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DISCHARGE wrote: I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

Just one of the many invisible fees that the government has in order to recooperate costs for some of Canada's 'free' services (Health Care)

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote: I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

Just one of the many invisible fees that the government has in order to recooperate costs for some of Canada's 'free' services (Health Care)

Does this mean that customs will open your package?
I was reading up on mailing to Canada. It states that if an item is valued as a gift of $60 or less it is exempt from duties and fess.
Why would you not just mark it as such to avoid the fees?

DISCHARGE wrote:Why would you not just mark it as such to avoid the fees?

Can't send a gift to yourself. One does not simply succeed in tricking the system either with stating a lower price. Tried to do it a few times and it just never works out well.

And don't all customs open packages? I'm quite sure the US does that with select stuff, especially post 9/11.



I wonder how successful this set will be. I don't think it'll have the same allure as the '09 SG set had.

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:Why would you not just mark it as such to avoid the fees?

Can't send a gift to yourself. One does not simply succeed in tricking the system either. Tried to do it a few times and it just never works out well.

And don't all customs open packages? I'm quite sure the US does that with select stuff, especially post 9/11.



I wonder how successful this set will be. I don't think it'll have the same allure as the '09 SG set had.

If the U.S. opens packages, they are real good about sealing them up.
I've only gotten one package from China that was messed up, and the seller said it looked like China customs opened it up because they repacked it in an EMS bag. Other than that I've been good. I've also never had to pay any excess fees
to get property from a foreign country either.
Couldn't you just get a buddy from Botcon to put his name and address on the return part of the box?

I'm starting to think everything I learned about Canada from Canadian Bacon is not accurate.
Also:
http://www.discospock.com/humor/perkycanda.html

UltraPrimal wrote:There's a lot of wasted space in that box. Which sucks for people like me who are flying out of BotCon because that means this thing is gonna take up a lot of room in my suitcase. Which also means I won't be able to buy as much stuff in the dealer room. Not like there's going to be much there I'm interested now that they've banned all 3rd party items. They could have made that box a lot more compact and more presentable at the same time.

Do what I did last year: use it as your second carry on.

Also, you can notice that next to the leg of shattered glass prime is a grapple hook coming from the Cybertron Evac mold, except that it is purple. Galvatron's on the picture too!

nemesis345 wrote:Also, you can notice that next to the leg of shattered glass prime is a grapple hook coming from the Cybertron Evac mold, except that it is purple. Galvatron's on the picture too!

That's it! I've trying to identify that arm/weapon thing! By George I think you're right!

GetRightRobot wrote:

nemesis345 wrote:Also, you can notice that next to the leg of shattered glass prime is a grapple hook coming from the Cybertron Evac mold, except that it is purple. Galvatron's on the picture too!

That's it! I've trying to identify that arm/weapon thing! By George I think you're right!

You sure? I thought it was Duckface Octopunch's arm-mounted Trident launcher thing.

emeraldbeacon wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:

nemesis345 wrote:Also, you can notice that next to the leg of shattered glass prime is a grapple hook coming from the Cybertron Evac mold, except that it is purple. Galvatron's on the picture too!

That's it! I've trying to identify that arm/weapon thing! By George I think you're right!

You sure? I thought it was Duckface Octopunch's arm-mounted Trident launcher thing.

well.... now you have a good point too. Duck-toe-punch.... Hmm. Yes that makes more sense doesn't it? Guess I'll find out for sure in 22 days.

DISCHARGE wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:
Why don't you just mail the box set home? that would give you more room in your suitcase.

Canuckian customs would kick him in the jewels.

Yeah, $300 box set = MINIMUM $30 customs fees, at least twice as much if you use a courier.

That sucks. I don't really know anything about customs fees. How would they know to charge $30 dollars. It is more of a gift, since the item is just being mailed across the border, by it's owner.
Or is $30 a basic fee for the box size? I mean if I had family in Canada and I shipped them something, they would be responsible for a customs fee? taxes have already been paid, I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

They base it on the value of the goods and the type of commodity, it's a set percentage calculated by value. The percentage is different for different types of items. Technically you would be importing the items into the country and that is why they're taxing it, which would be the case with most countries, I assume. However, if you leave the country (which you would be doing for Botcon), you are allowed to bring back a certain amount (value) of items based on how long you were gone. The problem is, they don't make that distinction if you ship it to yourself, only if you bring it along with you. There may be ways to do it without getting hit but I'm sure there are complicated forms and a lot of ways to mess it up. I work in shipping, and I've seen countless times where someone shipped something to themselves (even their own property they forgot) and still got hit with fees. But couriers are worse with that than regular postal services.

DISCHARGE wrote:

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote: I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

Just one of the many invisible fees that the government has in order to recooperate costs for some of Canada's 'free' services (Health Care)

Does this mean that customs will open your package?
I was reading up on mailing to Canada. It states that if an item is valued as a gift of $60 or less it is exempt from duties and fess.
Why would you not just mark it as such to avoid the fees?

They might open your package, if they deem it suspicious or you just happen to get a random check. In all my experience having stuff shipped from the states I've only had a customs inspection once and it delayed the package by a couple weeks but that was it.

As Blurrz said you can't mark it as a gift to yourself, and that exemption only applies to lower value shipments (under $100 I believe). You could try to mark it lower value, but if you don't get away with it, best case they find out the actual value and you still have to pay, in the middle if it gets lost or damaged you lose your items (only the declared/insured value is replaced), and absolute worst case you get in trouble with the law (fraud) for incorrectly declaring items on a customs form.

