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Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni VSN Go to Girl Pretty, Pretty Princess
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Suffolk, VA
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?? for those who have mailed a stamp set to Canada by USPS.
I feel so stupid. But I only send stuff, besides pieces of mail, by UPS. With UPS I have to fill out customs papers, etc for Canada, just like any other country outside of the US. I sold some retired sets to someone in Canada and she said to mail them by USPS.
So, here is where you will just crack up or lose all faith in the USPS system...I asked our mailman that just came in if I can just send this package like it is in this padded envelope to Canada or if I needed any special documents, he said "it isnt like you are sending it to Thailand or anything, Canada is in the 50 states"...so I just said "ok, thanks" and stood there with my mouth wide open.
Since I cant trust my mailman can anyone tell me how to send this package? I am using a medium sized padded manilla envelope and they weigh less than 2 pounds.
I live in Canada--near the Detroit border and all the stamps I have received from he US comes iin a padded envelope or box. But they must have customs declarations on them or they are held at the border as unclaimable.
The forms are available at your local post office.
wonder where the mailman is form originally? Bizarre.
LOL love the story! I'm in Canada and can you get to a post office? I mail things from here to the States and I have to fill out a little form with whats inside the package and how much its worth than it gets across the boarder no problem. hth.
I've done a lot of mailing to CANADA. You can send a letter to CANADA without a customs form, but whenever I've sent a padded envelope, I've always included a customs form. The forms are available at the Post Office. It's very quick to fill out. Just requires your address, the address you are sending to, an itemization of what you are sending and value of it. It's my understanding that if you mark that it's anything other than a gift, the receipent than has to pay taxes on it. Sign and date and take to the post office with your envelope.
Incredible story about your mailman. Well, maybe not so incredible. A few years ago the governor of New Mexico (and yes, a U.S. citizen) was considering running for a national political office (president?). There were actually some national figures who told him he couldn't run for office because New Mexico was not part of the United States and he had to be a U.S. citizen to run for that office!
My DH teaches (among other things) geography at the college level. You wouldn't believe some of the answers he gets from students....
Oh my gosh! Stop, I almost spit up, lol! Elected officials that don't know where New Mexico is! ROFLOL! And the mailman, sounds like some we have around here.
Op to send, you put a declaration on the package, outside of it (has sticky on it) and make sure you put in how much it is worth, actually pretty self explanatory.
Hahaha - he may be wrong but I do like his attitude that it is no big deal - we are just next door! Stuff it in a bubble mailer, fill out the little green customs sticker (if it is $20 or under it won't be charged a handling fee + taxes, and since the stamps are made in the US there will be no duty) and send it airmail letter post which will probably cost under $4.00! (last set I had sent from WA was $3.25)
Someone else said this, but it's worth repeating. On the form, make sure you mark it as a gift! I've had to pay duty on packages before and it's rediculous how much it can be.
Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni VSN Go to Girl Pretty, Pretty Princess
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Thanks all
I will run by the post office on the way home and grab the form I need! I knew it couldnt be that hard but since I use UPS all the time I wanted to make doubly sure!
I use the USPS web site to purchase my postage for Canada. When you print your postage, it prints all of the custom forms you need, the correct number of copies, already filled out! All you have to do is sign and date. Then the nice folks at the post office take your forms and put them in a plastic window envelope that they adhere to your package. I love this system! I never have to worry what kind of forms I need. I mailed one last week and one this week. They gave me different forms, and different numbers of forms (5 copies last week, 3 copies this time). Not sure if what made them different forms was the weight or the value, but either way, it was exactly the correct paperwork.
Hahaha - he may be wrong but I do like his attitude that it is no big deal - we are just next door! Stuff it in a bubble mailer, fill out the little green customs sticker (if it is $20 or under it won't be charged a handling fee + taxes, and since the stamps are made in the US there will be no duty) and send it airmail letter post which will probably cost under $4.00! (last set I had sent from WA was $3.25)
J
Quote:
=Gem]Someone else said this, but it's worth repeating. On the form, make sure you mark it as a gift! I've had to pay duty on packages before and it's rediculous how much it can be.
Yes, please mark GIFT and mark the value under $20. Can you tell this is important to us? ;) This is *very* helpful. When I buy stuff from the US, I ask the person if they wouldn't mind doing those 2 things and almost always they're more than happy to help us out this way. And airmail letter post rocks! :cool:
And I totally am getting a kick out of your North American Geogaphy stories!!!!
Wow, we now have another State? or are all the provinces in Canada States now :rolleyes: That means we have a whole lotta new States--how exciting! No more trying to figure out the exchange rate when I buy something from a Canadian site--yippeeeeeeee!!!!
Thanks for the laugh!
