I’m trading for a Copley F flute being sent to me
from Canada.
Anybody know the best way to do this? Is there
a problem with American customs, etc?
How does one go about this to minimize
difficulties. What sort of mail works best?
Thanks, Jim
Canada → USA
Send via Canada Post “USA Expedited Parcel”. Has tracking and insurance. Takes 9 business days. Declare it as a gift. I’m not sure what the dollar limit is before duty is charged, if there is even duty.
USA → Canada
Send via USPS Global Priority (not Express, NOT UPS and not FedEx). Has tracking (even though the bozos say there isn’t) and takes about 6 business days. The tracking number works on both the USPS and www.canadapost.ca sites. Declare it as a “gift” having a value of $50 or less, unless you want your recipient to pay taxes and a $5-8 handling charge.
Of course under-declaring is illegal and it’s best to avoid a paper trail, so include no receipts. Another approach is sending the item as a “repair” but I’ve never tried that.
I would think it would not be a bad idea to send the flutes now before it gets below freezing…
I recently sent two US-made flutes back to the US. I put “US-made flutes” on the declaration, and their true value (cuz I wanted to insure them).
This worked, and has the virtue of being true, (No duty on stuff made in the country of origin, even if it has been shipped outside).
Hugh
helpful. Thanks
My understanding is it’s difficult to substantiate an insurance claim without a receipt for the actual item (Canada Post). This can be a problem for used goods.
Look at Chapter 92 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to see what duty they might charge.
The other aspect of this discussion is “brokerage fees”.
The way it works up here in Canada is that if something is shipped UPS, FedEx etc. from outside Canada, the courier charges the receiver “brokerage fees” based on the declared value, for the “service” of “brokering” the package through customs in a “timely” manner. You have no choice in the matter. So the courier makes money from the shipper AND from the receiver. Whereas if it is sent by post, it is received and delivered by Canada Post , which has its own system for getting it through customs, no brokerage fees. I’ve assumed that the same situation occurs for shipments by courier INTO the U.S. but I don’t really know for sure. I’d be very interested to know what the experience is on the American end. Also, personally I don’t like to lie about things like the value of the shipment I’m sending, which of course allows me to insure it at full value. If no money is changing hands (as in a trade), it seems fair to declare it a “gift” instead of “commercial” which (I think) also avoids duty (and possibly brokerage fees too?) AND allows you to insure at full value. What’s the experience of Americans with couriers and brokerage fees? With duty on “gift” vs. “commercial sample” etc.?
Duncan
A clarification. It’s easy to demonstrate that a flute is US-made, and thus not pay US duty if challenged.
Getting insurance does require a receipt to establish the value, but this is standard practice. Having said that, I forgot to get receipts for either used flute. Oops. Next time, I tell you, next time.
Hugh
I’m glad to see this post - I’ve been puzzled by this question before. It is my understanding (extremely humble!) that there is no duty on flutes coming in from Canada. There definitely was none for my flute coming from Australia, fully declared and insured. (I do hear it repeatedly stated this is NOT true in reverse!).
Am I mistaken? Certainly wouldn’t be a first.
cheers!
Aerowhip,
So you mean the full value was declared and you were charged no duty or brokerage fees? What about state taxes? Was it delivered to you by the postal service or by courier? Can other Americans comment - when do you pay duty on imported commercial items?
In Canada, if shipped by courier, we get dinged in four different ways: “brokerage fees” (described above), duty on the imported value, federal sales tax and provincial sales tax. The fed and provicial taxes alone can add up to 15% of the value, then add duty and brokerage fees, and you could easily pay an additional $100.00 on a $500.00 item. As mentioned, if shipped by post in the country of origin (even if through courier contracted by the post), at least we avoid the robbery of brokerage fees.
Free Tinker -
I looked for the box the flute arrived in, but it’s gone to recycle. The flute was shipped via postal service, directly to my local PO. Actually, for whatever reason, the folks in the nearby metropolis Portland Maine PO called me the night before to tell me it would come to my local PO the next day. I guess it looked like something someone in a little town of 1,200 people might be excited about. The full declared value was posted right on the outside. It was from Terry McGee, and he does this a lot.
If you download the pdf offered above you will find on Pg 3 listed under woodwinds (other) that flutes specifically(though specifically NOT bamboo!!?), but mostly just about any instrument you can think of is Free from Duty from a list of 13 countries, including Australia and Canada.
I would not trust my interpretation of this official gobbledee-gook – I’ve no training and even less patience for it --except that Terry knows what he’s doing, and it worked.
As to State taxes, I suppose I’m bound to declare it next April, as the State has been making noises about cracking down on all of us renegades who insist on ordering things from out of state via the internet, catalogs, etc.
disclaimer: kids, don’t try this at home.
I hope this is helpful. Maybe Terry can provide further information?
Arf.
Hmmm… the plot thickens. I too just received a flute from Terry, about 6 weeks ago. He declared it at about half its value, classified it as 9205909000 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, WIND, and I paid $101.75 Canadian dollars in duty, $107.86 in federal sales tax and $143.81 in provincial sales tax, mercifully no brokerage fees because it arrived by post. So that’s $361.42 please, at the door, before you can even touch the package, and after you’ve dropped a few grand on the instrument. I’ll have to check into whether I should have been charged duty. On an initial glance, the tariff schedule above seems to apply to goods entering into the US from the other countries listed. If anyone has any clarity on the duty issue in Canada I’d be grateful.
Yes, I’m afraid that tariff schedule is US, not Canadian. I’m sorry if I was addressing the wrong question (Jim’s original question was about importing into the US). I have no experience with importing to Canada.
That was quite a cash-on-delivery hit – I can understand why folks would be looking for alternatives. Perhaps you should import Terry instead?
Best of luck!
I’ve imported two new flutes into Canada, and neither was charged duty. The used flute imported from the US was charged duty, provincial and federal sales taxes. All three flutes were shipped via the postal services of the countries concerned: Australia, Switzerland, and the US. It could just be random, but it might be worth investigating if there is duy on new musical instruments, (or old ones for that matter). I think that one is liable for the sales tax even if there is no duty, which argues that for some reason two flutes slipped past the inspectors. YMMV.
Hugh
I have brought into Canada a flute from Casey Burns and a flute from Terry McGee. In both cases I was crucified at the border for duty and taxes. There was also a brokerage fee. I can’t remember specifics now, but it was around 20% per flute. Thx to Terry for declaring the flute at half its price.
djm