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On Thu, 10 May 2001, Nick Zentena wrote:
On May 10, 2001 04:29 pm, you wrote: There has never to my knowledge been any duty on books or software coming into Canada from the US.
Well maybe not a duty, but a price adjutment based on value. Happens here in Ontario all the time Nic. To much "fraud" in the postal system apparently. I think was they are trying to do is curtable the distribution of unlicence commercial software. Bet they have a real hard time understanding Open Source Software...:) As far as duty on books, you can call it something else but its all adjusted at the distribution level and when it comed to commercial publication ie: Times Canada, is very strictly controlled as to content and distribution price. Its our lame attempt at ensurring Canadian content and support for the arts community. Remember the fiasco with taxes on CD's at 2.50 per disc. Law is in place but never acted on due to public outcry. What was the reason for the Tax., support for the Canadian arts community..:)
You'll get hit by 15% in taxes depending on the > province. The courier will hit you with a customs handling fee. Even when > they do nothing at all. The post office does this also now. I had a $10 > package get hit with a $5 fee last year. There might be a duty on the media > but the value of a blank CD is pretty low.
Well the 5 packages I received showed zero commercial value as is standard with SuSE. Also they were donated for a specific project. The notice I received was from Customs and Revenue, which declared that they had assess the value of the software as x dollars per box canadian and If I wanted to pick them up from the post office I would have to shell out approx $300. An appeal aplication is now in the system and expect that when Canada opens an Harvey's and Tim Horten's in downtown Moscow is when I'll see a response to my appeal.
Now this doesn't mean you won't get hit by duty. UPS has the nasty habit of finding the wrong section to declare an item under. Of course they never pick one with a lower duty. Also the company shipping the product to you might screw up and make an incorrect declaration.
True but does not apply in this case. Also depending on the items I purchased from LL Bean for example, (depending on where the product is manufactured) your duty rates are assess differently. eg: two sweaters of same dollar value. one from Ireland one from Malaysia duty applied at different rates.
IMHO you're choices are stick to companies that routinely ship into Canada > [while avoiding UPS like the plague] or take the time to call Customs Canada > and finding out the right section to declare under. They used to have experts > you could talk to. Even they have trouble with figuring out the proper > section some times.
Well yes Nick this works if you have an option, In some cases you don't as when someone ships stuff in accordance with their preferred cariers. Where you at in Canada Nic? Im in Ottawa so perhaps thats the reason thay we all keep shovels in the doorway..ah! Best Chris