Any Canadians experienced a China GB with USA reshipper? (1 Viewer)

[foreverdev]

Hi all, Montrealer here, looking to get a set or two from Tina and it's difficult to get pricing on a groupbuy with the reshipping to canada. My feeling is that the savings of a group buy will be eaten up by the reship cost and then canadian customs. Any experience on this from the folks here?
Thanks

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Not sure if this is kosher to discuss, but if I were in Canada, and wanted to do a China GB, I would try to coordinate with two people who lived close to the border. Say one in Buffalo NY, and one near Toronto. Ship to Buffalo, then the member in Toronto drive over to pick them up and bring them back to do the reshipping. Again, no idea whether this would result in a big savings, or if you would be able to get this past customs, but seems like it would be worth looking into.

 

[foreverdev]

True. I do have a friend in Vermont ~3 hours drive from montreal. I looked it and up it appears it would be entirely legal with a smaller amount of chips as after 48 hours in the USA, each Canadian citizen can legally import $800CAD worth of goods without customs fees/duties/taxes. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/bgb-rmf-eng.html. So if I take a weekend in Vermont with my girlfriend we can import $1600CAD worth of chips. Not a bad solution!

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Good point also that the person in the US doesn't necessarily have to be a PCFer.

 

[4SUMERZ]

I live 1.5 hours from the US border in Calais ME. I get all my purchases sent to a parcel depot in Calais. I use the depot address as my mailing address, in connection with their local USPS, Personal mail box (PMB #) for no charge, The depot charges $3 per parcel, and will hold the item(s) there for months without any issues. During Covid, I had some item that were held for over 1 year.
We do trips to Bangor & Portland ME, Haverhill MA, etc every few months, and stay for 1 or 2 nights. Allowed $200 each tax free for 24 hrs, and $800 each tax free for a 48 hr stay in the US.
I have driven over and back, on the same day, and paid the 15% many times if I didn't want to wait for the item. At times, depending on the value bringing back, the Canadian border patrol officers will say, have a nice day and not send you in to pay the tax. I've been doing this since 2010, so the CBP officers are use to seeing me fairly regularly.
Most US border towns have package depots, it's a pretty good gig for receiving and holding parcels. Calais has 3 such package depots.

As long as one has an invoice, receipt for the items, there is no issues at the border coming back to Canada. Often, if I buy poker chips, I ask the seller for a receipt, invoice for that reason, because I have to claim it. One can also make a copy of the private messages if it has the price, or the classified ad. I've never had an issue using a copy of the message or classified ad for a receipt.

Justin always provides an invoice for his group buys.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

I live 1.5 hours from the US border in Calais ME. I get all my purchases sent to a parcel depot in Calais. I use the depot address as my mailing address, in connection with their local USPS, Personal mail box (PMB #) for no charge, The depot charges $3 per parcel, and will hold the item(s) there for months without any issues. During Covid, I had some item that were held for over 1 year.
We do trips to Bangor & Portland ME, Haverhill MA, etc every few months, and stay for 1 or 2 nights. Allowed $200 each tax free for 24 hrs, and $800 each tax free for a 48 hr stay in the US.
I have driven over and back, on the same day, and paid the 15% many times if I didn't want to wait for the item. At times, depending on the value bringing back, the Canadian border patrol officers will say, have a nice day and not send you in to pay the tax. I've been doing this since 2010, so the CBP officers are use to seeing me fairly regularly.
Most US border towns have package depots, it's a pretty good gig for receiving and holding parcels. Calais has 3 such package depots.

As long as one has an invoice, receipt for the items, there is no issues at the border coming back to Canada. Often, if I buy poker chips, I ask the seller for a receipt, invoice for that reason, because I have to claim it. One can also make a copy of the private messages if it has the price, or the classified ad. I've never had an issue using a copy of the message or classified ad for a receipt.

Justin always provides an invoice for his group buys.

So do they search your car and take an inventory on the way over, then search it again on the way back? How do they know whether stuff in your suitcase was purchased in the US or you took it with you?

 

[reverseG]

I'm waiting for a 1250 chip order from the April group buy and shipping was a huge chunk of the cost, but Justin recommended we just pay for air shipping from China as it would cut down on lead time for only a few bucks more.

What I was not necessarily prepared for was the premium exchange rate between CAD and USD on PayPal.

FWIW I was kicking tires on a solo order through Tina myself before going through Justin and was quoted basically the same shipping rate directly from her. It's just what it is for us Canadians.

 

[4SUMERZ]

So do they search your car and take an inventory on the way over, then search it again on the way back? How do they know whether stuff in your suitcase was purchased in the US or you took it with you?

No, you do not have to stop on the way over to claim anything. On the way back, the officers are experienced enough to know what is used and new. They ask whst you have in total $$, your most expensive item, and they ask if you have a receipt for all the items you are bringing over.
Occasionally, they will search the vehicles, but it's a random thing.. in 20 years crossing over to Canada, I've been searched 5 times total.
Receipts are the key, so if you are searched, you better have the receipts.
If they want you to pay the tax, bring in the receipts and they typically will not check...I've been checked once when I went in to pay the tax on a day trip over to US and back.
They do not take account for the shipping cost, only the purchase price, so get the invoice that states both.
If you are picking up packages, make sure you open the boxes or packages...the one time I didn't, and they checked, the packages were not open, so they brought them in and I had to open them. The reason being that you can account for what is in the package to match the receipt.

 

[TheWhat]

Did a GB with the Sunfly Prestige nothing out of the ordinary. Easiest is probably just asking someone to reship for you. You should come out way ahead regardless.

I've only had to pay Customs on a couple Barrels of Tigers, and yes that hurt lol. If I am not mistaken they aren't even looking unless the value is obviously over $250.

 

[4SUMERZ]

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Did a GB with the Sunfly Prestige nothing out of the ordinary. Easiest is probably just asking someone to reship for you. You should come out way ahead regardless.

I've only had to pay Customs on a couple Barrels of Tigers, and yes that hurt lol. If I am not mistaken they aren't even looking unless the value is obviously over $250.

Typically on a short over and back on the same day, anything under $100 is a wave through.