Purchase scuba gear online - Canadian duty?

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I've heard of this place. I've never had a problem with UPS so haven't looked into it. Nice to have another option. Thanks.

The nice thing about them is that you can leave it there for up to a year before incurring any extra charges. This is great for example at Christmas, when I may order from multiple vendors with different delivery times. I let my packages aggregate and do one pass across the border.

They can also bring it across the border for you if you wish, they are a division of Strader-Ferris.

Between dive trips to the river and driving past Prescott daily anyway - I live in Ottawa and work in Brockville - there is never a shortage of opportunity to hop across the bridge.
 
I'll definitely look into this more. Of course it will mean more in HST. They are unlikely to wave me through if I have a few hundred in purchases.
 
I used to be a prolific online shopper for all sorts of products shipped mainly from the US, but also from around the world...until the Canadian dollar took a nose dive against the USD, and it no longer made sense for me to do so. I recently purchased a whole load of dive gear from an LDS. Of course, as a prudent shopper, I researched far and wide for the best prices, and concluded that for all of the items that I wanted to purchase, it would be cheaper to purchase from an LDS (or Amazon.ca) after considering the horrible exchange rate, credit card foreign exchange fees, shipping fees, and "potential" brokerage fees, HST and customs duties. Nowadays (until our dollar recovers somewhat), I will only buy outside of Canada if I absolutely cannot find that product inside of Canada.

Having said that, I agree with many points that previous posters have already mentioned. However, I'd like to give support or my experience to some of the points already mentioned.

1. NEVER choose UPS if you have the option, even when the shipping fees are cheaper than USPS. UPS (and other couriers to a lesser degree) have horrible customer service, exorbitant brokerage fees, and always ding you for HST/customs duties, whereas with USPS/Canada Post, the brokerage fees are much more reasonable (see #2 below) and it's often a lottery whether you get charged HST/customs duties or not.

2. IF you are dinged with HST/customs duties, Canada Post charges a handling fee of CAD$9.95 per dutiable or taxable item. HST/customs duty is not charged for items valued at under CAD$20 (gifts have a max limit of CAD$60). Here's the link to their website that states this: Canada Post -Customs Requirements

3. IF you are dinged with HST/customs duties, it will be 13% HST (in Ontario) + X% of customs duty + CAD$9.95 handling fee. HST and customs duties are applied to the declared Canadian value of the item. Customs duty is very complicated and depends on several factors (i.e., what is the item, where is the item being shipped from, where was the item manufactured, etc.). There is a compendium that lists most of the items that can be imported. If you are so inclined, here is the link: Chapter-by-Chapter Customs Tariff - T2016-1

4. I have found the following import duty calculator quite useful: Import duty & taxes made easy | DutyCalculator

5. I also refuse to buy from an ebay seller that only uses the Global Shipping Program. There have been many times where the customs duties should have been 0% based on the official tariff schedules above but they would still charge a brokerage fee, HST and customs duty. Very deceiving.

Hope that helps some!
 
I personally use the Kinek system. I'm in Kingston and there is a hardware store on Wellesley Island that is part of the Kinek system and they receive parcels for you 5$. Then it is all about what you have, how much it cost and the customs guy you get on that day. With the dollar being lousy I have noticed they are not going after it as much as the cross border shopping has dropped off. Came back with 300$ the other day and they let me through except for questioning my protein powder ingredients.
 
Is shipping fedex OK?
 
If I had a choice, I would stick with USPS/Canada Post. If not, then I'd take whatever options are available and be prepared mentally for the higher likelihood of brokerage fees/customs/HST.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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