Crazy Canadian Border Fees

ect0plasme · Oct 3, 2014

So I bought 200-300g from smokingpipes.com for a grand total of 35 buck (plus 15$ for shipping, to Quebec City, Canada). I just received it and the border fees and taxes come up to 85$!!! Over 200% taxes??? Is this normal? Am I being screwed here?
and the most important question: Is there a way to avoid this in the futur?

purplemotoman · Oct 3, 2014

This has been discussed over and over. Keep your order to 200 grams. You also need to pay for this so that places like SP do continue to do business with Canadians. If you price out what you would have paid in Canada you are still saving money. At my local shop 300 grams would have cost me around $180.00 + tax.

cosmicfolklore · Oct 3, 2014

I was mailing a few flakes to a member there in Canada vie UPS, less than a cigar. And, they wanted to charge $100+ at the border. After I paid $30+ for shipping and another $20 for some sort of tax or fees once it got there. And, then when he didn't pay the taxes of $100+ at his end, they wanted to charge me to return it.

Nope, sorry Canadian friends, either overthrow your government or go without any flakes from me : puffy

:

ect0plasme · Oct 3, 2014

ho ok so under 200g next time! Thanks!!
I guess I'll just have to fill whenever I go to the US

cobguy · Oct 3, 2014

Every time I hear things like this, my TAD itches pretty badly.
At these rates, you guys may want to visit the border town of Nogales for a while

and study up on some new "delivery methods"! :wink:

tallguy · Oct 3, 2014

Buy less than 200g from 4noggins... PM me if you have questions... :puffpipe:

kaboom · Oct 3, 2014

Me and a few friends got hit with 200% tax+import duties+various fees at the Spanish customs on a 200$ order from smokingpipes.com
We paid up, but it made each tin of dunhill clock in at just under 25 euros a pop.
Apparently other sites have a higher success rate, but I haven't had the courage to try again yet. Just last week my pipeclub's order from missouri meerschaum got stopped. It wasn't so bad this time, but it was still around 100$ on a 220$ order.

It sucks ordering anything from abroad, if you package gets stopped, they're gonna milk your wallet for all its worth.
Here in Europe we don't even get the option of making a day's trip out of a tobacco run. Damn trade barriers and greedy nanny states!! Screw you all!!!!
Sorry for that...

jsponge · Oct 3, 2014

This makes me nervous... I just placed my 1st ever order from 4Noggins... It's under 200g, so shouldn't be too bad if I do get nailed for duty, but I hope not.

kanada · Oct 3, 2014

Expect to pay the border fees every time you order and you won't be surprised if the cost is a lot more than the shopping cart showed. They seem to be cracking down over the last few years. There are quite a few threads on this

ect0plasme · Oct 3, 2014

Don'T worry, the lady at the post office told me that 45$ out of 85$ was specifically because I ordered over 200g. You'll be fine.

frozenchurchwarden · Oct 3, 2014

Even with taxes it costs less coming from the states (and infinitely better selection), and shipping is cheaper too... Though USPS is $100,000,000,000 in debt, so that may have something to do with it (thanks for the cheap shipping guys!).

ect0plasme · Oct 4, 2014

Yes sorry you're right but from what I understood (although now you make me doubt myself a bit

is that over 200g there's another tax on top of everything else, for me it was 45$ out of 85$. So if I would have ordered under 200g, it would have cost me something like 35$ instead of 85$ for 250g.
It was a newbie mistake from my part

jdto · Oct 4, 2014

The more we talk about this issue online, the higher up the Google rankings it goes and the more likely that any officials searching for vendors and discussions of this will become more informed. My suggestion is to keep any advice on that front to private messages or emails. Since this site tends to show up pretty high in the search index as it is, I'd suggest not to be overly talkative about this subject.

andrew · Oct 4, 2014

It doesn't matter if you pay it or not, there's no returns on bulk tobacco and there's a restocking fee for tins. Either way the company is making money.

salmonfisher · Oct 4, 2014

After being nailed...twice now...I just say screw it n order what I want an now pay any duties that are levied. Any amount of baccy you order can have duty added. 200 gr is only if you visit the states for more then 48 hrs.
Sooner or later our american friends will start to see their tobacco products taxed like ours. Facts are facts, tobacco causes cancer and cancer is expensive to health care systems.

Crazy Canadian Border Fees

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Site Sponsors

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Lurker

Starting to Get Obsessed

Lifer

Lurker

Lifer

Lurker

Starting to Get Obsessed

Lurker

Starting to Get Obsessed

Lurker

Lifer

Lurker

Might Stick Around

Lifer

Can't Leave