 30 or 40 dollar handling fee for customs even thou they do not have to do anything.

Don't want anyone to miss that.
I'm not in Canada, but used to sell stuff on ebay and learned this pretty quick.

[shponglefan]

The trick is to get things shipped via USPS (United States Parcel Service).  At worst, you might get hit with a $5 handling fee + GST/HST.  And ditto what BobA said.  Never ship via UPS.  Made that mistake once ordering from Happ.  Shipping + brokerage fees ended up equaling the cost of the parts.

Personally I've ordered from GGG, Ultimarc and T-Molding.com without issues.  Sometimes things get through without the handling fee/HST, other times I get hit with them.  I've also ordered from Canadian Joysticks.  I find their shipping a bit high to be honest, although they do have to send things all the way across the country, so maybe that's part of it...

[ids]

NEVER NEVER get anything sent UPS from the US to Canada.

Don't want anyone to miss that.

ditto

[MonMotha]

BTW, Fedex has similarly outrageous "handling" charges for clearing USA to Canadian customs for you, at least according to the fee schedule I last saw.

Just use the postal service, and you'll be fine.  I really don't know what people have against USPS, but they seem to do a decent job and have very good rates.  They'll just hand it off the Canda Post (or whatever Canda's postal service is called) once it's across the border.

[pixelObsession]

Duely noted, thanks for sharing.  I'm in no rush, so USPS and Canada Post sounds about right to me.

[shponglefan]

One more thing, if you are ordering from Ultimarc, they ship via DHL.  I've had no issues (i.e. surprise fees) with them.

[Eddie_Brock]

To sum up what the others have said, and from my own experience, is this:

If at all possible, avoid using a courier to send your items. Try and use USPS (United States Postal Service) for shipping, which in turn will have Canada Post deliver it for you once it crosses the border.
USPS usually includes and brokerage fees into the shipping, where as couriers seem to make a fortune off brokerage, customs and duty fees.

If you're not sure, its usually worth an email to the seller asking / requesting shipping via USPS on their end.

[MonMotha]

Hah, I just noticed that I somehow managed to omit one of the 'a's in "Canada" repeatedly in my post above.  Dunno how that happened...

...eh?