[buffalowings]

guys, I'm about to send a NIB westone 3 to a head-fier in canada with usps priority, should i insure the package? if so, would the recipient be hit by a huge customs fee or tax? what should i do in this situation
 
thanks
 
james

 

[JamesMcProgger]

I have heard really terrible stories about shipping in and out of canada (customs and fees and alikes)
 
cant you get them in illegally? ... Canadias seems to be fond to headFi, someone should know.

 

[monoglycer]

In general there are two things you can do.
 
1) Risk losing the package (Canada post has been reliable for me and hasn't lost anything yet) and mark customs as gift for under $20 to avoid fees (note you cannot insure this).
 
2) Insure the total price and the buyer gets knocked with custom fees.
 
Ask the buyer what they want, either to risk losing it but save money (1), or to play it safe and pay ~$50 in taxes (2)

 

[JamesMcProgger]

50$ in taxes?
that is about the same as for shipping from south america to the US ...
 
btw never occurred to ne the idea of asking the seller to print receipts for under 20$ to avoid customs :O

 

[tzhuge]

I'm a Canadian... and in general we do not get hit with customs fees. It's a very common misunderstanding. What actually happens is that we get charged sales tax...
 
The other charge that comes up when dealing with courier companies is the brokerage... which can be quite unreasonable. This is not an issue when using USPS.
 
The only time I actually got hit with customs charges was when I ordered a leather ipod case from Venezuela...
 
In general I think you should just declare the value properly. Unless it is a very expensive item, the sales tax is not much of an issue.

 

[Yoga Flame]

Yup, it should be fine using USPS. The tax itself is no big deal, but UPS/Fedex add their own brokerage fee on top and hold your package hostage at your door unless you pay up.
 
Also, commercial goods under $20, or gifts under $60 are exempt from tax/duties. Though sometimes simply checking a box that says "gift" may not be enough to convince them that it is really a gift.