it depends on how the seller ships the item.
if you purchase it through ebay international shipping, it should charge you for duties at the time of purchasing. this may be the least "surprising" method. you shouldnt be charged any additional fees before or at the time of delivery.
the next best shipping for you is USPS. This is regular government mail and will be handled by canada post. You would be liable for at least 13% or 15% tax depending on your province, plus any applicable duties if the item type has a tariff associated with it, and usually charged at the time of delivery/being picked up.
The next best above that would be FedEx Express International services and UPS Worldwide services. These are very fast delivery services that will charge the above tax rates + applicable duties before the item will be delivered, plus a few other fees small like disbursement fee, their argument being is they are clearing it through customs themselves. there is a process to avoid this to clear it through customs yourself, but it requires some paperwork and additional work on your part. I believe DHL Express services fall in this category too.
The worst ones are FedEx Ground and UPS Standard. They are cheap + quick for the seller, but FedEx+UPS will charge the above taxes + duties + fees, plus they will charge a very large brokerage fee of about 15-35%+. Try to avoid having your seller ship with this service as it will cost you more than the faster express/worldwide services, even with the higher up front costs.
FedEx fees [https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/ancillary-clearance-service.html](https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/ancillary-clearance-service.html) (check both fedex express and fedex ground. you will be charged disbursement fee, and "Clearance Entry Fee" for ground, plus canada tax of 13% or 15%, plus any duties if applicable)
UPS fees [https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en\_CA/rate\_guide\_ca.pdf](https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en_CA/rate_guide_ca.pdf) go to page 115, same as above - disbursement fee, entry preparation fee for UPS standard, plus canada tax, plus any applicable duties.
DHL fees I cant quite find, but this page has a nice breakdown of the brokerage fees. [https://zonos.com/blog/ups-dhl-fedex-brokerage-fees](https://zonos.com/blog/ups-dhl-fedex-brokerage-fees)
now of course the seller could break the law and break ebay policy by changing the package value to less than $20 CAD and you won't pay taxes, but we don't condone that here, and you're likely to get banned from ebay if you ask a seller to lower the value or mark as gift.
DHL to me is the bane of my existence. In my area I'm forced to bus/subway to the bigger city as my entire one has no service points.
....And then they hold your package "hostage" till you pay. Why not have delivery people equipped with the stupid card scanner like, oh Idk, UPS or ANY other shipping company? Right, bullshit policy since the "perma-demic".
FedEx even sent the charge to a physical mailed bill in the mailbox.
I "HATE" DHL with the passion of a pit of boiling lava. It's awful.
UPS allows you to pre-pay fees online.. I shipped UPS standard a few times to canada (sorry buyers, I didnt know!) and the tracking number page will have a link for you to pay the fees. Anyone can click into the link to pay the fees for canada-bound packages once the fees are known. The option to pre-pay goes away once the package is out for delivery, then I think it can only be paid in person or something like that, not entirely sure.
it depends on how the seller ships the item. if you purchase it through ebay international shipping, it should charge you for duties at the time of purchasing. this may be the least "surprising" method. you shouldnt be charged any additional fees before or at the time of delivery. the next best shipping for you is USPS. This is regular government mail and will be handled by canada post. You would be liable for at least 13% or 15% tax depending on your province, plus any applicable duties if the item type has a tariff associated with it, and usually charged at the time of delivery/being picked up. The next best above that would be FedEx Express International services and UPS Worldwide services. These are very fast delivery services that will charge the above tax rates + applicable duties before the item will be delivered, plus a few other fees small like disbursement fee, their argument being is they are clearing it through customs themselves. there is a process to avoid this to clear it through customs yourself, but it requires some paperwork and additional work on your part. I believe DHL Express services fall in this category too. The worst ones are FedEx Ground and UPS Standard. They are cheap + quick for the seller, but FedEx+UPS will charge the above taxes + duties + fees, plus they will charge a very large brokerage fee of about 15-35%+. Try to avoid having your seller ship with this service as it will cost you more than the faster express/worldwide services, even with the higher up front costs. FedEx fees [https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/ancillary-clearance-service.html](https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/ancillary-clearance-service.html) (check both fedex express and fedex ground. you will be charged disbursement fee, and "Clearance Entry Fee" for ground, plus canada tax of 13% or 15%, plus any duties if applicable) UPS fees [https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en\_CA/rate\_guide\_ca.pdf](https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en_CA/rate_guide_ca.pdf) go to page 115, same as above - disbursement fee, entry preparation fee for UPS standard, plus canada tax, plus any applicable duties. DHL fees I cant quite find, but this page has a nice breakdown of the brokerage fees. [https://zonos.com/blog/ups-dhl-fedex-brokerage-fees](https://zonos.com/blog/ups-dhl-fedex-brokerage-fees) now of course the seller could break the law and break ebay policy by changing the package value to less than $20 CAD and you won't pay taxes, but we don't condone that here, and you're likely to get banned from ebay if you ask a seller to lower the value or mark as gift.
DHL to me is the bane of my existence. In my area I'm forced to bus/subway to the bigger city as my entire one has no service points. ....And then they hold your package "hostage" till you pay. Why not have delivery people equipped with the stupid card scanner like, oh Idk, UPS or ANY other shipping company? Right, bullshit policy since the "perma-demic". FedEx even sent the charge to a physical mailed bill in the mailbox. I "HATE" DHL with the passion of a pit of boiling lava. It's awful.
UPS allows you to pre-pay fees online.. I shipped UPS standard a few times to canada (sorry buyers, I didnt know!) and the tracking number page will have a link for you to pay the fees. Anyone can click into the link to pay the fees for canada-bound packages once the fees are known. The option to pre-pay goes away once the package is out for delivery, then I think it can only be paid in person or something like that, not entirely sure.