Another excellent www.mousesavers.com deal!

[SandraC]

FREE and DISNEY! Yeppers! Check out www.mousesavers.com regarding the 2000 PASSPORTER deal! PASSPORTERS are usually around $20.00 USF ($32.00 CDN). The 2000 PASSPORTER is FREE, only pay shipping! They sold out of 2001, and had lots of 2000 left so they are giving them away! I was having trouble ordering mine online so I called them! What nice folks! I ordered two books for shipping costs of only $9.00 USF ($14 CDN) to Canada, much less to the USA. Two books total $64.00 CDN, so I am saving $50! YIPPY! Read the deal on Mary's site! Sandra

 

[bev r.]

any idea what the duty fees might be? I have yet to figure out what the duty fees are for purchasing goods from the US. I am always afraid that what might appear to be a good deal will kill me in the end, when you add in the duty and/or shipping rates that some of these companies charge. It kills me when the shipping costs can be almost as much as the cost of the goods.

thanks.

 

[SandraC]

Hi Bev, the shipping costs are no where near the actual price of the passporters. Each passporter is $20.00 USF plus taxes. That's around $68.00 CDN total. I would have to pay for shipping of passporters anyway. So technically I am saving $68.00 (I ordered two). The shipping cost is $9.00 USF, so around $14 CDN. They are shipping FREE PRINTED MATERIAL, I don't think there will be duty. My uncle sends me calendars, books, etc.,. from California to Canada all the time without duty. The passporters are FREE! That's so great! I have read so many great things about them! We go in 88 days! YIPPY!

 

[MikeJ]

Not to be a wet blanket about this, but based on personal experience I wouldn't be surprised if you have to pay something to get the books into Canada.

The difference between your uncle and the Passporter people is that your uncle isn't a business and can send you gifts (as long as it's under Cdn$60) with no taxes payable by you. Once the gift exceeds a certain value, you are liable for the taxes and duties on the full value of the gift. I believe that books are assessed only GST/PST (and the PST is only if you live in the wrong provinces, like Ontario) but are duty-free.

However, this shipment isn't a gift, it's an order you've placed, albeit one where you paid nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if CCRA suspected that the invoice had been doctored to avoid you paying taxes and assessed GST/PST in the amount of 15% on the full value of the books ($64, by your reckoning). You could probably make a case to have that money refunded to you but it's a hassle. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of video games from a US company for US$5 apiece. Customs couldn't believe that I paid so little, so they assessed a value of $20 each. I had to fill out a form along with the invoice I received from the company (and included the website of the company - who still had their prices listed) to prove my claim and was eventually refunded the difference.

You can check out the CCRA web site for the full legal mumgo-jumbo. I hope I'm wrong, you may get a reasonable person who processes your order, but be prepared for the worst. Regardless, you'd still have to pay the GST/PST if you'd ordered the books here, and you're still saving the cost of the books themselves so even if you do have to pay CCRA you're still ahead of the game.


- Mike

 

[Bryn]

I'm not 100% sure about this but I think that books are duty free. My general understanding of NAFTA is that anything made in the US is duty free to be brought into Canada. Dh and I bought some Made-In-The-USA furniture, years ago, in NY and when we crossed the border, we only had to pay GST and PST.
Also, depending on who is selling the book, it could actually be shipped from Canada. I ordered some Christmas gifts from Books A Million and they were shipped to me from Toronto.

 

[Bryn]

I'm not 100% sure about this but I think that books are duty free. My general understanding of NAFTA is that anything made in the US is duty free to be brought into Canada. Dh and I bought some Made-In-The-USA furniture, years ago, in NY and when we crossed the border, we only had to pay GST and PST.
Also, depending on who is selling the book, it could actually be shipped from Canada. I ordered some Christmas gifts from Books A Million and they were shipped to me from Toronto.

 

[madge62]

Hey there. I purchased the Passporter for our 1999 trip, I believe it was one of their first out, it has Jennifer's & Dave's (authors) signatures in it. Anyways, I had it shipped here and there was absolutely no duty charged at that time. Hopefully things haven't changed cause I recently ordered the new 2002 version to be shipped out soon.


Marjorie