i'm a patriotic canadian but..THIEVES!

[matt4x4]

I have to disagree, items under 60 from the usa shipped by a legitimate seller not as a "gift" are still subject to duties on them, recently i bought 45 dollars worth of goods, it cost me an extra 12 dollars in duties before it was released to me. I don't like buying anything from the USA because of the shipping issues, sometimes you get lucky and don't get nailed, other times it made the whole attempt at saving some money pointless AND on top of it you have to wait for the item to arrive - sometimes upwards of 3 weeks because of customs.

[RavenNS]

I agree with the above post;
I find that Duty is generally paid on items over $20... sometimes you get lucky & no duties on sums higher than that... most of the time you'll end up paying something.
USPS also charges a $5 customs brokerage fee... The couriers charge way more for that. Recently had a $65 customs brokerage fee from UPS!

What makes me crazy is having to pay HST ( $15% harmonized sales tax) on the customs brokerage fee part of the duty ( as well as the 12.5%duty)

I always attempt to get a seller to under-value the declared value if possible. I'm not saying write "gift" or anything, just put a reasonable amount for declaration.... ( & please not more then i paid for it!!!)
some sellers actually Inflate the cost because they want to insure it for a high dollar amount