Shopping Discussion

Do i declare the price i paid at boarder or msrp?

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  • Jul 24th, 2014 4:51 pm
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Aug 2, 2010
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How you pay for it is irrelevant. It cost you $950 and you pay duty on that.
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Dec 11, 2005
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eonibm wrote: How you pay for it is irrelevant. It cost you $950 and you pay duty on that.
It matters.

If you buy a $100 pair of pants from Banana Republic and get a $50 certificate for money off your next purchase, then you spend $50 on something and not $100, you pay tax on the $50, not $100. That $50 is a promotional discount, it is not something that you or anyone else paid $50 in exchange for. It could easily be the the same thing with this "ebay gift certificate", whatever that means. The whole source of the confusion is the OP is not specifying where this "gift certificate" came from. And here we are 3 pages into the thread and they still have no specified.
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Oct 26, 2008
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eonibm wrote: How you pay for it is irrelevant. It cost you $950 and you pay duty on that.
The price of the auto parts was $1,040 Cdn. approx. and you would pay tax (and duty if applicable) on that.

My initial thought was that OP received the G.C. from ebay or the merchant involved to specifically apply to that purchase, and then it should be subtracted for customs.

If in fact OP bought the G.C. or was given it by a doting family member then it would be disregarded for customs purposes.
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Feb 17, 2012
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ORLEANS
Purchase bmw parts from bmw of newton total of 850usd. Cbsa gave me a yellow paper and told to pay inside. They did not ask me where the parts were made. So i saved on duties. I just paid $119 tax.
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Dec 28, 2007
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What if it's one if those items on ebay where the buy it now price is a dollar but the shipping charge is $20. Some sellers profits from the shipping cost instead of the actual value of the item. Do I declare $1 or $21?
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Nov 18, 2003
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WL1980 wrote: What if it's one if those items on ebay where the buy it now price is a dollar but the shipping charge is $20. Some sellers profits from the shipping cost instead of the actual value of the item. Do I declare $1 or $21?
Customs has the ability to charge you the fair market value of the goods instead of what you paid for it.
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May 1, 2003
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If you have to prove it, you will need a receipt. That would show $950, so thats what you declare.
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brunes wrote: It matters.

If you buy a $100 pair of pants from Banana Republic and get a $50 certificate for money off your next purchase, then you spend $50 on something and not $100, you pay tax on the $50, not $100. That $50 is a promotional discount, it is not something that you or anyone else paid $50 in exchange for. It could easily be the the same thing with this "ebay gift certificate", whatever that means. The whole source of the confusion is the OP is not specifying where this "gift certificate" came from. And here we are 3 pages into the thread and they still have no specified.
The distinction provided by your example evades you. A lower selling price due to a discount which results in a lower total price than would otherwise occur is different from how one pays that total, be it by gift card, credit card, debit card or a combination thereof. So, the governing factor is what the 'Total' is on the invoice. You pay tax and duties at the border based on the total of the invoice, not the total less part or all of your method of payment which may include a gift card.
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Apr 30, 2014
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usually it's always recommend to bring the receipt with you just in case, sometimes if u are lucky then it can have a lot of problem!
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Jul 17, 2009
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eonibm wrote: The distinction provided by your example evades you. A lower selling price due to a discount which results in a lower total price than would otherwise occur is different from how one pays that total, be it by gift card, credit card, debit card or a combination thereof. So, the governing factor is what the 'Total' is on the invoice. You pay tax and duties at the border based on the total of the invoice, not the total less part or all of your method of payment which may include a gift card.
its not, he is saying the same thing everyone else is saying, it depends on if the promotional thing the op had is a form of payment or a discount applied before subtotaling his bill.

with that said
the thread can die
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Nov 28, 2006
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i didnt want to start a new thread just wanted to verify something
item is 500 would duty be 500x.13 hst? its a us made product
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tchoke wrote: i didnt want to start a new thread just wanted to verify something
item is 500 would duty be 500x.13 hst? its a us made product
There would be no duties, just taxes (13% HST).

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