Canadian custom charges.

I assume this was an import duty.  Was this order shipped by the postal service or a private carrier like UPS or DHL?   At what point was the duty charged?

I have found over many years as a Canadian collector that I only occasionally get charged import duty if I have the package sent via USPS or similar foreign equivalent.  Any other way I get nailed.  My advice is to stay with regular mail.  I have lost one package since 1990 via regular mail and that was likely a dishonest seller.

@jack-dodds

Same thing for me. I have already at least fifteen years ago and more ask to Bob Hooper to send me an AM 1959 Oldsmobile and i ask him to sent by UPS because there was a lock out at the Canadian Post and when i received the model, i paid 81 cnd for the custom charge. I think that customs officer are in negociation presently this is a weird coincidence.

There is no customs duty on model cars in Canada. What you are paying for is a 13% HST (or whatever it is in your province) on the declared value of the parcel and a brokerage fee, typically between $10 and $20, depending on the carrier. And this is the same for Canada Post, UPS, DHL and FedEx. However, Canada Post lets most parcels go without customs clearing, and it's totally random. I have had parcels worth (and declared!) $2,000 coming in without any fees, and $40 parcel charged with $20 fee. Typically, the larger the parcel, the bigger the chance it will be stopped by customs. UPS, DHL and FedEx clear every parcel; they have to. So, Canada Post is always preferred.

Asking your seller to declare a lower value helps, but then if something does happen and the parcel gets lost, the insurance or the carrier will only cover the declared value. 

@albert-kopans

Thanks for the explanations Albert. You are right there is no Custom charge. I had have asked online if there was custom charge to pay and that was indicated no custom to pay. But custom charges or taxes HST, PST and handling fee, I still had to pay a surplus and i am wonder why? The last time I had to do a payment to the Canada Post Corporation it must go back more than 10 years. As you say, i always ask to the seller to not declare the real value and if he do not want collaborated, i past my turn. But if i was the customs officer and i see an amount of the Postal charges/fees on the CP-72 Custom declaration higher than the value of the model, i would a bit sceptic 😉

@michel-lemieux You mean lower, not higher, right? Most parcels are ever opened. Plus, very few people in the whole world outside of our group can tell the real value of a little toy

I think so 🙂 As a former local vendor in Quebec told me, someone unfamiliar with this would sell them for $ 10 at a tavern even it was a MCUSA.