as the Canadian govt' in an effort to keep us Canadian realizes these cases aren't for Canucks as they are way to American. that's my guess.
Do you mean there is duty on them? Or that they are cannot be imported -- like fireworks or ivory?
More likely you are just seeing a lot of paranoid American sellers, terrified of shipping to someplace foreign... like Hawai'i.
That the cases can be found through sellers who use the GSP (a Seller Protection program, by the way) proves that there is no Canadian government ban on them.
You can politely ask any seller if he would consider shipping to Canada using the USPS First Class International Parcel service. This provides the sender with Confirmation of Delivery and carries up to four pounds of product.
A smart seller will say yes.
You really don't want to deal with the dumb or paranoid ones anyway.
If you cannot find a seller who will ship directly, you have to decide if it is worth it to you to buy from a seller who uses the Global Shipping Program.
FWIW, the one and only time I did that, the seller had the lowest price anywhere on eBay or Amazon even including the GSP charges. (It was a trade paperback, a scarce book that is part of the Firefly canon.)
Since the item is over $20CDN (about $16USD at the moment), you will pay the GSP ~$5USD service fee, and sales tax of 5%t0 $15 depending on your province.
If the case is US/NAFTA made, make sure your seller marks it as such, because then you probably will not have duty on it. If it is made overseas, it is dutiable. This is just as important if your seller is willing to use the postal system, since this is probably too bulky for CBSA to ignore.
The difference then is that you will be charged the import fees on your doorstep and the postal carrier will charge a $10CDN service fee.
Politely.- Captain Malcolm Reynolds
