Customs delaying orders...

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

Because it's totally their business as it is an officer's job as assigned by the Canadian government to determine admissibility of goods in to country and to assess and collect the duties and taxes on the imported goods as required.

You, as the importer has entered in to the duty and understanding that you are to answer all of the officer's questions that they require to perform their job. Anything beyond that, you CAN be charged with a criminal offense of tax evasion.

An officer would have to be in a pretty bad mood to hit you with that criminal charge, but they have every right to. Would the hassles of trying to fight off that charge plus the potential of carrying a criminal record for the rest of your life be worth saving $15? In my opinion, not worth it.

As a high volume importer, I personally wouldn't think it's worth it, especially when most of the goods I import aren't for myself anyways. I'm not screwing up my life for someone else's toys.

My personal suggestion is to be honest - but that's only because I tried the lying bit once and was not only threatened with the criminal charge, but I AM red-flagged for the 7 years following my bust (6 years left to go...) and was charged not only full GST and PST on the FULL MSRP of the goods (the officer looked it up, because I failed to produce an invoice for it), but was also hit with a 30% penalty fee PLUS an additional 3.5% in duties for the classification of those particular goods.

I went through all that crap - why? Because I wanted to save $80 in taxes. The final price I paid for everything ended up being several hundred dollars more than if I'd bought it locally and even more than that if I'd just declared the goods and paid the taxes.

Ultimately, I could've saved myself all that grief by declaring the goods and paying just $80 in taxes. Yup... just $80. The crap that I have to go through now, every time I cross the border or import an item was totally not worth saving that $80... This was on goods worth about $1200. I ended up paying almost $1700 PLUS an account red-flag when all was said and done, when I could've come clean and paid less than $1300.

Uh, his gun, which he had in his hands, which he got from god knows where at god know's what date, had nothing to do with the parts he ordered. I don't see how your argument applies?

[ILLusion]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Uh, his gun, which he had in his hands, which he got from god knows where at god know's what date, had nothing to do with the parts he ordered. I don't see how your argument applies?

Yes it does, because if he says he has a real steel M4, an officer would not find it credible for him to install used $15 China-clone products made from poorer materials and craftsmanship on to a real steel item. At least if I were an officer, I'd call BS on a guy in that situation.

Does that argument apply?

[Jayhad]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

Yes it does, because if he says he has a real steel M4, an officer would not find it credible for him to install used $15 China-clone products made from poorer materials and craftsmanship on to a real steel item. At least if I were an officer, I'd call BS on a guy in that situation.

Does that argument apply?

but you are assuming an officer would know about weapons and the add-ons you can purchase....
I bought some brakes for my kart off of ebay, they retail for $1800 CD I got them for $200 and they were next to new the package was invoiced as a gift. Wouldn't the officer wonder why I was putting cheap, inferior products on my kart and then find my receipt uncredible?

Wouldn't your arguement have to stand for all items being imorted then??

I think you are giving to much credit to the goofs at the borders, BUT your arguement is the only real viable explination as to why the officer would ask about his gun, unless they are compiling a list............. onose

[ILLusion]

Originally Posted by Jayhad

but you are assuming an officer would know about weapons and the add-ons you can purchase....
I bought some brakes for my kart off of ebay, they retail for $1800 CD I got them for $200 and they were next to new the package was invoiced as a gift. Wouldn't the officer wonder why I was putting cheap, inferior products on my kart and then find my receipt uncredible?

Wouldn't your arguement have to stand for all items being imorted then??

I think you are giving to much credit to the goofs at the borders, BUT your arguement is the only real viable explination as to why the officer would ask about his gun, unless they are compiling a list............. onose

Good points.

Although, keep in mind that customs officers are a bit more wary of goods listed as under $20, especially if they find it hard to believe they costed that amount. They realize that a lot of people declare that amount to avoid taxation altogether.

Ultimately, it just comes down to their instinct and how much satisfaction they get from your replies to their questions. Try importing those brakes again and declare them as $10 and see what happens.

I don't know anything about your brakes either, but if I saw them valued at $200, I'd also be inclined to believe it. I'd smell BS if you said they were $15.

You're right, though. They *don't* know the value of the goods, and even if they did know the MSRP and street value, they don't know how much YOU paid for it. That's why they resort to intimidation tactics to pretty much squeeze the info out of you and try to get you to crack.

[Jayhad]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

Good points.

Although, keep in mind that customs officers are a bit more wary of goods listed as under $20, especially if they find it hard to believe they costed that amount. They realize that a lot of people declare that amount to avoid taxation altogether.

Ultimately, it just comes down to their instinct and how much satisfaction they get from your replies to their questions. Try importing those brakes again and declare them as $10 and see what happens.

I don't know anything about your brakes either, but if I saw them valued at $200, I'd also be inclined to believe it. I'd smell BS if you said they were $15.

totally fair.... does anyone think Huang should start actually invoicing his packages correctly?
could he be on some sort of watch list for foriegn exporters?
are Huang's volumes high enough that they would notice?
is everything we order from him now going to be subject to search now?

