Hi lexvid,
Being in Ontario, did you get charged any duty when you ordered from Monoprice. I need some cables and a digital coax/optical converter. The converter is at Monoprice for US$11, while at "The Source", it's CAN$50! Even with exchange and shipping, I'd still be way ahead. The only question mark is duty...
Thanks, in advance.
All electronics from any country are duty-free to Canada.
Federal Sales Tax (GST) of 5% is due on all orders, however if the value is under $20 and it is sent via mail, it is waived, so it will be GST free and no brokerage fees either. Occasionally higher value items will be delivered without any GST due, but don't count on it.
You may have to pay a brokerage fee. The brokerage fee will be charged for any disbursement on your behalf by the shipper, thus even a duty free item with a GST due of even a few pennies will incur a brokerage fee because the shipper pays it on your behalf when it crosses the border in bond.
UPS claims they must pay the broker and have nothing to do with their higher-than-everyone-including-every-other-broker-in-Canada fee, but what they won't tell you is the Broker is a 100% owned subsidiary that only handles UPS shipments, so they do end up pocketing the profit, despite the protests that it has nothing to do with them.
Generally speaking, UPS is the worst choice for shipments to Canada; any cost savings that may exist will evaporate and then some when they add their brokerage fee. USPS is by far the cheapest, because Canada Post charges the flat $8 fee. USPS Priority International is a good choice for most items (insurance available, limited tracking) while USPS Global Express and USPS Express Guaranteed have full tracking ability and will be delivered via Canada Post. (If there are any US resellers reading this, be aware that a very large number of Canadians will first check your website to see if you ship only via UPS, and if you do, the browser window closes and they go shopping elsewhere. In the past year or so many of your competitors have clued into this and now offer USPS as well as UPS options ... Monoprice is an obvious example. A year ago they were UPS only).
Some items that would normally be delivered by Canada Post (eg heavy, oversize items shipped via USPS) may be delivered by Purolator instead.
Premium shipping methods from companies like UPS, FedEx, DHS, etc (ie other than ground) may include the brokerage fee; check the US website of the shipper to be sure, because shippers are constantly changing the service levels and what is included. FedEx will still charge you $10 even if brokerage is included in the service level; they separate brokerage and collection into two separate fees.
If you want to avoid the brokerage fee (examples: $8 Canada Post; i.e. USPS from the US; FedEx charging quite a bit more than that and UPS starts at $40, and goes up, depending on the value) it's easy to broker the shipment yourself.
All you need is a detailed itemized invoice (quantity, description, unit price, subtotal, shipping fee, total). Canada Customs and Revenue Agency accepts any form of invoice, including a printout of a simple eMail. Get the shipping documents from the shipper (phone them to make sure they're ready when you arrive) and take that to the local customs office (they're everywhere) along with your invoice. Pay the GST and any duties, if applicable, drop the paperwork back to the shipper, and you're done. Don't wait forever; if it crosses before you show up, too late.
If you order from vendors that have a GST number, there is no duties due, no GST due, and no brokerage fee due for shipments of any value, via any shipper to Canada. Although few US audio vendors bother (which is a shame ... they would clean up with orders from Canada) it's very common for other kinds of resellers based in the US to do so, e.g. clothing retailers (Land's End, Cabelas, etc).
