Importing Knives to Canada

Joined
Sep 19, 2000
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20
I was just wondering if anyone has anyone experience doing this. The last thing I imported from the States cost $85(USD) and when i shipped with UPS they billed me an extra $50(CDN) brokerage fee! I was wondering if anyone knows if you ship USPS if you get charged duty and taxes and if they amount to very high percentage of the order, what about any of the other shipping companies, Fedex etc. Any other tips for importing and not getting charged so much?

I'm only trying to import about $100-120 worth of knives but if I ship UPS I'm guaranteed to get hit with $60-70 extra.

Thanks in adavance,
Derek
 
USPS will get you hit with a duty, as expected you are selling goods they do need to get taxed, but does not tack on the high brokerage fees that UPS does.

There are ways to get around the duty for USPS (for small scale shipments) and they are not hard to figure out (just use some common sense) - but they are illegal .

-Cliff
 
I've had no problems using good old mail. There is a $5 fee in addition to any taxes, which I don't mind because I know it is going to worthwhile government expenditures like fountains in the prime minister's riding, and handouts to various 'friends'... oops, getting off topic here.
 
There is a $5 fee only if you have to go to the post office and pay the duty/GST for importing, and that's normally only if Customs inspects the contents. I generally don't get the extra insurance because that almost always ensures I pay the fee, duty & GST(but for $100 you might want to, to be safe). I haven't had any problems with any postal workers 'borrowing' knives, so far. If the package is small enough my postman delivers right to my door, no taxes or duty. Also if I am buying from an individual, not a company, I ask them to declare the item as 'used cutlery' or 'camping tool' or something else that doesn't trigger any alarms, like KNIFE, DAGGER, etc. I am not saying I lie to Customs, I only tell them as little as possible. BTW these have been my experiences and I am NOT suggesting you use them to avoid paying taxes and duty or import questionable items. CYA
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Dale C. Tipert aka 'wyrm'
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UPS ground charges a whopping brokerage charge plus gst plus pst plus shipping. I hate them. UPS air doesn't charge brokerage but the more expensive shipping charge brings it up to about the same. Fedex and Purolater are better. You get charged a brokerage through PBB, but there's no comparison - it's much less.
It isn't that tough to mail and avoid exorbitant charges, but insurance can be a problem.
Shipping anything across the border is a huge pain,
 
Thanks, everyone!

I'll ship with USPS and hopefully not get charged for much. I may try using some of the tips for getting charged a bit less
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Derek
 
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