Probably a really dumb ? about traveling to Canada

[SleepyMom]

I went to the official website that lists what you can and can't take over the border, but I am having trouble figuring out one thing.

It says you have to have receipts of all items bought there when returning to the US.

What if you take something with you there, how do you prove it was yours and not bought while there?

The items are movies, it's 9 hour drive there and I planned to take along the laptop and a bunch of movies to help pass the time. Now though I am wondering if I should skip it because I saw CD's and DVD's listed as items you need to show receipts for, and I don't have them anymore.

So, boiled down... dumb question is "can I take those kind of things back and forth over the border with no problem or should I just skip it?".

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I guess not an official answer, but we drove to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) last year with visible back of the car seat DVD players and kids watching movies. Neither US or Canadian officials said anything at all about them.

(The US customs guy teased DD she couldn't bring her new stuffed Mountie-moose home because it was an animal, but that was as tough as it got.)

 

[autumnpalm]

I doubt they would even notice, but if you really wanted to play it safe you could take the discs out of their original cases and put them into one of those books/binders that hold a bunch of CDs and DVDs? I don't think you would really need to do this, though... I have traveled back and forth (as a Canadian citizen) tons of times and have never been bothered about having those types of things in my car.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[kimblebee]

As a Canadian who has travelled down to the States to do shopping, they really aren't too concerned about the little stuff. They are more concerned with making sure you haven't gone over your limit. I don't think once I have had to actually provide reciepts but I keep them just in case. My advice would be don't hide anything but don't provide any additional information when you are answering the questions. These guys don't fool around. Answer the question as it is asked to you. No more, no less. You should be fine with the movies.

 

[bicker]

By saying that you have to have receipts, they can require them whenever they wish. As others have said, they're not going to require them unless they have reason to suspect that a violation has occurred.

 

[SleepyMom]

OK, thanks everyone! We leave in about 30 minutes and I have no idea why it never dawned on me until the night before to go read the guidelines It was a lot to take in!

We are going for a wedding, and the whole gift thing was confusing too. Thankfully we didn't get them an actual gift, that has to be wrapped.

Thanks again for the info, it was going to be a long 18 hours (round trip) without movies or the laptop