I don't want to start a the sky is falling panic in relation to ordering stuff from dragonred I am just asking questions

[ILLusion]

I'd say Huang shouldn't worry about that. I doubt his volume is high enough to hit a watchlist, especially when it's just one or two items per package coming across as a drop-shipment to individual customers. It's harder to get noticed when it's a drop-shipment like that.

It's LARGE shipments like the ones I run on regular orders that get the most notice.

Still, even if Huang continues to mis-declare the item, he's not the importer - you are. If you get questioned and don't want to take a risk, just tell the officer you don't know why the exporter would have declared the item at that value, but the actual value is [insert real dollar value] and that you don't mind paying the taxes.

Honestly, the taxes AREN'T that much in relation to the hassle you'll have to deal with if you get busted. Huang's products are SO competitively priced, that I'd outright call you a cheapass if you wanted to lie through your teeth to save the $6 GST on the $100 item you bought from Huang.

As another scare: if you fail to produce actual believable proof of the paid value of the item, customs has the right to reclassify and redeclare the value, and have the power to tax you based on the MSRP of the real deal (if they believe it could be the real item). For example, if you were trying to import Huang's replica blast belt, and they don't believe it costed you $15 (that's what was declared on my shipment), they could very well charge you taxes on the full value of the item (CP site is currently down, so I can't get an MSRP.) If they really want, they could hit you with the penalties as well, but how hard they hit you is also determined by how willing you were to co-operate in the beginning and how hard they want to try and prove a point.

[wildcard]

Three government department we should never mess around with

A) Revenue Canada- They can mess you up for life, sometimes worse than your ex wife

B) Ministry of Natural resources - They can take away all your lovely little toys or possession i.e. House, Car, Boat etc

C) Customs or Border guards - No matter how dumb or ridiculous these guys are especially when you are in a hurry to catch a plane always be nice or you'll wind up in the terrorist watch list or continuously be embarrassed when you are crossing the border

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

Yes it does, because if he says he has a real steel M4, an officer would not find it credible for him to install used $15 China-clone products made from poorer materials and craftsmanship on to a real steel item. At least if I were an officer, I'd call BS on a guy in that situation.

Does that argument apply?

Oooooooooooooooh. I get it now. :P
That does make sense.

[wildcard]

Originally Posted by ILLusion

As another scare: if you fail to produce actual believable proof of the paid value of the item, customs has the right to reclassify and redeclare the value, and have the power to tax you based on the MSRP of the real deal (if they believe it could be the real item). For example, if you were trying to import Huang's replica blast belt, and they don't believe it costed you $15 (that's what was declared on my shipment), they could very well charge you taxes on the full value of the item (CP site is currently down, so I can't get an MSRP.) If they really want, they could hit you with the penalties as well, but how hard they hit you is also determined by how willing you were to co-operate in the beginning and how hard they want to try and prove a point.

You are bang on, Try convincing the customs in Niagara that the bike you just purchased used is not the $6000 version that he see in a website without th eoriginal bill of sale you are pretty much S.O.L

[Griffin]

As another scare: if you fail to produce actual believable proof of the paid value of the item, customs has the right to reclassify and redeclare the value, and have the power to tax you based on the MSRP of the real deal (if they believe it could be the real item). For example, if you were trying to import Huang's replica blast belt, and they don't believe it costed you $15 (that's what was declared on my shipment), they could very well charge you taxes on the full value of the item (CP site is currently down, so I can't get an MSRP.) If they really want, they could hit you with the penalties as well, but how hard they hit you is also determined by how willing you were to co-operate in the beginning and how hard they want to try and prove a point.

Thats exactly what they did with my CASV I ordered from Huang. They did not believe the declared price and than tacked on $20 dollars to the value, and yes I consider myself lucky because a real Vltor is alot more than $50.

[Skladfin]

the canadian dollars just got higher, so many people are buying stuff from overseas now. that is why customs have a shitload of work right now. delays are not delays anymore

[airborne1]

I say be nice to anyone who can do a cavity search on you.

[bbb18c1]

Originally Posted by KEVORKIAN

Just got confirmation that my parcel has left customs & is on its way...

Anyone else have good news???

sigh.......sadly mine package status has not changed.

Funny though, on the canadapost website, it just says that the package has entered vancouver bc. I have to check the ems speedpost website with the tracking number before it says it has been handed to customs.

Does anyones elses say it is at customs frpm the canadapost website?

[Beazer]

im in the same boat for some fricken mags.

[Farmboy]

the canadian dollars just got higher, so many people are buying stuff from overseas now. that is why customs have a shitload of work right now. delays are not delays anymore

Bingo.


I was clearing some shipments through customs this week and they said they were backlogged by 2 - 3 weeks because of the cross border shopping now.