GSP to Canada - with NO import charges

[thecheeseufear]

I just bought an $80 USD item with $20 in GSP shipping charges to Canada. Under import charges, it said "$0." It is a used item, but I would have assumed I would at least be charged GST, so why are import charges $0?

I hear so many people complaining about the high import charges when buying from the US, but so far this has defied my expectations to pay $0 in taxes or duties. Anyone else have this experience?

[marnotom!]

Scenarios such as yours pop up on the discussion boards every so often. I think what’s happening in the case of purchases such as yours is that the bot calculating the charges simply adds the import charges to Pitney Bowes’ portion of the shipping charge.

Should you be able to find GSP listings for similar items where there are import charges for the item, I’m betting that Pitney Bowes’ portion of the overall shipping charge is lower than what it is for your item.