At 01:00 PM 11/03/2009 -0400, Steven Maasland wrote:
>There has been a bit of misinformation given in earlier posts that could
>lead to costly mistakes.
>
>ALL CR-list time period bicycle items, whether new or used, are subject
>to duties. This is inescapable! Luckily for many of us, the post office
>rarely if ever collects the duty due on small packages shipped through
>the mail. I suppose that the treasury and the post office have decided
>that the cost of collecting the duty isn't sufficiently cost effective.
>Couriers on the other hand, with UPS at the head of the class,
>invariably do collect the duty, tacking on a nominal brokerage fee
>(generally something like $ 5.50 or 1% of the item value).
<snip>
Steve, that's an extermely useful post and explains just about everything. It applies in Canada as well as the U.S. Personally, I've seldom been charged any duty on old bike parts coming into Canada from the U.S. or Europe. But that's probably because the stuff was coming from individuals, not businesses. However, buying stuff like computer memory from the U.S. is a different story and it can end up costing me double or more, usually because of inflated shipping charges and mandatory brokerage fees by Canada Post or UPS. The scruffier and more amateurish a parcel looks, the more likely it is to slip under the radar. Sometimes packing and addressing an item very professionally ends up costing the recipient.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada