[Quad]

Anyone bring in phones from US to Canada? I have some AKG's coming and am wondering what sort of DUTY to expect. Is it a crap shoot? I realize that GST and PST will be applied. They are coming in the regular mail.

 

[Zanth]

If by regular mail you should not be hit with much if anything. You may even avoid taxes. The typical brokerage fee for USPS/Canada Post is $5.00 CAD

That sure beats the $50+ fee from FedEX and UPS.

 

[dffman2001]

If the item is cheap, you might get away with nothing at all. If the item is declared under ~25 or so, they usually let it pass unless the guy had a bad day or something. Always, always ask the shipper if they can declare a lower value if they can. And NEVER ever go with UPS or fedex no matter how low you post. I got something that was actually about $20, they charged me $3 tax and $16 brokerage!

 

[DanT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dffman2001 And NEVER ever go with UPS or fedex no matter how low you post. I got something that was actually about $20, they charged me $3 tax and $16 brokerage!

Ya the last time I got UPS Total Package Value $41.53. Taxe: $6.24 Brokage Fee $30.84 Taxe on Borkage fee $2.00 . Total to be paid on reception $39.08 that not including the original shipping fee.

 

[HiWire]

I'm still waiting for the Alessandros that I ordered a week and a half ago. Hope they used a good brokerage... shipping across the border is still a major hassle.

 

[dffman2001]

I'm finding that increasingly so, that Canadian mail is taking longer and longer to arrive. Its quite embarrising actually, that we have a postal system that resembles one of a third world nation. Everything, absolutely everything, regarless if from US, Europe, or within Canada arrives late. And thats in the middle of the second biggest city in Canada...

 

[guppi]

Slightly offtopic: Japan->Canada
I like getting gifts from Audiocubes. I will definitely order there again.

 

[ricola_pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guppi Slightly offtopic: Japan->Canada I like getting gifts from Audiocubes. I will definitely order there again.

So getting them labelled as "gifts"

really works eh?

I gotta try that then.

 

[Jacques]

Like it has been said, it comes down to the carrier. Canada Post is the cheapest and a bit slow but not too bad. There should not be any duty charges other than a $5.00 fee and the GST. few times I had the package delivered straight to my mailbox.

The most expensive is UPS and unfortunately it is the one the US retailers tend to use the most. Their brokerage fees are horribly high (~$50.00). Purolator has some brokerage fees but they are more in the like ~$20.00.

The better shipping deals I had were from Audio Cubes in Japan. As for buying AKG cans, the better deals I had were from professional music stores. Any store that carries AKG or Sennheiser microphones I dealt with got me the headphones at a much better price than the HI-FI shops. Both, my K501 and my K240S came from local music stores. Most HI-FI shops do not keep a good inventory anyway.

Good luck.

 

[Quad]

The music stores in Vancouver did not stock the AKG's I wanted

did not think they could get them for sure and if so wanted about 300 more for them than I got them for (if the duty is not too bad).

Last time I ordered electronics from the US my package got to me in less than a week (by one day), a bit better than most letters do. I hope that optimism does not curse this package wih a one month arrival date

.

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacques There should not be any duty charges other than a $5.00 fee and the GST.

I believe if you live in certain provinces you also have to pay PST or in some cases the combined HST. Also if the item is not manufacturered in the U.S. it could be subject to duty as well.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I got my Shanling from Canada and had to pay like $80 or 90 bucks for the damn brokerage fee, it really sucked!

 

[elnero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by highflyin9 I got my Shanling from Canada and had to pay like $80 or 90 bucks for the damn brokerage fee, it really sucked!

What carrier did you use?

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

UPS

 

[Quad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by highflyin9 UPS

That was where you went wrong. The two postal services have an agreement to send the stuff straight through and send you a bill or COD duty with a small brokerage fee on the Canadian side at least.

The postal service has a spotty delivery record though. From the US there is some global priority methods that are very good but I am not sure if we have similar ones to go to the US. The global priorit ones get turned over to the Canadian Post Office's puralator division in my experience. In the past they later send me the bill.

I just was not sure if they charge duty on AKG phones coming to Canada since they are not made in the US and so do not fall under the free trade agreement.