I’m ordering an assload of expensive stuff from the states, Phase, JGY, Nengun etc etc. And the prices arent too bad, but then when it gets here, i owe FedEx $100-$200 more.
Does that “Label as a Gift” thing even work?
Do some companies lower their displayed quoted price, so you dont have to pay too much?
Anyone got any tricks of doing this?
Free trade, my foot!
Only way is to get it shipped as a gift. However if it is a large shipment customs will figure you out, especially if it is labeled with company names.
Also I have sent stuff that was actually a gift, labeled a gift and still got nailed with customs fees.
Whatever you do don’t ship it USPS, they are holding stuff up at the border right now for rediculus amounts of time. I had a package take 6 weeks to get here from Texas and it was shipped priority 8-10 day to Canada.
Use Fedex or UPS if you don’t wanna wait months.
Andrew.
I’ve ordered enough shit using this and paid $0 to customs.
Biggest/heaviest thing was the Turbo and I paid nothing.
remeber when i shipped the seafoam?
Well you have to get the person sending it to break it down into intervals of around $50, then each $50 is assigned to a person, ie you, your mom, your dad, your cat, whatever, just put down a first name. On shipping you mark it as a gift, and explain what it is.
lol, like heres what i did. 12 bottles of seafoam.
3bottles for me,
3 for my mom
3 for my sister
and 3 for my brother, put an estimated value, and under desription i marked it as GIFT, automotive cleaner.
Didnt pay customs.
just simple $50 per person and dont lie about the product.
So one Greddy intake manifold.
1 runner per family member. Including my cat. :hsugh:
Good ideas though guys. Worth a shot i figure, but what happens if they do find out? The worst they can do is just charge me what they would anyways right?
you could also ship stuff as ‘samples’
Details? The company just marks the box as samples?
Fraud comes to mind but dunno.
Some companies will lower prices on invoices to reduce customs charges, I have a really big shipment coming in next week and the invoice is for a fraction of the actual cost…
This won’t eliminate customs costs entirely but will definately reduce them significantly.
If you lie it is a $5,000CAD fine and seizure of any good in the shipment.
IIRC.
And it’s a federal offence.
Not sure on the details, but someone mentioned to me that they get lots of their stuff marked as samples.
Warrentee replacement could work too I’d assume.
id like to see them prove that something isnt a gift to a family member.
But because the product is so much to begin with, i can see the problem. Idea number 2.
Get it shipped to a place in niagara falls NY, then go pick it up, drive it back. Get a PO box or something, be waiting there when it arrives.
I deal with this ALOT.
And there really is no ‘sure’ way of avoiding it. Its really a craps shoot.
But what I do is have the product labeled as replacement item - warranty claim -
Place the value under 100 and chances are they will let it slide.
The problem is customs can invoke a duty charge on almost anything (gift, warranty, 0 dollar item, etc.) because it is still technically being imported into the country. So sometimes you squeeze through sometimes you dont.
My thoughts on the gift - 0 dollar item is more often than not they dont work. Even worse they will stop the item hold onto it until the company that sent it comes back with a value for it. This can take a LONG time sometimes, trust me I know all too well.
Oh and yeah dont ship USPS or UPS, they have the worst brokers which means highest duty charges.
I believe in Private Sales you can get away with it.
But businesses in the States (or elsewhere) probablly won’t do the whole
GIFT and LOW ITEM VALUE thing.
They do the low item value for sure. It decreases their on paper income and the taxes they pay, why wouldn’t they reduce their profits if they have the money anyways?
My father uses this company:
US Adress
www.usaddress@adelphia.net
716.298.1822
3909 Whitmer rd.
Niagara Falls, NY
14305
They are located just off the I190 highway when you cross the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. Once you cross the border, it is less then 5 minutes away.
It is less then 30 mins from Bing’s place in St. Catherines.
My father has used them for years, then Bing was looking for something like this and now he uses them too.
The cost is $5.00 for each item shipped there, and 1 or 2 dollars for the phone call when the parsel arrives. (US cash obviously)
they are very nice people, just ask Bing, he has had them do a couple “favours” for him in the past.
The website is down currently, but I just called and they are working on it.
Hope this helps.
If you need any more info, or have questions, send me a PM.
Theo
you simply cannot have items shipped into Canada and not expect to pay customs. you may get lucky, but dont budget for luck.
anything with a value over $50 can be taxed.
being labelled as a gift means nothing.
even warranty claims can be taxed as the D2 warranty claims were for
me.
i will be trying to set up some sort of system where i could import for people but it would only be for orders exceeding $1500 usd or thereabouts.
alot of people are asking me to do it for wheels, that might be possible in the future.
it is just now that i work full time it is difficult
What about marking it as ‘Antique Auto Parts’ thats what we did where I used to work, no tax was charged as fas as I know (yes, I actually worked at an auto restoring place, no lies there)
Warantee Works wonders for me…
I think you’ll pay customs no matter what. It’s just depends on how much. For example, I paid $59CDN for my cat-back and springs when I got them from california. Mind you, the whole deal was for about $840USD and it was shipped through UPS. I received everything in 2 weeks or so.
But, my buddy that ordered a laptop which was about 900USD, paid $200CDN in customs…
I honestly don’t know how the calculate this out, but I’m pretty sure you’ll end up paying something when you ship stuff from the states…