Individual purchases from sellers in Canada... anyone know what the tariff situation is now?

[Sirius Glass]

I feel the same way. I have stopped buying anything from the US (including food products at the grocery store). I continue to buy photo related products from Japan, mainly. At least that way, there won't be any surprises. That won't change either, even if the tariffs are removed.

If I lived in outside the US I would do the same thing.

 

[chuckroast]

I feel the same way. I have stopped buying anything from the US (including food products at the grocery store). I continue to buy photo related products from Japan, mainly. At least that way, there won't be any surprises. That won't change either, even if the tariffs are removed.

But wasn't there always duty in Canada for imported goods? When I lived there, that was certainly the case. Admittedly, dinosaurs were roaming the earth back then, so things may have changed...

 

[mshchem]

I haven't bought anything from MAP Camera (Japan) in 2 months, a record for me. I'm going to get ahold of some of the excellent Canadian goat cheese from our Costco. Thank goodness goats don't require aluminum to produce milk.

 

[chuckroast]

I haven't bought anything from MAP Camera (Japan) in 2 months, a record for me. I'm going to get ahold of some of the excellent Canadian goat cheese from our Costco. Thank goodness goats don't require aluminum to produce milk.

Though it is apocryphally noted that goats sometimes are quite happy to eat aluminum cans ...

 

[BrianShaw]

If I lived in outside the US I would do the same thing.

What’s stopping you?

 

[runswithsizzers]

But wasn't there always duty in Canada for imported goods?

The problem for me is not that there is a duty. If there was a reasonable duty/tariff to be paid, and if I could know beforehand how much the amount is, then I could make an informed decision about whether the total cost of a purchase is acceptable to me, or not.

The problem is the uncertainty. One day the tariff is said to be 10% the next day it's 50%. Some say it depends on where the item was made; others say it depends on where it's shipped from. Some say there are certain exceptions, others say, not.

The big players like B&H will probably figure out who needs to pay how much pretty quick. But a private seller could easily be as much in the dark as I am, and our agreed upon price could get a hefty add-on which neither of us was expecting. Maybe one day the dust will settle, and the rules will become known to all, but right now, cross-border purchases are just not worth the risk/hassle to me.

 

[MattKing]

But wasn't there always duty in Canada for imported goods? When I lived there, that was certainly the case. Admittedly, dinosaurs were roaming the earth back then, so things may have changed...

NAFTA set the duty rates to zero for most goods originating in the USA, Canada and Mexico for imports from anyone in any of those three countries importing those goods into their country.
That was tweaked by the agreement entered into between 2016 and 2020.
And that still current agreement is being breached.

 

[mshchem]

Clearly current situation is crazy. It's sad. I noticed that my regular whole bean coffee jumped by 30%. It's not a sustainable practice. At some point, in the near future, it's going to so disrupt manufacturing that people will demand change.

I'm really trying to stay on topic. Canada tariffs.

 

[mshchem]

Iowa grows cereal grains and oil seed. Surely coffee shouldn't be that difficult

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

But wasn't there always duty in Canada for imported goods? When I lived there, that was certainly the case. Admittedly, dinosaurs were roaming the earth back then, so things may have changed...

Yes, and no. Sometimes I paid nothing. When I did, it was reasonable. When I ordered stuff from the US, duties were reasonable. Or have it sent to Blaine, WA, and pick it up (skipping duties/taxes heh heh heh). A drive down there scares me now!

 

[4season]

Clearly current situation is crazy. It's sad. I noticed that my regular whole bean coffee jumped by 30%. It's not a sustainable practice. At some point, in the near future, it's going to so disrupt manufacturing that people will demand change.

I'm really trying to stay on topic. Canada tariffs.

Ah yes, there's nothing like 100% Canadian-grown coffee.

 

[MattKing]

Yes, and no. Sometimes I paid nothing. When I did, it was reasonable. When I ordered stuff from the US, duties were reasonable. Or have it sent to Blaine, WA, and pick it up (skipping duties/taxes heh heh heh). A drive down there scares me now!

