General questions about border crossing

[Stevey87]

I've been looking at online stores for awhile now and it seems like dry goods are much cheaper in the states. I am going to spend about 400 to 800 CDN and get it shipped to WA US and I talked to a parcel holding place that holds stuff for like 5 bucks or something. They said a lot of Canadians do it. The problem is coming back to Canada. They tax a lot from what I heard. I used to cross borders to buy American lottos (the huge ones) and I never got searched by Canadian customs. I did get checked by the US customs tho. So this got me wondering.... whatever I tell the US customs, that info goes straight to the Canadian customs? hence Canadian customs never searching me.

Another question is what's allowed and how much and how much is the tax? Anyone have any experience with this?

[Veng68]

Just declare it....... at most you will pay 12% more.

I always declare and I rarely get asked to go pay..... eventhough I buy $2000+ in goods on a 12 hour trip.

12% is chump change compared to if they find it and you don't declare it. They will make you pay a heavier fine on the goods you tried to sneak across and they will impound your car.

Cheers,
Vic

[Veng68]

Corals & Live rock........... a no go since you need CITES.

Fish & equipment are ok (unless the fish are on CITES...... like Sea Horses).

Cheers,
Vic

[iansfishy]

Take it out of the packaging. Nope my friend gave this to me!!

[fishdude30]

I'd declare it. If they find you lied or didn't declare you risk loosing everything.

[fkshiu]

As Vic said the most you'll pay is GST/PST. With the exchange rate the way it is you're still way ahead. Besides being illegal, it's just not worth the risk for a few buck to not declare or lie about it.

I have PO boxes at both Pt. Roberts and Blaine and get stuff shipped there all the time. I brought a BBQ over just this summer. I can tell you from experience that they will let much more slide coming across a busier border like Peace Arch than at Pt. Roberts where all they get are Canadians picking stuff and coming back right away. Each border point has their own policy about "overages" and the amounts they'll allow before sending you in to pay taxes.

[Tom R]

Take it out of the packaging. Nope my friend gave this to me!!

If the price (including the tax and duty customs are going to charge at the border is still not worth while) then buy it in Canada and keep our LFS's alive.

Smuggling is smuggling

Tom R

[JPotter]

You will have to pay customs (if not manufactured in the USA) plus GST/PST, no brokerage as you are doing that yourself. Then you have to consider your vehicle costs (gas etc) and your time. If you put no value on your time and someone else pays for your vehicle then you just have entry costs to consider.
If you feel comfortable shop lifting then go for it and try to smuggle stuff across and hope you don't get caught...not my idea of a good time.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Unless they fill out the NAFTA forms, you'll get dinged duties.

Not worth the hassle, and not worth getting caught.

I remember crossing back into canada via Montana and saw a nice new Caddy sitting in the lot with a "Impounded" sign on it. The customes officer told me it was due to someone not "Telling the Truth" on their declarations.

Ken - BWA

[rynoe]

Declare it. 90% of the time if you are upfront and honest they let it slide anyways. Last week I brought an $1900 welder across and they let me go. If you get caught there are large fines plus you pay double on the duty.

[Stevey87]

I like the honest approach. I guess I'm going to have to do the calculation and see if it's cheaper buying in Canada. I like the idea of supporting Canadians too. It's just that some stuff are really hard to find in Canada or if I do find them they're crazy expensive.

[RuGlu6]

We are so used to being slaves !
I vote for freedom of movement and NO borders !