--> CUSTOMS: Everything You Didn't Want to Know

[Hammerhead]

Get a receipt. If you are going to fake a receipt, at least try hard and make it believable.

You're on the hook for HST.

Of the many times we've crossed the border with games, I can count on my 1 hand thenumber of times I've actually paid.

Just prepare to pay the HST when you come back over, and its no hassle at all.

So you're buying a game off Craigslist, its a cash only transaction - what does the "receipt" look like?

[leonk]

Do you know how large an overseas shipping container is?

Yes I do. My dad is a truck driver, and I've been to the CN/CP yards many times as a kid, seeing those containers lift right off his flat bed. These same containers go through the US/Canada border thousands of times every day as well.. I doubt that those border inspectors charge 1000$+ per inspection.

[cooke]

Get a receipt. If you are going to fake a receipt, at least try hard and make it believable.

You're on the hook for HST.

Of the many times we've crossed the border with games, I can count on my 1 hand thenumber of times I've actually paid.

Just prepare to pay the HST when you come back over, and its no hassle at all.

So you're buying a game off Craigslist, its a cash only transaction - what does the "receipt" look like?

I've had receipts handwritten in crayon on a napkin before. Customs doesn't care.

[Subpacket]

Get a receipt. If you are going to fake a receipt, at least try hard and make it believable.

You're on the hook for HST.

Of the many times we've crossed the border with games, I can count on my 1 hand thenumber of times I've actually paid.

Just prepare to pay the HST when you come back over, and its no hassle at all.

So you're buying a game off Craigslist, its a cash only transaction - what does the "receipt" look like?

Received from hammerhead $100 for some shitty game. Signed Epsteins Mother. 212-555-1212

[Subpacket]

Do you know how large an overseas shipping container is?

Yes I do. My dad is a truck driver, and I've been to the CN/CP yards many times as a kid, seeing those containers lift right off his flat bed. These same containers go through the US/Canada border thousands of times every day as well.. I doubt that those border inspectors charge 1000$+ per inspection.

Overseas shipping containers are 8x8x20 or 8x8x40.

Border gaurds don't charge to do the inspection, a devanning warehouse does. Inspections can run up to $4000. You have to pay to have the container
- taken to a devanning warehouse (Under customs supervision)
- to have all the goods in the container removed, and set in such a way that the contents can be inspected. (easy if your shipping a container of tractors.. not so it its a container of flash memory.
- have the items then repackaged
- have the container returned

So yes, the fees can be substantial.

[Subpacket]

holy crap ... talk about the tax man taking a bite out of business!!

No wonder candy cabs imported into Canada are so expensive! A machine that can be had for the cost of a 24 pack of beer in Japan, sells for 700$+ in Canada!!

And the fee for inspecting containers (1000$+) how fair is that? Imagine if coming back into Canada from the US, if your car gets randomly selected for an inspection, you have to pay a 150$ inspection fee! Don't we pay enough in custom/HST fees to get these inspectors employed? Why the extra unfair fee?

I'd take $1000 to inspect a container anyday.
Its a labour intensive process to inspect a container. But you are mixing up 2 different streams, commercial and personal.

CUSTOMS officers will inspect your car in the personal stream.
A devanning warehouse tears down containers in the commercial stream.

[leonk]

I'd take $1000 to inspect a container anyday.
Its a labour intensive process to inspect a container. But you are mixing up 2 different streams, commercial and personal.

CUSTOMS officers will inspect your car in the personal stream.
A devanning warehouse tears down containers in the commercial stream.

So customs outsources their job to a devanning warehouse? Talk about lots of hands in the cookie jar .. and guess who get to pay for all those hands? Once again, the end consumer.

[leonk]

Overseas shipping containers are 8x8x20 or 8x8x40.

I could swear the typical (inner province) containers/tailers he hauls are longer than 40 feet (for some reason ~53-58 feet sticks to mind) But then again these are not the type that can detach from flat bed and be lifted by the crane and stack onto the train.

[Subpacket]

I'd take $1000 to inspect a container anyday.
Its a labour intensive process to inspect a container. But you are mixing up 2 different streams, commercial and personal.

CUSTOMS officers will inspect your car in the personal stream.
A devanning warehouse tears down containers in the commercial stream.

So customs outsources their job to a devanning warehouse? Talk about lots of hands in the cookie jar .. and guess who get to pay for all those hands? Once again, the end consumer.

So the alternative is not to inspect any container at all that comes into the country?

If a container is marked to be inspected, which can occur because
- its coming from a high risk country
- the importer has a high risk history on them
- the importer has no historical information
- The paperwork is a mess, contains vague classification like "parts" or 'scrap metal'
- the container is randomly selected, or a targeted selection is made.

then customs will have the container devanned. The Importer has to pick up the tab for it - as its the importers responsibility to ensure that the goods are available for inspection at the time of importation.

Its not like there is some conspiracy to screw over every importer.

When customs decides to inspect a shipment, should they just open the back doors, and dump it on the dock, or on 401 if its crossing at the border? Even when you bring your car over, they set aside a spot to inspect your cars. Commercial stream is similar, there are areas where devanning can occur under customs supervision. They are not oursourcing their job. Their job is to inspect the cargo. It is not to unpack a container.

I have no idea on the whole 'cookie jar' you're pointing to.

[Subpacket]

Overseas shipping containers are 8x8x20 or 8x8x40.

I could swear the typical (inner province) containers/tailers he hauls are longer than 40 feet (for some reason ~53-58 feet sticks to mind) But then again these are not the type that can detach from flat bed and be lifted by the crane and stack onto the train.

Its not nice to swear. Ray's original question was on overseas containers.

Typical overseas are the dims provided

The ones that are intermodal (rail to transport, etc) can go from 40-53 feet.

[b1buwg97]

Signed Epsteins Mother. 212-555-1212

Bwahahahaha

[Subpacket]

Hey

[Steve Works]

AWESOME INFO. this should be stickied, but i believe a coin-op guides and tutorials section would be a better idea.

I agree. I hope this will be the case in the future. There's a lot of useful info that gets lost in the threads.
______________________________________________________________
Steve Works
canadian custom broker

[Subpacket]

umm.. it is a stickie...


and nice shameless plug

[Gonemad]

Hey guys, just wondering what some of your takes are on this Global Shipping Program Ebay uses. From the last two packages I had sent to me, it looks like nothing more than another bogus fee Ebay charges to slap another address label on it. Ebay does not clear the package nor does GSP, it gets cleared by Canada Post when it crosses the boarder. For example, I'm looking at a non-working pcb for 28.00, 30.00 shipping and import charge of almost 9.00. If sent normally through the USPS system, there would be no import charges. IMHO, just another bogus fee like paypal's currency conversion.