Don't forget - the duty rate isn't based on where you bought it from, it is based on where it originated from.
If you buy from a US retailer something manufactured in Vietnam or Japan, it is the duty rates that apply to Vietnam or Japan that apply, not the duty rate for imports of USA manufactured items.

 

[4season]

Don't forget - the duty rate isn't based on where you bought it from, it is based on where it originated from.

Sounds like a good time to buy Soviet and East German cameras!

 

[mshchem]

Don't forget - the duty rate isn't based on where you bought it from, it is based on where it originated from.
If you buy from a US retailer something manufactured in Vietnam or Japan, it is the duty rates that apply to Vietnam or Japan that apply, not the duty rate for imports of USA manufactured items.

Yep, my coffee is roasted in Minnesota. Tariffs are ancient means of collection of revenue for the federal government. Used to be tax stamps on everything from playing cards to cigars. Before the era of printing money.

 

[pentaxuser]

Sounds like a good time to buy Soviet and East German cameras!

Where are these 2 countries?

pentaxuser

 

[Sal Santamaura]

I feel the same way. I have stopped buying anything from the US (including food products at the grocery store). I continue to buy photo related products from Japan, mainly. At least that way, there won't be any surprises. That won't change either, even if the tariffs are removed.

Yes, and no. Sometimes I paid nothing. When I did, it was reasonable. When I ordered stuff from the US, duties were reasonable. Or have it sent to Blaine, WA, and pick it up (skipping duties/taxes heh heh heh). A drive down there scares me now!

There have been threads in the past where members pined for a "like" button in PHOTRIO forums. I always agreed with the arguments against adding one. However, these two quoted posts are enough to change my mind. Like!

 

[Sirius Glass]

What’s stopping you?

There is nothing that I would like to buy at this time.

 

[gordrob]

I bought a Mamiya Press and lens from Japan last week. It was in Canada in a couple days. They shipped it by DHL so I got hit with the GST, no duty but a $18 fee from DHL for handling. DHL drivers went on strike just after the parcel landed in Canada so I have no idea where the parcel is or when it will be deliverd.

 

[abruzzi]

Sounds like a good time to buy Soviet and East German cameras!

That is what I was thinking. Buy stuff made in a country that doesn't exist anymore, make sure the seller puts "GDR" or "Rhodesia" on the label, and watch the confusion at CBP. This would be a good list to draw from:

List of former sovereign states - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[chuckroast]

That is what I was thinking. Buy stuff made in a country that doesn't exist anymore, make sure the seller puts "GDR" or "Rhodesia" on the label, and watch the confusion at CBP. This would be a good list to draw from:

List of former sovereign states - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I so want to see and indication like 'Made In Amnesia' to watch the various government functionaries hunt madly on a map or 'pedia for that nation ...

 

[pentaxuser]

That is what I was thinking. Buy stuff made in a country that doesn't exist anymore, make sure the seller puts "GDR" or "Rhodesia" on the label, and watch the confusion at CBP. This would be a good list to draw from:

List of former sovereign states - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What ever CBP is the people there must have very short memories and have never read anything on world events before about the mid sixties

pentxuser

 

[abruzzi]

What ever CBP is the people there must have very short memories and have never read anything on world events before about the mid sixties

pentxuser

I doubt 1 in a hundred people in the US know what Rhodesia was or where it was located. Similar for German Democratic Republic--although that one they'd probably just assume was Federal Republic of Germany, because it says "Germany."

 

[MattKing]

Unlike when I worked for Canada Customs, I'm quite sure that Canadian Border Services have computers - and I'm sure that they have the resources to deal with name changes!

 

[pentaxuser]

I doubt 1 in a hundred people in the US know what Rhodesia was or where it was located. Similar for German Democratic Republic--although that one they'd probably just assume was Federal Republic of Germany, because it says "Germany."

That's a little worrying if that kind of knowledge of the world beyond the U.S. and its recent history is so poorly known

pentaxuser

 

[abruzzi]

I'm sure that they have the resources to deal with name changes!

But is it a name change or is it an entirely different entity? Tariff's aren't levied aganst a patch of dirt, but against a political entity. A friend of mine was selling some mosaics that were Roman from the 2nd century AD. Should they be taxed as if they came from Italy? What if they were made in the Roman province of Britannia?