Do you get charged custom fees when purchasing from China and parcel coming in to ONtario, Canada?

[ontarioyes4]

Do you get charged custom fees when purchasing from China and parcel coming in to ONtario, Canada? Thank you

[esclyons]

yes you can depending on the value of the item you purchased. if it is over 20$ canadian, you could get charged tax, plus a handling fee.

[femmefan1946]

Yes.

The Canadian government duty-free allowance is $20Cdn (~$16USD).

Any import over that may be assessed for duty.

In addition, even if no duty is owed, you may be charged sales taxes (GST/PST/HST/QST).

Most import fees are actually sales taxes which are shared by the provincial and federal governments.

In addition, the shipper is entitled to charge a service fee (which may be called a number of names) for wrangling the shipment through the customs process.

The fee ranges from ~$5 for the Global Shipping Program*, to $9.95 by Canada Post, to $25or more by UPS, FedEx or other couriers.

Generally the seller does not know anything about the Canadian system, nor is he required to.

The import fees will usually be collected on your doorstep, before the carrier will hand over your parcel.

*GSP is only in effect from US and UK sellers. It is a Seller Protection program.