quote Originally posted by Raydar: It was my understanding that brokerage fees are not charged if the Postal Service handled the shipping. Is that true?

No sir! I recently got burned by an eBay purchase from the States, when the vendor did not choose the option for eBay to collect the taxes and duty along with the shipping fees. (Yes, eBay's International Shipping program was used by the vendor, but without choosing the correct options.) In my case, Canada Post would not release the package to me until I paid the taxes, duty, and "collection" fee. Pissed me off. The vendor actually gave me a nice partial refund due to his mistake, so all was forgiven.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Or... what happens if I just ignore the bill? (Hey... I'm not in Canada. )

Your outstanding bill is to the USPS !

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-18-2024).]

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-18-2024).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: And never take them lightly. Delivering the mail is simply a front for this 1/2 million person uniformed, mobile army of a sleeper cell just waiting to be called into action. Think about it. They know where you live, they know what hours and which days you're home and when you are away. The know if you are married and know how many children you have. In 95% of cases, they know what kind and what color vehicles you own and drive. They know who your creditors and lenders are. They know if you have video security or canine protection. A highly trained and capable, all weather, all terrain, urban, suburban and rural day and night potential fighting force able to endure heat, traffic, freezing temperatures, rain, snow high winds and, they know every highway and back road in their area of operations. Don't pizz 'em off! He who controls the mail controls the.........

Meh... Based upon my most recent experience, they'll never find me. Or at least not quickly.
They'll bounce around between Palmetto and Atlanta for a couple of weeks. Maybe camp in a trailer for a few days. Maybe they'll make their way here, eventually.
I'll just tell them that my payment is in the mail. That being the case, they won't expect it for another couple of weeks.
Or hell... maybe the bill itself will get lost in the mail.

This is all based upon a package that was mailed from Indiana, something like 12 days ago. It finally found its way here, today.
They can't find their own butts with both hands.

But yeah... if it's the USPS, I'll just go ahead and pay them. We're actually friends with our mail carrier.
Now if it were DHL...

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 03-18-2024).]

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-20-2024).]

quote Originally posted by Patrick: What has your experience been in regards to Canada Post collecting duty, as well as the taxes? I was a bit surprised when Canada Post collected duty on a $103(CDN) purchase (converted from US funds) on an eBay item shipped from the States. When driving across the border with a cross-border purchase, anything under $200(CDN) is just waived through... no taxes, no duty. Now granted, we're not talking big bucks here, but I had to pay Canada Post an extra $32 for a $103 purchase. It just seemed petty to have to pay that much more for such low dollar item. (None of these figures include the additional cost of the actual shipping fees.)

I have never had to pay duty on anything on got in the mail or other.

You also don't have to pay duty/taxes on anything that you bring back to Canada when you cross the border up to $800/person (assuming 48 hours from when you left).

$200 is 24 hours.

[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 03-20-2024).]