Has anyone in Canada ordered from Hobby Easy in HOng Kong? I was wondering how customs nailed you for duty. I see they have some great prices even with shipping but I hear nightmares about the costs of duty on kits. Any info would be great.

Thanks
HastyP

Knock on wood I have never gotten nailed with taxes (Plastic Models are not subject to duty only pst and gst) on any package I have received from HK.. Thats not to say it wont happen Good luck ...even if you have to pay Tax it will only be a fraction of what it could of been anyway considering the huge saving in the base price of the kit. HTH
Cheers,
Bryan

From all the donations that I received from the US, Japan, UK, Italy, etc, etc. All I have ever paid is just the tax on it, as if you bought it here. Here its 15%HST, depending on where you live will depend on how much tax you pay.

But as far as duty, there is none on plastic kits, PE sets, resin, etc, etc.

Where they nail you...is if a donor sends you literature, or panflets for advertising, and the note it on the customs form....then you are looking at some hefty duties.

You will also be cahrged a $5.00 minimum administrative fee plus the PST/GST.

Yeah of course, Customs has to get their pound of flesh in a $5 charge for even just brushing by the box.

Doncha just love the concept of charging a fee to charge you a tax? What if other places worked like that? Here's your burger for $5, now pay me the 75 cents tax plus a fee for ringing up the tax of $2.

Pisses me off something fierce, let me tell you!

The tax is what PAYS for the person charging the tax. That's what it's _FOR_ ferchrissakes!

Only in a monopoly situation can you get away with this sort of robbery.

With all the orders I've gotten from HobbyEasy,Lucky Models, Blast Models and Accurate Armour I'm about 50/50 on being nailed or not.With Lucky they will drop the price on the reciept and on the customs slip so if you do get hit it will be alot less.So far I have not been nailed on a Lucky order.......touch wood.
As for the $5 buck handling fee what a load of %$#@!

Jim

[quote]


Actually the 5.00 handling fee goes to Canada Post.

Customs used to do the work themselves and occasiaonaly you'd get "dinged"and have to go and pick up your customs item from some government customs building and pay the tax or duty there.

But too many itmes were slipping through Canada Post i.e. lazy posties were just letting the items go through withought sending them to the Customs buildings so the parcels wouldn't get accessed and no duty or tax would be collected.

Canada Customs then made a "deal" with Canada Post to do most of the work for them. Canada Post would bring the parcels to the Customs office then the items would get accessed and then Canada Post would take them back and deliver the customs item and collect the money for Canada Customs but Canada Post would get its 5.00 handling fee for doing this. Since Canada Post is a Crown Corporation its motto is "make money any way it can" and they don't let as many customs items slip through (if they can help it)

Basically the 5.00 is "supposed" to expedite the process ans "save" the customer the hassle of going to the customs office to pick up and pay for the item... Or so they say...

Any questions about Canada Post or Customs, just post or message me and I'll do my best to answer.

Cheers, Michael

And yet, in this world, companies that will remain nameless from the Czech Republic can send me a donation for our show of about $200 in product, not have a customs declaration on it at all....and its missed completly by both CP and Customs.

Go Figure!!

Well I did say there are "lazy" posties!

Honestly though Canada Post has to "tag" this parcel to be opened by Canada Customs. If they don't then it gets delivered sans tax.... Consider yourself lucky

Cheers, Michael

Everything that I have ordered from overseas always gets dinged with the $5 fee plus taxes.These days I pretty well only order from within Canada.

I'm a letter carrier(aka 'lazy postie') with Canada Post and the overseas parcels that show up in our mono containers are already tagged/labeled by Canada Customs and go into a seperate bin which are then run thru and registered with our computers BEFORE the mailman ever sees them.

Hey brother I'm a carrier too but was a clerk who I was aiming the lazy postie tag at

Ten years ago I worked at the Gateway Mail Facility in Toronto and worked in the bulk mail facility which handles all parcel sizes and customs parcels.

The parcels that are coming in through this facility and others across Canada are processed by clerks (those lazy posties) and then customs before any letter carrier ever sees them.

By the time you get them at your station in those monos they have already been handled a few times by Canda Post and Customs.

The the clerk in your station is only processing them for your IDB sheet and for you to collect the signature and money.

Cheers, Michael

A fellow letter carrier! Say, I will be in Toronto at the end of the month for a CUPW educational. Know of any good hobby shops that are near the Courtyard Marriott on Yonge Street?

The two hobby stores I frequent are Keiths Hobby which you could easily get to by subway, here is the link...

http://www.keithshobbyshop.com/index.htm

and Northstar Hobby which is west of Toronto but if you have car access it is worth the drive

http://www.northstar-hobbies.com/catalog/about_us.php


Military Hobby is out of the question but it is a great store too and if Dave (the owner) is around you can sometimes swing a deal

Cheers, Michael

Thanks Michael!

Hi

Well, I recently spoke with the Customs folks and this is what they told me WRT customs etc. Cda Post charges a 5.00 or 8.00 "handling fee" depending wether or not it is regular or priority post.

Cda Customs DOES NOT charge customs on plastic but assesses a 15% tax (up from 7%). Technically, the duty free status ONLY APPLIES to items MADE in the US, however...

Bare in mind too that companies like UPS will nail you with every conceivable fee as well as their own "handling charge".

So, to answer your question, I find it best to know your prices. Determine for yourself whether or not saving a few extra dollars is worth the extra shipping time it will take and the amount that you MAY have to pay should it get hit by CRA.

HTH

Tom