__________________ Kathy
Proud Mama to Mason 4/3/99, Miles 5/25/02, and Maya 8/26/04
Yes, please mark GIFT and mark the value under $20. Can you tell this is important to us? ;) This is *very* helpful. When I buy stuff from the US, I ask the person if they wouldn't mind doing those 2 things and almost always they're more than happy to help us out this way. And airmail letter post rocks! :cool:
And I totally am getting a kick out of your North American Geogaphy stories!!!!
Just an FYI on that comment:
When a legitimate retail business puts "gift" and undervalues the item on the customs sticker of merchandise they are selling to you, they are putting their business in serious jeopardy if customs decides to open the parcel (and they can if they feel like it no matter what the sticker says). If they discover that it contains new merchandise from a retail source, especially if the merchandise is offshore origin and should be charged tariff, they have the right to hold the parcel, to charge the company and even more serious will be the "do-do" they will be in with USA customs if they get caught. (or with Canada customs if its going the other way)
Everything, retail purchase or gift that crosses the border either direction is documented and pertinent info uploaded into "the big giant head" computer that records trading and customs info and they take it very, very seriously. You know when you see on the news the information that the USA did "X" billion dollars of trade with Canada or Vs versa...this is where this information comes from and every country in the world takes it seriously - "customs" has been around since biblical times and tariffs are in place to protect the legitimate competing businesses already in the country of entry.
Any new merchandise that is wholey manufactured in the USA should come thru to Canada duty free under the NAFTA agreement (there are some exceptions but not applicable to anything we are interested in) Off shore product from a country that has no agreement will be charged varying duty % depending on what it is. Product that is from america but partially made offshore will also be charged duties depending on content origin.
Used merchandise, which is what the OP is interested in, may or may not be stopped at the border depending on what the sticker says about contents and value - if they open it the receiver will be charged a handling fee + canadian sales tax, but if CBSA (customs) sees a legitmate made in the USA product they will not charge duty. The fee is charged because someone has to upload it into the big giant head - essentially a brokerage fee, but much cheaper than what you would pay an actual customs broker!
*None of this reflects back on the sender of the used merchandise in either country - it is the person receiving (importing) the goods that have to deal with the customs of their country.
So...as to value - if you are selling or swapping a couple of used stamp sets that are sitting around and you don't want them anymore they are essential of no value to you just sitting there are they?...putting a value of $20 on them is probably OK! Don't put a receipt in the package.
"Gift" I would not do...there are some days that "gifts" get opened just because...we are living in a post 911 world and you never know what that "gift" may contain no matter what the sticker says. Or maybe the customs person is just having a bad day and doesn't think it is a gift. Just put used rubber stamps on the ticket which is the truth. Customs on both sides have a lot more serious stuff to worry about than rubber stamps
Thanks for info, JMCDA...I'm much more enlightened now. Thank you sooo much for your thorough answer; makes sense to me. And I've been wondering about the NAFTA (wholey) made in Canada/USA thing, too. I'll be 'bookmarking' this info. So, again, thanks for sharing this info and educating us!
Thanks for info, JMCDA...I'm much more enlightened now. Thank you sooo much for your thorough answer; makes sense to me. And I've been wondering about the NAFTA (wholey) made in Canada/USA thing, too. I'll be 'bookmarking' this info. So, again, thanks for sharing this info and educating us!
Well, you know I would hate to see some of the SCS girls who have little stores get jammed up because they were doing this - it's a nice idea but not smart business.
I have spent a lot of time in the states and I used to get really riled that so many things that I can get over there are not in Canada but we are a country of 31 million, they have 300 million. It's not that the stuff couldn't be here if someone wanted to import it and sell within Canada, its not that big of a deal once you know what you are doing - BUT with our tiny pop who says that the minimum order of 100 thing a ma jigs is going to sell? It seems like (on here anyway) that everyone has to have it, but unfortunately retail is a continual balancing act and you can get left with a pile of crap that nobody wants.
Even if you do have to pay duty on something - it is probably only going to be 5% of the value - that isn't that much if you really want it. Where the US stores could help out the Canadians is with cheaper shipping - that is where I see a lot of gouging going on!
JMCDA, thanks for clarifying this! I meant to mark "gift" when it's a trade or sale of used goods which sounds like what the OP was talking about. I had a few times when my family sent me things from WA (I'm a landed imm. here) and I had to pay. These things really were gifts so it's highly frustrating and has sort of become one of my little rampages.
