Are you still buying in the USA? Why?

[lockrookie]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

Don't get things shipped by courier and you don't pay brokerage or duty, most times not even taxes. I buy things from the US and over seas often and just get it sent via USPS or regular air mail and have only occasionally had to pay GST but never any of the other charges you list. Maybe from a business perspective when you are buying pallets of stuff you can't avoid some of these charges but a regular consumer can. It usually takes 2-3 weeks this way but it's much cheaper. I even have over seas merchants ask me what I want them to declare the value of the merchandise is to lower the potential GST costs on my end. I really don't know how customs decides when to charge GST or not but so far I only pay it 1 in 10 purchases.

Wife s from the us if you mail the package and keep the items under a 60 dollar value you can get away with no duty...

Kind you he parents shipped up clothes she left in by and. THey charged us 40 dollars for used clothing we already owned

Sent from a pineapple under the sea...

[Mike-fish]

with customs it's practically whose hands touch it. I've brought stuff in from the states 2 packages (to big and heavy to make it one) both with identical contents and such. shipped from same person (and address) same day to the same address on the same day. both shipped the same way too. one had a 20$ fee on it and the other one no charge.

[mike31154]

I imagine it boils down to the luck of the draw in many cases for the smaller, lower cost items. If you consider the volume of goods coming in & going out of the country, customs can't possibly screen every single item. I'm sure much of it is xrayed to help them decide what gets scrutinized more closely.

I've been ordering various items in small batches from Asia via eBay for a DIY LED lighting build since January & have yet to pay any duty or brokerage. I made sure the items I purchased had free or minimal shipping costs, so no surprises. All the orders were under the $50 mark with 2 exceptions & even they were under $100. Funny thing though, although most items entered through Van, one order went all the way to Mississauga for customs processing before making it's way to Vernon. Go figure.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by bikkon

I have a duty for you.. I have duty for check you! no way.... May be right here something else.. I already owned and used charge $ 30.!

These bots are getting dumber... or is it just me?