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Rank: Airborne Ranger
Joined: 1/14/2009
Posts: 173
Location: The Great White North, eh?
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Hi,since the BA cart is offline,I want to order from minifigforlife,and I was wondering when shipping to Canada,are there any duties or taxes?I actually converted the currency into Canadian dollars from GBP,and it's cheaper than if I order straight from Will.So could you,Andy,or any other international customer who,s ordered from Andy before,answer my question ASAP?
"Mission report: Michael invaded Atlantis, tried to blow it up, we stopped him. End of report."-Ronon Dex from Stargate AtlantisSquad Leader of A-5-2 Join Alpha Company today! My Flickr. <-------- Click the links please! Favourite BrickArm: M4 Carbine
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Rank: Reseller
Joined: 9/17/2007
Posts: 109
Location: United Kingdom
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I'm afraid I cannot answer your question concerning taxes in your country. Further to this point, and in no way directed at the original poster, I will always put the correct order value on the customs form. I will not ever fabricate this amount or state that it is a gift or samples, no matter how nicely I am asked. As for it being cheaper, per item it is not cheaper. E,g. a $1 weapon from Brickarms will cost you 1.09 Canadian Dollars, but a 65p weapon from Minifigforlife will cost you 1.16 Canadian Dollars. You may save more money on postage to Canada from the US, but that is probably because postage from the UK is still relatively inexpensive for light weight orders.
www.minifigforlife.com - UK Official Reseller of Brickarms.com weapons
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Rank: Airborne Ranger
Joined: 1/14/2009
Posts: 173
Location: The Great White North, eh?
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Minifigforlife wrote:As for it being cheaper, per item it is not cheaper.
E,g. a $1 weapon from Brickarms will cost you 1.09 Canadian Dollars, but a 65p weapon from Minifigforlife will cost you 1.16 Canadian Dollars.
You may save more money on postage to Canada from the US, but that is probably because postage from the UK is still relatively inexpensive for light weight orders.
Well,that's what I meant.The shipping in cheaper (about 2GBP) from you than it is from Will ($13USD),so I save more money.I calculated my order from GBP to Canadian Dollars and it was $16.76 (give or take 1 or 2 cents,my memory isn't perfect!) and when I put the same items in Will's cart it was $24 USD,including shipping,but I didn't bother calculating that as I know that the US Dollar is stronger than the Canadian Dollar.So,if I ordered from Will,it would have been about $35 CND,but if I order from you,it's $16.76 CND.I understand that the individual items are more expensive,but only by a few cents,and your shipping is cheaper by a few dollars.I'm pretty sure I'll be saving money unless my order is very large,but right now my order is small,so I'm saving money.My post has gone way off topic,and the question has been answered.I figure that is there's no duty or tax when I order from Will (I live in Canada) then there won't be any from you.
"Mission report: Michael invaded Atlantis, tried to blow it up, we stopped him. End of report."-Ronon Dex from Stargate AtlantisSquad Leader of A-5-2 Join Alpha Company today! My Flickr. <-------- Click the links please! Favourite BrickArm: M4 Carbine
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Rank: Official Spokesman
Joined: 9/13/2007
Posts: 4,420
Location: Chicago
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I order from many, many different international sellers, and have never had an issues with duties or taxes. As far as I am aware, only shipments made within a country or the European Union are subject to such extra costs (such as VAT and the like).
"... and that's when the C.H.U.D.s came at me" Flickr
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Rank: Specialist
Joined: 9/15/2007
Posts: 296
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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From reading on other message boards my impression is that Canada is actually among the countries with stricter rules regarding import taxes on shipments from other countries. Small letters with BrickArms might not be as likely to be checked as bigger packages but still I think you might want to look up the rules regarding import taxes before ordering. For Denmark import taxes are added to shipments of merchandise valued over $15, often it's cheaper to put in several small orders rather than have to pay the fee associated with being charged import taxes on one big order.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 15
Location: The Elsinore Brewery, Canada Eh!
