Has anyone in the States bought from MEC?

[teawoman]

I've had stuff shipped from the States and had to pay duty too. (I'm Canuck as well) Not every time, but sometimes. I always thought it depended on how much you paid for the goods themselves.

I go to MEC regularly...their stuff is pretty good!

Sorry, I guess I'm not really answering the question...

[Possegal]

Yeah, I speak only from the experience of mailing things from my US home to that of my Canadian cousins. And I can say I often find no rhyme or reason to how things happen. But that now that I always value what I ship at $20 or less, no one has had to pay anything on their end.

I also did a little googling for answers, but make no claim that things won't still have no rhyme or reason to them.

[Grog]

To the Original Poster:

If your items are made in Canada, there should be no duty (although read below for caveat). If they are made elsewhere, you'll have to find the info on the USA gov. web site, good luck! And then again there's a good chance that you won't pay duty at all.

You can also call MEC, maybe they know?


Re: KelownaGirl's question:

Normally I have had to pay the carrier, although I've had a package shipped through FedEx for which I received a bill later.

For clothing item made-out-of-NAFTA zone, the Canadian duty is 18%, + GST + PST (if it applies). The duty is pretty high in this case because there is a significant garment industry in Canada. On some items, however, like cameras, there is no duty (no Canadian camera industry to speak of).

However, in practice I have occasionally been taxed even if the items were made in the USA because the customs agent did not bother checking. (Ibex wool items come to mind.) You can always try to contest the charge... but the two times I did (for different reasons), I never heard back from the form I sent them.

Some merchants - including Ibex - have a GST number and take care of that when you make the purchase, and the package flies through customs. I wish TeamEstrogen did that, actually. It would take the guesswork out of ordering...

[buddha_bellies]

To the Original Poster:

If your items are made in Canada, there should be no duty (although read below for caveat). If they are made elsewhere, you'll have to find the info on the USA gov. web site, good luck! And then again there's a good chance that you won't pay duty at all.

You can also call MEC, maybe they know?


Re: KelownaGirl's question:

Normally I have had to pay the carrier, although I've had a package shipped through FedEx for which I received a bill later.

For clothing item made-out-of-NAFTA zone, the Canadian duty is 18%, + GST + PST (if it applies). The duty is pretty high in this case because there is a significant garment industry in Canada. On some items, however, like cameras, there is no duty (no Canadian camera industry to speak of).

However, in practice I have occasionally been taxed even if the items were made in the USA because the customs agent did not bother checking. (Ibex wool items come to mind.) You can always try to contest the charge... but the two times I did (for different reasons), I never heard back from the form I sent them.

Some merchants - including Ibex - have a GST number and take care of that when you make the purchase, and the package flies through customs. I wish TeamEstrogen did that, actually. It would take the guesswork out of ordering...

Grog: You might want your packages shipped via US Postal. For whatever reasons, Custom usually let pacels go w/o much hassel if it's shipped by regular post. But couriers such as FedEx has a custom brokage firm that does nothing but calulate duty. It's sad but true.

[Grog]

Grog: You might want your packages shipped via US Postal. For whatever reasons, Custom usually let pacels go w/o much hassel if it's shipped by regular post. But couriers such as FedEx has a custom brokage firm that does nothing but calulate duty. It's sad but true.

Not always, unfortunately. I've paid duty on USPS packages, FedEx packages, and the horrendous $60 fee for brokering on a UPS package (never again). I'd say it's about 50/50 for USPS packages.

I know it's weird, but I'm not opposed to paying the duty anyway. Of course, I'm happy if I don't have to, but if I do, that's life. I only buy online what I cannot find in a store, and I happily hope that those few bucks I pay as duty and tax will add up to fund public services like health and education. (My thinking is a bit less naively simple than that, but it boils down to that.) It's not like I'm buying groceries or something that responds to a very basic need. If I can't afford to pay duty/tax on an item, maybe I don't need it that much, and I should have less "stuff" anyway...