Canadian Members Buying from Members in the USA

renowilliams

I am just wonderring whether any Canadian members have made purchases from polk members in the USA. Specifically, was the package held up at customs for taxes etc... I am considerring making purchases but wanted to get feedback from others who have gone before me. I have herd that if the package is labled a birthday gift, that its not a problem.




Tim

janmike

Customs is purely random. About 10% of the items I have received from the USA get nailed. Labeling it as a gift is no guarantee that it will be exempt. There is no pattern 100% of the time.

williamgauci

Haven't purchased through CP, but having dealt with Ebay enough, the best way to avoid customs hassles is to just keep the stated value low. Works OK, but you pretty well mess up the insurance. Plus never cross boarder ship with UPS, they kill you on brokerage fee's.

Fongolio

Use USPS wherever possible. NOT UPS. Generaly if an item is valued less than $100.00 USD it doesn't get held up for customs. But not always. Labelling it as a gift will have no effect if the value of the item is deemed to be over a certain amount and subject to duty and gst. Undervalueing an item can have an adverse effect as well. If it's too undervalued some custom agent determines his own value and suddenly your screwed. It's a crap shoot at the best of times but valueing an item under $100.00 almost always gets it through with no hit.

Willow

I've had a mix of of all. Bought a HK receiver, no issues. Bought a set of cables, was hit at the border. Recently bought a Rotel 5ch amp and a sonance 2ch ended up paying 250$ in duties and brokerage fees. Mind you the total for both came close to 850$cad, so it depends on what you are buying and the cost.