Thread: Duties and such...

Hey all,

I just got an email from ebay following up a purchase that I made the other day. It reminded me that I may be responsible for paying duties on the razor. I live in Canada and the razor is from the U.S.A.

It cost just over 30 bucks. It never occurred to me that there would be any applicable duties on this purchase. Even if they charge me 7 percent duty I would be paying no more than 2 dollars, so why bother?

Is there someone that could clear this up for me? Will I have to pay duties? When and where will I pay them? Is there some way of getting around them? Its not a huge deal, its mostly that I have never been in a situation where I had to deal with them and as such I do not know how to- and it adds another step to the process of actually getting the razor...


I searched the forums but found nothing. Feel free to direct me to a different thread if this topic has already been covered- I just couldnt find it.

AFAIK, a used razor shouldn't be subject to duties.



All other costs should be included in the S&H.

Har har- don't ever underestimate the Canadian Customs people for their ingenuity at ferreting out every possible charge for their citizens.

If they are duties to pay you will be contacted.

if there are dutyes to be payed you can also expect a service fee probably around 15$
just to bill you for VAT

Hey Old67, I live in Canada as well and in the past while purchased a couple of razors from the states and even one from Germany and have yet to pay any duties

Originally Posted by willow2006

Hey Old67, I live in Canada as well and in the past while purchased a couple of razors from the states and even one from Germany and have yet to pay any duties

Quick...touch wood! Touch wood!

You may get $5 handling fee, plus your local tax's...but something with that value (<$50) should float under the wire.

it rather depends on how you get it shipped. USPS does not usually charge duty. UPS on the other hand, will charge you as much as they can.

There have been no duties on any of the razors I've gotten through ebay over the last year and a half (probably 30 or so). Although, none have had a declared value over $50.

Originally Posted by willow2006

Hey Old67, I live in Canada as well and in the past while purchased a couple of razors from the states and even one from Germany and have yet to pay any duties

Thanks brother.

I hope this goes under the radar, just because it is being shipped to me here at my university dorm and I would prefer not to be hassled by our administration about why I am importing sharp blades into the school.

I just dont see why I should pay duties on something that for all they know could be being sent to me here from my grandfather. The thing is almost 200 year old. Do they really think that its okay to collect money on something 200 years after the fact?

Yeah, you'll probably not have to pay anything given the low value. However, as we all know, there is a very large and powerful straight razor lobby in Ottawa ensuring the industry here is protected, so beware, duty on carbon steel razors are 17.5% and stainless steel ones are subject to a duty of 25%.

Bob Loblaw

Please tell me they're using USPS to ship!?! If they use UPS or Fedex you could well end up paying more for fees than your razor if subjected to duties. Relatively items around $20 aren't worth their (custom's) time to tax duty, but beware that they typically go by postal code for tracking the number of times things get sent so if your school has a lot of US shoppers it just may...