Need advice for shipping to canada...help me you canadians

[dave2236]

Ok, I have been shipping games for quite awhile now. I also ship internationally. My question is

What is the cheapest for you guys as far as customs. Basically when I ship stuff to canada, what should I put on the customs forms?

I didn't know there was a diiference between merchandise and gift? I just thought customs went off the dolar amount.

Is a $5-10 gift the cheapest for you guys?

[briskbc]

I don't think marking it as a gift is a big deal. I have never had to pay any customs charges on items I have purchased off of eBay. I did not notice how the green customs label was marked.

I have only had to pay tax (Goods and Services Tax and Provincial Sales Tax = 14%) on stuff I have purchased directly from Atari Age and for the DP guide. This tax is levied when the item hits customs and is paid when the package is picked up. I have not seen any other charges apply wheterh it is a duty or a customs charge.

I guess the $5-$10 gift would be the cheapest although logic dictates there would than be no charge because you can't tax a gift. It presumes no financial transaction has taken place between the sender and the receiver.

I could be wrong on this. It's just my 2 cents.

[Mr-E_MaN]

I have never been charged any custom fees when the package is marked as a gift. When it is not marked as a gift, thats when customs goes mad. I have paid a lot of money for things that I bought for $5 on ebay. I have concidered leaving packages just because they wanted so much for the item.

[sniperCCJVQ]

I never had to pay extra fee for something i received from the US has a gift. Except one time when DP send me some NES games (declared has a gift), but i was obliged to pay an extra fee (which i still doesn't understand today).

The difference between gift and merchandise (i think) it's gift mean this it's not a "financial" transaction. When it's a merchandise, it's mean it comes from a real business.

When i send games i always declared them has "used videogames" and put an amount between 5 and 10 $

[badinsults]

I remember buying a brand new Teev Golf accessory from the US once... it only cost me $10 US plus shipping was another $10... customs then seized it, and I had to mail them a receit of the auction, and was charged $10 for customs. I haven't bought anything from the US since.

[leonk]

Depends on how the seller marks the box and / or ships, plays a big roll in the taxes paid.

If shipping via USPS, Canada post charges you 5$ just for looking at the package + 15% of the marked value, as long as item marked above 20$.

Any item marked below 20$ or is GIFT and marked below 50$ has no customs involved.

Mind you of course, if the item you ship has no insurance, then there is no reason to be accurate on the shipping amount.

This also works the otherway.. if I sell something on eBay to an american, and mark the item value at 100$, then the buyer will pay USPS broakrage fee + local state tax + fedaral tax.

Don't even get me started with shipping with FedEx or UPS!! 45-65$ brokerage fees ALONE!

[dave2236]

Since I don't insure most of my packages anyway. When I ship to Canada I mark it as a gift and put the price down as $5 or $10.

So I assume I am doing things the easiest way for you Canadian buyers.

Thanks for the help guys.