The trick is to say it's a gift and the value is worth only $5 or so. You avoid the duty, brokerage, etc fees and the tax is minimal, if anything. The only problem is if it gets lost or damaged during shipping you're only covered for $5 of it.

 

We usually charge a flat $35.00 to ship USPS Express Mail to Canada (5 days), and that includes insurance. The cost ranges between $33 and $40, but I don't get the exact amount until I take packages to the post office. It just makes the paperwork easier. We trek to the post office (even though we have a UPS pickup at our front door) to save our customers the ridiculous brokerage fees!

As far as saying that it's a gift... I'm far too much of a wimp to start screwing with the government on both sides of the border! Heck, I don't even cheat on my taxes because I'd be too afraid of getting caught. I wouldn't even know HOW to... that's how lame I am. I'm much more of a play-by-the-rules kind of gal.

We have been toying around with the idea of finding a dealer in Canada, though, to take care of our Canadian customers. Nobody's jumped at it yet...

 

I'll sell them out of my basement

 

How big is your basement?

 

That tax must get old. I guess it kind of goes along with a recent political sticker I saw. "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it's free", lol. But hey I guess if you live there you are used to it. Glad to see at least our countries talk and have a relatively simple process to deal interstate.

 

I think part of the problem here is that we are confusing "Duties" with "Brokerage Fees". I know things sent UPS Next Day or Second Day Air are ridiculously expensive for the customer when they get their shipments. I've had people tell me as much as $100.00 in brokerage fees. Know how much is tax and how much is "handling charge" I'm not sure, but dang is that unfair.

If we could nail down 1 single carrier that was both reliable and inexpensive (as far as handling, anyway) then it would make life so much easier for everyone. As for taxes, no real way around that stuff.

Seriously though, if there are any companies interested handling Canadian distribution for us, then we'd be interested in setting something up.

 

Our postal and courier services here just plain sucks ! I send and receive allot of parcels from the US a day, you guys in the US can send us a package and pay for next day service, customs can still and usually does take 10-14 days to clear it for no other reason than being lazy.

You can also send 10 gryphons with USPS to us in the same box with the same paper work and same value put on it and 8 will come through with no extra charges and 2 will have duties and taxes on it. It is a crap shoot because most of the time they are full of it and do not even look at the package.

USP is the worst !! Not only do they steal and loose the most packages their fees are the best form of stealing ever seen !! $50 to stamp a paper another $35 to clear ect ect, I have not used them for my businesses or personal stuff for years now.

When sending to Canada USPS will take longer and you gamble as to whether or not you will pay fees but they are by far your best choice.

 

Hi Bill

First, I hope Corey is feeling a little better.

I guess I'm the one that sparked this thread from another one. I was concerned about duties and brokerage fees as I explained above. Still haven't heard where the unit is manufactured directly which would have affected the costs that Canadians would incur but from the responses that have related directly to costs, I think we can infer that the only after unit costs applied are the sales taxes and Canada Post's handling fee.

I agree with you and most others that while Canada Post and Canada Customs may be slow, it is still the least expensive way to go.

All of this said, for me it is moot. I placed my order with you by fax yesterday. . I can't wait to hook it up. I'll let everyone know once it arrives, how I made out in the added fees lottery.

 

Sorry about that. All units are manufactured in the US.

 

Hey Bill

Thanks for the info. Yep, as I thought, no duties under NAFTA.

With respect to a Canadian distributor, have you talked to the guys at Blackstock Ford (an affiliate over at fordtough.ca)? They seem like a pretty good group of guys.

Just a thought.

Ron

P.S. Looking forward to the Gryphon. Corey says you might be loading it this afternoon.

 

Good luck with that they will charge you the duties first and then make you jump through tons of paper works and forms to get your refund after saying it is a US product, trust me on that !

 

Ron,

Unit went out today. You should see it sometime next week.

As for Blackstock Ford, I talked to Matt at FordTough.ca and he said the same thing. I'm going to get in touch with them the first of the week and see if there's something we can work out. I'd really love to be able to get past the shipping hassles and fees that plague our Canadian customers. Thanks for the heads up on that, though. I appreciate it.

Take care.

 

I actually rent the top floor of a duplex so....non existantly big?

 

So technically, if you throw out the people downstairs you could actually have a HUGE basement.

 

Haha. Technically. As long as one of your units can make its way from the inventory in the basement to the dash of my truck for cheap, I'd be willing. haha.
I have the Edge and love it but it's the old version so I can't replace it for as cheap and school rules my pocketbook until April