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Corner Gas Man wrote:Hi,since the BA cart is offline,I want to order from minifigforlife,and I was wondering when shipping to Canada,are there any duties or taxes?I actually converted the currency into Canadian dollars from GBP,and it's cheaper than if I order straight from Will.So could you,Andy,or any other international customer who,s ordered from Andy before,answer my question ASAP?
Yes there are duties that can be charged to Canadians who import toys into the country. The general rule of thumb is: "declared value of less than $20.00 means no duties are charged". "declared value of more than $20.00 means duties can be charged". To date I have had 3 Lego or custom Lego item orders hit with taxes with the declared values of- $21.00, $40.00 and $60.00. I must also mention that I have had shipments with declared values of over $200.00 come through with no taxes added. It all really depends on the Canada Customs agent who is inspecting your package. Hope this info helps. Rumrunner.
Dirty old pirate says "Why does a ninja always bring a sword to a cannon fight"?
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Rank: Airborne Ranger
Joined: 7/16/2008
Posts: 900
Location: Indiana
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RUMRUNNER wrote:The general rule of thumb is Is it the same way for the US?
I am running a custom lego blog that can be found here.Feel free to check it out! In many years there is one life, In one life there are many years
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Rank: Member
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 15
Location: The Elsinore Brewery, Canada Eh!
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No, importing toys into the United States is tax and duty free. The rules I mentioned are for Canada but many other countries have similar guidleines.
Dirty old pirate says "Why does a ninja always bring a sword to a cannon fight"?
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Rank: Airborne Ranger
Joined: 1/14/2009
Posts: 173
Location: The Great White North, eh?
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RUMRUNNER wrote:Yes there are duties that can be charged to Canadians who import toys into the country. So, what if my order is over $20.00 when postage is added,but not if it isn't?Also,I've ordered from the US before (i.e. Will) and there haven't been any import taxes,but he declares the package as a gift/toy sample.I guess Andy doesn't declare it as a gift,so maybe there will be duties?Anyways,thanks for your help,but if you know the answers to my other questions could you please answer them?Plus,this is delievered by regualar mail,by a Mail Carrier,who walks,not by a postal worker who drives around in a van delievering large packages in boxes.
"Mission report: Michael invaded Atlantis, tried to blow it up, we stopped him. End of report."-Ronon Dex from Stargate AtlantisSquad Leader of A-5-2 Join Alpha Company today! My Flickr. <-------- Click the links please! Favourite BrickArm: M4 Carbine
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Rank: Member
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 15
Location: The Elsinore Brewery, Canada Eh!
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$20.00 limit is for the declared value of the contents of the package (the cost of postage has nothing to do with it). $19.99 declared value + $3.00 postage means it is still tax free.
Type of mail carrier has nothing to do with the taxes. It is Canada Customs that inspects the packages and decides whether duty is applicable or not before they are delivered by whatever means of delivery.
So you know, if you have a package that is hit with duty the package will be held at your local post office and you will receive a note in your mailbox stating that you have a package that must be picked up in person. When you go to the post office you must show proper identification and then you will be told the duty total that you must pay before they will release your package to you.
BTW, requesting someone to declare an item as a gift or sending an item through the mail marked gift that isn't is considered mail fraud and is taken very seriously in many countries including Canada and the United States.
Dirty old pirate says "Why does a ninja always bring a sword to a cannon fight"?
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/1/2009
Posts: 35
Location: Newfoundland
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Just to clarify Rum's last point, there wouldn't be any duty charged to a Brickarms order, as they are manufactured in North America. However, you may be charged sales tax (GST or HST depending on where you live) on the declared value of the package, plus a five dollar customs brokerage fee charged by Canada Post.
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Rank: Airborne Ranger
Joined: 1/14/2009
Posts: 173
Location: The Great White North, eh?
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Well, my order arrived about 3 weeks ago,and there weren't any import taxes.
"Mission report: Michael invaded Atlantis, tried to blow it up, we stopped him. End of report."-Ronon Dex from Stargate AtlantisSquad Leader of A-5-2 Join Alpha Company today! My Flickr. <-------- Click the links please! Favourite BrickArm: M4 Carbine
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