Of course if it's a business, I should have to pay taxes here. I would if I were ordering from a Canadian company. My real problem with ordering from the states is so many companies have crazy exchange rates. The value of the dollar is that hugely different anymore. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a difference in price due to the exchange, but if I take US dollars into my bank I sure don't get that much more Cnd dollars any more. I know we Canadians pay a lot more for SU still. For instance the demo sign-up special for SB, is $99 in the US and $137 here. When I take money into the bank I don't get almost 140 for 100US, I get more like 110 or 115 (don't have an exact number since I haven't done it recently, we just keep a US dollars account now). I know individual companies can't keep adjusting there prices as the exchange changes, but this seems a bit extreme to me. Not that I'm going to quite buying SU anytime soon.;)
thats the thing that gets me too is the exchange rate today 99.00 USD
United States Dollars = 116.597 CAD Canada Dollars When I order from the new spring mini I will be paying around $30 more just because its hard when I have to save my money to make an order
JMCDA, thanks for clarifying this! I meant to mark "gift" when it's a trade or sale of used goods which sounds like what the OP was talking about. I had a few times when my family sent me things from WA (I'm a landed imm. here) and I had to pay. These things really were gifts so it's highly frustrating and has sort of become one of my little rampages.
Of course if it's a business, I should have to pay taxes here. I would if I were ordering from a Canadian company. My real problem with ordering from the states is so many companies have crazy exchange rates. The value of the dollar is that hugely different anymore. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a difference in price due to the exchange, but if I take US dollars into my bank I sure don't get that much more Cnd dollars any more. I know we Canadians pay a lot more for SU still. For instance the demo sign-up special for SB, is $99 in the US and $137 here. When I take money into the bank I don't get almost 140 for 100US, I get more like 110 or 115 (don't have an exact number since I haven't done it recently, we just keep a US dollars account now). I know individual companies can't keep adjusting there prices as the exchange changes, but this seems a bit extreme to me. Not that I'm going to quite buying SU anytime soon.;)
...unfortunately just because it is marked gift it doesn't mean that customs will not open it and will not charge you handling etc and even duty - I really meant it when I said that all countries take trade issues very seriously and they can be really hard nosed about it some days... no rhyme nor reason as to what day that will be!!! If you were charged actual duty on a new made in the USA item that is covered under NAFTA - then you have a legit claim. I have had gifts sent from family as well and I still have had to pay the handling charge + tax if it was opened at the border. I don't think that any of us want to think about what might happen if Customs did not do a random search of "gifts" and something really bad got through...
As to Stampin Up...
I agree 100% and the apparent gouge by SU is why I will probably be fading away in the near future. THey came into Canada and set up their business when our dollar was floating at 50-55%. They set their prices and their demonstrator agreements accordingly, and I presume that they did the math so that they would be making sufficient profit to make it worth their while, or why would they have bothered? Now our dollar is at 85% and they have not decreased their prices to reflect the strength of our dollar - no wonder why at leadership they said that their profits in Canada were huge - they are making at least 25% more profit now than when they first came here!
They could do it better for Canada, (as could any company that has not adjusted their prices) but why would they when they are making such profit and the sales are still coming in? I like their stuff, but when the last catalogue came out and there was little change to the consumer pricing and no change to the demonstrator minimums, I lost all respect for the company and all desire to make money for them - they should at least be treating all their demonstrators/sales people fairly and on a completely level playing field no matter what country they are in... and they are not doing that.
I have been hanging on taking orders from those who want the stuff as they rely on me to do so.... and stocking up on some things for me of course, but when the orders stop I am done without regret.
Just wanted to clarify on the value on the customs form. Canadians can purchase up to $20 Canadian without having to pay duty or tax. A gift can be valued at up to $60 Canadian. If it's a purchase, it's best to mark as a purchase and put a value of $14 USD or less on the form so the recipient doesn't have to pay the $5.00 Canada Post handling fee and their applicable provincial tax. Note that anything Canadians purchase of this nature rarely has duty charged to them. Unless it's clearly stated that the goods are not of US origin, Customs applies NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) duty free status to the goods.
HTH.
Kelly, your friendly neighbourhood certified customs specialist.
Marking it 'gift' would be considered fraud. If she has to pay, then that's the price of buying the set. It's luck of the draw really. My DH had to pay on an item that was a replacement for a defective item he had purchased locally. Silly thing is, he had to pay more than the item sold for. But we have only had to pay on one parcel received from the US so far.
In Canada, there are envelopes that are pre-paid, I think it's Priority Post or Express, anyway, you pay $8 or whatever depending on size and then you can stuff your self silly. But if you put it in a bubble envelope, it will be considered a parcel because it will be too fat to fit in the 'magic' slot. I just mailed about a dozen cards to a friend and was going to go the bubble envie route but the postal worker told me to get this plastic bubble envie and put them in there, the total cost was under $3 Canadian, when my bubble envie would have put it over $7.
Kelli
?? for those who have mailed a stamp set to Canada by USPS.