One more drawback to shipping to yourself is if for any reason the package has to be returned, you're not there anymore to receive it. I've seen lots of packages get abandoned because the receiver couldn't pay the customs fees or they moved or something, and they are no longer at the shipping location to send it back to. If you end up doing it, it's better to have a friend whose return address you can use instead of some random Post Office or shipping center.

Long story short: If you are from Canada going to Botcon, you're much better off bringing your purchases on the plane if you can, but if you can't and you have to ship or mail things, ship the lower value stuff and bring your box set with you.

kirbenvost wrote:Long story short: If you are from Canada going to Botcon, you're much better off bringing your purchases on the plane if you can, but if you can't and you have to ship or mail things, ship the lower value stuff.

After reading all that I think it's safe to say, it was probably easier to import Masterpiece Megatron into Australia soon after he was released than getting something into Canada.

Could people order this from tfcc even if we we're not going to bot on?

Ultra gordon wrote:Could people order this from tfcc even if we we're not going to bot on?

If there are sets left over after the event, they are usually made available on Transformersclub.com I would assume there will be left overs, as the sets have not sold out and are currently not available for people wanting to register. If you are still considering going, Botcon's Facebook page stated today that they hope to have the Botcon registration back online before the event.

Wierd how Thunderwing matches bludgeon in size that way, yet is smaller than most deluxes in bot mode.

kirbenvost wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:
Why don't you just mail the box set home? that would give you more room in your suitcase.

Canuckian customs would kick him in the jewels.

Yeah, $300 box set = MINIMUM $30 customs fees, at least twice as much if you use a courier.

That sucks. I don't really know anything about customs fees. How would they know to charge $30 dollars. It is more of a gift, since the item is just being mailed across the border, by it's owner.
Or is $30 a basic fee for the box size? I mean if I had family in Canada and I shipped them something, they would be responsible for a customs fee? taxes have already been paid, I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

They base it on the value of the goods and the type of commodity, it's a set percentage calculated by value. The percentage is different for different types of items. Technically you would be importing the items into the country and that is why they're taxing it, which would be the case with most countries, I assume. However, if you leave the country (which you would be doing for Botcon), you are allowed to bring back a certain amount (value) of items based on how long you were gone. The problem is, they don't make that distinction if you ship it to yourself, only if you bring it along with you. There may be ways to do it without getting hit but I'm sure there are complicated forms and a lot of ways to mess it up. I work in shipping, and I've seen countless times where someone shipped something to themselves (even their own property they forgot) and still got hit with fees. But couriers are worse with that than regular postal services.

DISCHARGE wrote:

Blurrz wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote: I don't see why the Canadian govt has any right to impose taxes on something that was not sold in their country.

Just one of the many invisible fees that the government has in order to recooperate costs for some of Canada's 'free' services (Health Care)

Does this mean that customs will open your package?
I was reading up on mailing to Canada. It states that if an item is valued as a gift of $60 or less it is exempt from duties and fess.
Why would you not just mark it as such to avoid the fees?

They might open your package, if they deem it suspicious or you just happen to get a random check. In all my experience having stuff shipped from the states I've only had a customs inspection once and it delayed the package by a couple weeks but that was it.

As Blurrz said you can't mark it as a gift to yourself, and that exemption only applies to lower value shipments (under $100 I believe). You could try to mark it lower value, but if you don't get away with it, best case they find out the actual value and you still have to pay, in the middle if it gets lost or damaged you lose your items (only the declared/insured value is replaced), and absolute worst case you get in trouble with the law (fraud) for incorrectly declaring items on a customs form.

One more drawback to shipping to yourself is if for any reason the package has to be returned, you're not there anymore to receive it. I've seen lots of packages get abandoned because the receiver couldn't pay the customs fees or they moved or something, and they are no longer at the shipping location to send it back to. If you end up doing it, it's better to have a friend whose return address you can use instead of some random Post Office or shipping center.

Long story short: If you are from Canada going to Botcon, you're much better off bringing your purchases on the plane if you can, but if you can't and you have to ship or mail things, ship the lower value stuff and bring your box set with you.

Well, thanks for the explanation. It still sucks that Canadians
have to put up with those fees. Selling stuff on ebay I get people wanting me to ship to Canada, but I turn them down because I know there is a lot of red tape involved. I can't imagine the headaches a Canadian has to endure to get this Botcon boxset.

Burn wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:Long story short: If you are from Canada going to Botcon, you're much better off bringing your purchases on the plane if you can, but if you can't and you have to ship or mail things, ship the lower value stuff.

After reading all that I think it's safe to say, it was probably easier to import Masterpiece Megatron into Australia soon after he was released than getting something into Canada.

Nah, we Canadians just have to be prepared to pay extra, that's all. MP Megatron was actually pretty widely available at small collectible stores, but I think we had to go through the same orange plug business as the US. And of course our dollar was worth less back then so our prices were usually higher. Now EVERYONE's prices are higher.

DISCHARGE wrote:Well, thanks for the explanation. It still sucks that Canadians
have to put up with those fees. Selling stuff on ebay I get people wanting me to ship to Canada, but I turn them down because I know there is a lot of red tape involved. I can't imagine the headaches a Canadian has to endure to get this Botcon boxset.

I actually thought you were Canadian based on Blurrz' comment... D'oh! Oh well, at least I helped explain how annoying Canada Customs can be for those who may have wondered. It's really not so bad, we just have to pay extra all the time. Or I'm just used to it.

I HATE it when I have to pay inflated prices and high taxes when I try to import Canadians.

lol?