What is the threshold for import charges $20. or has that changed

[luv4orphans]

Just wondering what is the threshold before we get dinged when purchasing an item on ebay. Used to be $20.00. Now its what.

Thank you.

[marnotom!]

It's become a bit more complicated thanks to the latest North American free trade agreement.  I'm not even sure that I have it right.

My understanding is that items shipped from the United States or Mexico have a duty-free limit of C$150 and a tax-free limit of C$20 if sent by mail, C$40 if sent by courier.  I don't believe the items have to be manufactured in those countries to qualify for the duty-free limit; they just have to originate from those countries.

Items shipped from anywhere else have a tax and duty-free limit of C$20 if sent by mail, C$40 if sent by courier.

EDIT:  This calculator from our friends at the CBSA may be of some help.  I see that one of the questions it asks is if the item was manufactured in a CUSMA country, so country of manufacturer might be what determines its duty-free status, not the country of origin, but the calculator seems to be designed for travellers, so that might make a difference:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html

EDIT 2:  This CBSA page seems to spell it out pretty well:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn20-18-eng.html

[femmefan1946]

Items shipped from anywhere else have a tax and duty-free limit of C$20 if sent by mail, C$40 if sent by courier.

Just to complicate things further, Canada Post charges a service fee of $9.95 on imports and couriers even more starting around $25.   So there is no saving in having your purchase sent by UPS rather than USPS/Canada Post.