I have sent out the preliminary step to those who indicated they were interested in joining in the QAL. I am missing the email for one person so Dianne C. if you would provide me with that, I will forward the instructions to you.
If you haven't yet signed up, you have until Mar. 30th.
Have you had an unexpected bill from Canada Customs? Mine came courtesy of the company that delivered a package to my house a little while ago. When I picked up the mail today, it included a bill from the company. After reading it over and determining it wasn't a fake, I saw the it was charges from our favourite government agency. As I had already paid for the shipping of the parcel when I ordered the product, I was (understandably, I think) irritated to get another charge.
This item was well under $100.00 which I have always understood to be the line in the sand. Apparently, I was wrong. The levy is 'at the discretion' of Customs. I am now in the process of writing to whichever politician is responsible for that portfolio.
My feeling is that there should be a chart where you can check to see if an item is subject to duty and how much. I am sure there are guidelines but they don't seem to be available to the public.
If you have any information that would help, I would appreciate hearing from you. If you live in a country other than Canada, what is your experience?
This isn't a life or death issue but I think it is unjust to have a cost for something but not tell anyone what it is. I will let you know what happens.
Blessings,
I am finding in the past year that everything crossing the border gets dinged for import duty and sometimes brokerage fees. It's happened to me twice in the past 3 months.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that this has happened to you. Start with questioning the shipping company that sent you the invoice to find out as much as you can. A lot of quilters seem to have stuff shipped into Canada, and never have a problem. Yet some do. From what I have heard before, it seems to be based on how/who it is shipped by, not necessarily what the contents are. IOW I think some of the out-of-country online shops have done their homework and know better how to make it all work out. Good Luck ..... and look forward to hearing more as to how things turn out for you on this.
ReplyDeleteI live in the USA and I've received packages from friends in England and I've never had to pay import duty on the packages. I have also shipped things to other quilters in Canada and I've never heard they had to pay duty on the packages. I also get all my medicines through a Canadian pharmacy and have the medicines sent to me from all over the UK and I've never had to pay a duty on them. Do you have to pay duty on gifts sent from a private party in another country? I agree, if you are going to have to pay a duty/tax, you should know about it beforehand so you can make an informed decision.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I live in southern US and I don't think I've ever had to pay an import tax on anything I've received from other countries. However, in shipping to other countries I have paid dearly!! We were in Toronto several years ago when my husband worked for IBM. While he was in a meeting, I went shopping for fabric, which I did find. However, a week or so after we got home, we got a bill from driving on a highway that happened to be a toll highway and we didn't know. There were no toll booths like we have in the US! We paid it but were not happy about that surprise!
ReplyDeleteI do not remember if I signed up for the QAL, but I would love to receive instructions by email. Good luck getting some response about the extra fee you were charged for your package. I agree that when you place the order it should be clear if there is an added fee for the order.
ReplyDeleteI would like to sign up for the QAL. I thought I did but with all of the "life" things going on at our house, I probably didn't get it done. Sounds like fun and I'm going to try real hard to keep up with this project. Thanks! And good luck with that duty thing!
ReplyDelete