sudomod

tinkerBOY wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:23 pm

Do you usually pay additional taxes at the Post Office when buying from other countries? I shipped two GBZ controller boards worth $22 to Canada last year in which the buyer has to pickup at the Post Office and was informed to pay $14 tax. Isn't that too high? Is it normal?

rodocop wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:31 am

tinkerBOY wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:23 pm

Do you usually pay additional taxes at the Post Office when buying from other countries? I shipped two GBZ controller boards worth $22 to Canada last year in which the buyer has to pickup at the Post Office and was informed to pay $14 tax. Isn't that too high? Is it normal?

I did not have to pay any extra tax or customs fees on the one board you sent me (to Saskatchewan, Canada), could be different based on province? I don't remember did you declare it as a gift or a commodity?

ICMF wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:06 pm

Parcels under $20 in value are exempt from taxes.

Parcels over $20 in value are subject to federal and provincial income taxes. The specific amount will vary from province to province.

Parcels that are subject to duties or taxes are also subject to a $10 processing fee from Canada Post - basically, they charge a flat rate fee to cover the screening costs from Customs.

So $14 on a $22 parcel isn't terribly shocking. It's not very common to get dinged for parcels that are that marginal - usually they go after higher value stuff - but it happens.

You could try to get around it by marking the parcel as a gift, as those are exempt to $60, or by marking the value under $20. Although both those options are technically illegal, and under declaring the value means you're screwed on a refund if the parcel gets lost.

And as mentioned, most courier services will charge even higher processing fees, and will typically add their own brokerage charges as well. So it would have been much worse if you'd sent it via DHL, FedEx or UPS.