Self-Declaring through Canadian Customs...

I wonder what happens if you ACCIDENTALLY state commercial when you work in your own basement in a residential zoning area. :)

That said, I got a tracking # from LMS, UPS ground is shipping from California now, and is expected to be in New York on Friday... so come what may, I'll be picking up my collets and some boring bars this week- barring any bad weather of course.
 
So!

I had to wait until today to pick things up, as UPS only delivered my items to CBI on Monday, despite things were already in Niagara Falls on Thursday or Friday. Interesting how things always go so quick from one state to the next, and when finally in the last city, it takes 3 or 4 frieken days to move from one side of a street to another!

Picked it up easy enough for only $6.

Then I went to Harbor Freight, tried to pick up a pack of their HSS mini-lathe toolbits.. couldn't find one. Checked with the store personel, and turns out they were out of stock at that location. Sadly, you can't order items online and pick them up at the store either, nor do they even ship items across the border. Well, so much for that plan...

I also wanted to check out the CM mini-mill, but despite an interesting sized store, no Mini-Mill there. Seems you can only order those online at HF, and they don't ship anything to store that you can pick up.

So, my first visit to HF was not exactly the greatest, but what can you do...

Driving across the border again into Canada, I see the agents charged me $30 additional tax... That said, they did not charge duty. I thought you only get the $200 free duty exception if you are visiting for over 24 hours... Maybe I still don't understand how customs works here...or they were being nice (I doubt it).

tax.jpg
 
Thanks for the feedback.
UPS might consider CBI as competition so they are not in a hurry to hand stuff over to them.
Tax free limits were 50$ after 24 hours and 800$ after 48 hours last time I checked. Canadian border agents have always been nice to me. They are people like us who have a job to do.
BTW I have never been impressed by HF stores. I hope that you have other options.
I also hope that you enjoy your new tool fix.:)
 
Tozguy said:
Tax free limits were 50$ after 24 hours and 800$ after 48 hours last time I checked.
Click to expand...

https://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/bringing-to-canada/personal-exemptions-mini-guide

Personal exemptions mini guide

Returning after less than 24 hours
  • There are no personal exemptions for cross-border shoppers.
Returning after 24 and 48 hours
  • You can claim goods of up to CAN$200 without paying any duty and taxes.
  • You must have the goods with you when you enter Canada.
  • Tobacco products* and alcoholic beverages are not included in this exemption.
  • If the goods you bring in are worth more than CAN$200 in total, you cannot claim this exemption. You have to pay full duties on all goods you bring in.
 
The rules are easy enough to look up before heading across the Rainbow Bridge. On the other hand they often ignore you if the amount is less than $60. And other than alcohol and tobacco, there is generally no duty on the items such as machine tools. Just HST.

The HF 1/4 cutting tools are like the BusyBee ones, crap. Barely held up on my Taig lathe, didn't last on my 1022. Locally PrincessAuto is close in pricing all things considered. I would buy cutting tools from Banggood.com, better price and better quality from my experience.

The low cost shipping with UPS within the US comes at a price, namely speed of delivery. More than happy with CBI, great service.

I guess your first project now is to make a drawbar for the collet chuck :)
 
I wonder if LMS (or others for that matter) would be willing to do USPS flat rate International.
Alright - Going to Postal Code L2E 1A3 w/ a value of $150 here's what comes up.
Medium FR - $47.75
Large FR - $62.35
Lordy, lordy. that is outrageous! Can't find any mention of what the duties might be.
Also Beehives, and Oleo Margarine are prohibited :grin:. (see attached)
 

Attachments

  • Canada _ Postal Explorer.pdf
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there is generally no duty on the items such as machine tools. Just HST.

What has me confused, is the Canadian post office thought it was a great thing to charge me duty on machine tools from Micro-Mart!

And by the time I paid for shipping to Canada and other expenses it was a bloody fortune for a simple radius tool... ended up paying almost 2x the original cost of the unit by the time all expenses were paid, LOL.

NEVER AGAIN!
 
You should send something to the UK, even worse!
Are you certain there was duty? There is a collection fee, HST and should be no duty. But I assume you have learned the benefit of living where you do, and the joy of CBI.
The location of St Catharines factored heavily in our decision to move here, escaping from Toronto after 60 years of living there. > 100 wineries, local produce, excellent plant nurseries, close to CBI.
 
> Are you certain there was duty?

I can not be 100% sure, because they simply dropped a card in my mailbox and it just said I needed to pay DUTY fees when picking it up at the post office. I went and paid this Duty, but I never got a breakdown list of expenses or what everything labeled under DUTY entails. It is theoritically possible they worded it loosely and it was just other charges they tacked on instead.
 
Keep your Canada Post or I guess courier receipt when you pay taxes on machinery crossing the border. I didn't. Bought a CNC plasma electronics package from Texas, they shipped Canada post and I payed the HST on delivery. About a year later had to send the controls back for warranty work. They shipped it back with a value on it for insurance. Had to pay tax AGAIN on the value. The original receipt would have shown I had payed the taxes.

Greg
 
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