Jul 22 2009

Shopping US Online, Picking up at the Border

Published by at 7:57 pm under Cross border shopping,Shopping Tips

Shopping at US online, Pick up at the border: a great cost saving practice.

Thanks to the resource and commodity material boom, Canadian dollar has been on a par value with US dollar for a year now. Many economists predict Canadian dollar will maintain its value for quite a few more years to come. However, Canadians are still suffering from retailers price gauging, paying 10~20% more on most common merchandise. Cross-border shopping is a popular pastime to Canadians who seek better value in dollar.

Apart from price disparities, there are other things which still rip you off in shipping, brokerage fee and even in payment. If you’re laden with those hidden charges, you’re bargain-hurting no more.

One hardly known practice to the Canadian bargain hunters is to purchase goods online and pick up across border. The idea is to purchase online or on eBay and ship to a UPS store or local mail shop near the border. Because about three-quarters of Canada’s population live within 150 km of the United States border, this works really well.

The border UPS store owners are used to this practice. They normally charge around $5 per delivery. They like you to do a prompt pickup but delaying a week or so is acceptable, in which case do call to inform the owner.

When you cross the border, you can let the border guards know that you are going shopping. Don’t forget your passport these days. Before returning, you want to open the package and make sure that all the parts are there and there is nothing extra. At the Canadian border, you declare the goods with value shown and pay the GST/PST and duty if the goods are not made in US/Mexico. Duty for Japanese electronics is normally 6%.

Shopping this way, people reported saving at least 40% buying a boat or a set of 4 winter tires.

Comments

3 responses so far. Leave a comment

3 Responses to “Shopping US Online, Picking up at the Border”

  1. KarriNo Gravataron 03 Apr 2010 at 8:42 pm

    What duty would I pay on a curio cabinet that was built in the USA please? Thank you

    [Reply]

  2. KathyNo Gravataron 01 Jun 2010 at 3:08 pm

    do you know the nearest UPS store in US to Vancouver? Or is there any smiliar service provider nearby US-Vancouve border? Thanks.

    [Reply]

  3. Donna HouseNo Gravataron 24 Mar 2011 at 12:53 pm

    What duty would be paid on a Fenton Lamp 23″ High. The lamp was made in the US.

    [Reply]

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