Ordering Kilts and Canada Customs

[Presidential33]

I ordered a Sport Kilt with the pleats sewn down from Sport Kilt and I also ordered a heavyweight wool kilt from Stillwater.

For example, Stillwater ships using USPS Priority Mail, or in my case since I live in Canada, they ship using USPS International Priority Mail.

So my question is in regards to customs, since I will most likely have to pay duties and taxes, how much delay will this cause. Has anybody here had any issues with their package staying a customs for a long period of time? Do they treat Priority mail as a priority or does it fall in the same boat as the rest and will eventually be inspected when they get to it...?

I hear Canada Customs is the worst...

[ForresterModern]

Ever hear of NAFTA? North American Free Trade Agreement several years back (big deal here in the US due to fear of lost jobs to Mexico and Canada) was passed through congress and signed, I believe by Bill Clinton, and basically tore down the trade restrictions and tariff structures between the three North American countries, so no worries about US to Canada shipping tariffs.

All's good mate.

[hootstwo]

The only real concern when receiving packages from anywhere outside of Canada is the shipping method that is used. If the packages are sent USPS, you're in good shape and will pay a minimum of tax and brokerage, but if it's sent one of the parcel carriers (IE FedEx UPS) you could be in for a shock when you see how much extra they charge for brokerage.

I do a lot of shipping to and from the US and the differences can be astounding. I had two bows that are virtually identical shipped up from the states, one was shipped USPS, one UPS. The USPS one I owed $46 when it arrived, the one shipped UPS was $135 for the exact same item.

I generally only do business with folks in the US willing to ship USPS.

[Chas]

This has been discussed here before and I believe that you cannot avoid the tax, but the brokerage is a different matter. Two separate posters stated that they informed the carrier that they would pay the tax but not the brokerage. In both instances the goods were delivered albeit slightly delayed.

Regards

Chas

[wildrover]

USPS...my kilt is from Canada, no problems getting it to the US, shouldn't be any harder going the other way 'round. Do avoid UPS/FedEx tho.

[xena]

Ever hear of NAFTA? North American Free Trade Agreement several years back (big deal here in the US due to fear of lost jobs to Mexico and Canada) was passed through congress and signed, I believe by Bill Clinton, and basically tore down the trade restrictions and tariff structures between the three North American countries, so no worries about US to Canada shipping tariffs.

All's good mate.

Not quite. Ever hear of softwood lumber?

Tariffs and taxes get applied if it's over a certain amount. Then there's the brokerage fees on top of that. But, it seems that using USPS/Canada Post is definitely the cheaper (albeit slightly slower) option.

[kiltedwolfman]

There is the rare occasion when customs gets backlogged and they just tag everything and send it through without charging duty. This has happened to me twice and was a nice treat. When it happened I asked the post office why some got charged and others did not and thier reply was simple. Customs gets backed up and some fed up clerk says "screw it" tags everything and gets it out of the barn.

[xena]

Ahhh! That explains the inconsistency then! I thought it had to do with being over a certain amount or not. Thanks!

[Sylvain]

There shouldn't be any delay. You'll only have to pay the sales taxes. Even when I got a kilt form Scotland there wasn't much of a delay.

[Dixiecat]

Not quite. Ever hear of softwood lumber?

Haha. Saved me a post you did! I was thinking exactly that!

It's not just the product that needs declaring, it's also the materials used in the product. Fabric, buckles, where did they originate from. Some days you get lucky, some you don't.