Anyone ship stuff home as part of their customs exemption? m

[coastgirl]

We are travelling before Christmas and I was thinking Santa would make a stop at the Lego store. I don't want to lug it, or risk discovery, so I was going to get them to mail it to us. Anyone ever do that thing about "goods following by mail" on their customs declaration? I'm not sure what kind of info/paperwork I'd need.

Any advice or experience?

Thanks...

 

[ado121]

i work for customs. in the mail centre too. so heres my advice. ship it home. as long as you properly declare it at the border crossing and take a receipt of that declaration, you should be fine. assuming you are within your exemption. you may or may not have to pay d and t when your package arrives because those of us who ***** the duties don't know you have declared it. so pay te d and a t, if charged, then apply for a refund with your receipt of declaration and you will get all your money back. sucks i know, about having to pay first but the mail system is unable to track where you have been and for how long.

also, don't don't don't mail anything home in the month of november and expect that it will get there for christmas. even october is pushing it a little. our christmas rush starts october (ish) and ends march (ish).

have a great trip. and all i can say, is be honest at the border and you should be fine. tell them you are mailing stuff home and how much (receipt) and they will do all the proper paperwork for you.

 

[coastgirl]

Ado121, that is really, really helpful information, thanks so much! If it's that slow, though, I may not bother, as we are travelling not Nov but mid-Dec. I wonder if it would help to send it UPS or something...but then Lord knows what sort of additional fees I might encounter. Hmmm.

 

[OntFamily]

I wonder if it would help to send it UPS or something...but then Lord knows what sort of additional fees I might encounter. Hmmm.

Do NOT send any packages from the USA to Canada via UPS. They seem to have the highest brokerage fees.


Use USPS (United States Postal Service). When using USPS / Canada Post, the brokerage fee is only $5.