PierreTT

For those who did bought some used stuff in USA...
Just bought a set of wheels. Will I have to pay duties on these? These are used and it is a private sale... I never imported used stuff and I tried to find answers on our Government web site without any success..
Thanks in advance
Pierre

dvkk

Presumably they are for a Porsche, and from your sig, a 1996 car. No breaks there. You will have to pay duty (9.2%?), then both taxes on top of that. It doesn't matter if they are used or new, same taxes and duty. The only break you get for being used is that customs will believe a lower price than new. You will have to show them an invoice or something that proves your price. Print the eBay page if you got them there.
If they have tires on them, you must get them removed. Customs will not allow you to import used tires.

PierreTT

Thanks, this is good to know. I'll call Customs Monday to verify. Dang, I tought we signed a Free Trade Agreement...

Pierre

baldheadracing

Free-trade applies to goods made in countries covered by the agreement. Most likely your rims were made in Europe - when you pick up the rims see if the country of origin is on the rims somewhere. The exporter has to declare country of origin when it is shipped.

If you must ship via UPS, broker it yourself to avoid their incredible brokerage fees.

On a slight digression, the used tire thing is, IIRC, local. I believe that has more to do with agricultural restrictions. Used tires are generally allowed as long as they have a US DOT number on them. Here's the applicable memorandum: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cm/...19-12-2-e.html

skruggs964

I bought a set of used Boxster rims/tires off of eBay from New York a little over a year ago. There was no duty, but they charged me GST on the declared amount.

skruggs964

Oh....and unless the rules changed in the last year, there was no problem with the tires with customs. They are the tires/rims on the car pictured in my avatar .

skruggs964

Just be prepared to be bent over for UPS's or FedEx's customs brokerage fee. (Or as I like to call it...UPS's screw fee) I paid $140 to have them shipped....then when the rims/tires arrived, they presented me with another bill for $170 for the brokerage fee. I was not amused.....

skruggs964

I've done a lot of cross-border eBay purchases. My advice is that whenever possible, get the seller to ship it via USPS (their postal system) It will come in through Canada Post, and the most they charge is $5 customs brokerage fee. (plus the GST) Even better if you can get the seller to fudge on the declared value. I believe that there's no GST or brokerage fee applied if the declared value is under $50 Canadian and sent as a gift. (With the postal system)

Unfortunately with rims/tires....I don't think you can ship with USPS because of the size. It has to go through FedEx, UPS, or Greyhound....

skruggs964

Oh....and one more thing. (sorry for running up the posts on this thread!) Customs will take the highest value declared. So if you declare it as worth $50 bucks, but then insure it for $500....you'll be paying the GST on the $500. (I found out the hard way!)

PierreTT

Thanks folks,
How can I broker it myself? I did'nt know I had the choice... The guy will be shipping trough FedEx. As for the tires, I will call tomorrow. The wheels are Kinesis wheels and I beleive they are made in USA.

Appreciate your help Craig and Skrugs
Pierre

baldheadracing

Fedex International ground is pretty good. I've generally found their brokerage charges fair.

In a nutshell, clearing it yourself takes time. It involves informing the courier that's what you are going to do, and having the exporter fill out the forms appropriately. Then when the package hits the border, the carrier will inform you, you go down to your local CBSA office and pay the appropriate duty/taxes (if applicable), and then you forward the completed forms showing payment was made to Fedex, who will then deliver your package. Usually it isn't worth the effort - especially if you're unfamiliar with the process and all the forms - except with UPS, whose brokerage charges are the subject of an ongoing class-action lawsuit in Canada.

If the wheels are made in the USA, get the guy you're buying from to explicitly say "Used automotive parts (wheel rims) Made in the USA" on the customs declaration that he fills out. Also, he should put in the HS code, which for rims is, I believe, 8708.70.19 00 - but you should confirm that with your local CBSA office. (If the exporter doesn't put in an HS code, the parcel will be held at the border until somebody gets around to opening your package and assigning a code.)

Oh yeah, I should add that all of the above is my personal opinion, and does not reflect anything official.

Christien

Just to clarify, no PST on private-sale (ebay) purchase items. I don't think there's any on commercial purchase items either, but not positive. Sometimes European auto parts will get by duty if nobody notice they're European. I get dinged duty on about half my orders from Pelican - it just seems to be hit and miss.

PierreTT

Thanks Graig, I'll use Fedex, I'm way too lazy to do this myself. Christien, I was told by a custom agent that I will have to pay both taxes, even if its a private sale concerning a used good... we'll see.

I will let you guys know. Might help somebody else in the future.
Thanks
Pierre

theiceman

Your other option is to have them shipped to an authorized UPS drop off in the US and go pick them up yourself. For me it is about an hour and 20 minutes and is well worth it , then you just pay PST and GST at the border... if they even charge you , sometimes if you are honest with them they just let you go.

dvkk

Thanks for the link, Craig.
Back in the 80s there was a massive tire mountain fire east of Vancouver that burned for months. An investigation discovered that the tires all originated from the USA and were just dumped there. After that time, Customs here became very adamant about preventing used tires from entering. I recall once when with a group returning from a swap meet with wheels, the Customs guy specifically asked if the wheels had tires on them. Since then, I've known a couple of guys that were turned away trying to import used tires. With your link, now I have grounds to "argue" with them.

Christien, if you don't have to pay provincial tax, consider yourself lucky. They started collecting BC tax here a couple of years ago. Used parts, private sale, doesn't matter. To add salt, they add the taxes onto the shipping to get it to the border wholey within the USA!