[bikruca]

Ok so I was thinking of joining mother of edens MAD program, which is direct sales of MOE products. I am really excited about it and am almost sure I want to do it except- they will be shipping this stuff from the United States. I can't afford to get charged customes with EVERY order (5 dollars, plus taxes) The taxes I can charge my customer so that is ok, but is there any way to get around the 5 dollar fee (by prepaying or something)

Also in Ontario, should tax be charged on cloth diapers? Other baby items? I am confused..

Thanks for the help-

Heather

 

[NathansMommy]

I don't know about the tax question, but as far as I know, there is no way to avoid the customs. You are lucky it's only $5, I've never had customs duties that cheap!!!

 

[bikruca]

well it is 5 dollars plus taxes, which can turn into a lot more depending on the item

I have discovered that diapers should be tax free, so even if I do get charged customs, I can dispute it and get my money back.

"Baby clothing is exempt, including cloth and disposable diapers, rubber pants, training pants, bonnets and booties. Bibs, bunting blankets and receiving blankets are also exempt." (from a government of ontario website)

 

[NathansMommy]

Oh I see, sorry I thought you meant tax on the $5 lol! I was trying to figure out how come I always have to pay so much more then that!

Just make sure they label them CLEARLY as baby diapers. I ordered some dipes for DS recently and they said infant diapers on the box, but Canada Customs opened them and decided they were ADULT dipes and put it in black marker on their customs forms...needless to say I couldn't quite look my postman in the eye when he delivered it lol! And I had to pay taxes on it too, I wonder if it's the same in Alberta and I could get the taxes back hmmm....

 

[bikruca]

if you payed customs they should have given you a form to dispute it. I can't believe they marked it as adult diapers.. I mean how could they confuse it???

Alberta taxes might be different..

No I ment the 5 dollars is over and above the taxes.. it's their 'fee' for opening my box and messing it up.....

And BTW I'm allowed to complain because we get charged a whopping 15 percent here!!!! at least you don't get charged the PST lol.. :LOL

 

[laprettygurl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikruca "Baby clothing is exempt, including cloth and disposable diapers, rubber pants, training pants, bonnets and booties. Bibs, bunting blankets and receiving blankets are also exempt." (from a government of ontario website)

I am in Ontario too, I thought we still had to pay GST but not PST on baby items?

 

[NathansMommy]

Hmmm oh well, it was awhile ago, I'm not even going to worry about it.

Please don't remind of the extra taxes, lol, we're moving to BC at the end of the month and I think they're just as bad!

 

[spearso]

on the diapers, etc. If you are paying PST, you claim it against the PST you are charging customers, for products that are PST-applicable.

susie

 

[CarrieMF]

You can't get around that $5 fee. I don't think you can prepay it, if you could I don't see the point since you're paying when it arrives anyhow. Not having to pay the PST will save you money. You may also get lucky and the package won't get stopped in customs and you'll have no fees to pay. This recently happened to me on a $360 order. I was expecting around a $25-30 charge and I got charged nothing. Certainly not complaining about that one.lol I added the cost into the price on the site anyhow because I know next time I may not be so lucky.

 

[bikruca]

the problem is that orders will be shipped directly to my customers.. so I don't want them having to pay fees.. I don't know what to do now..

 

[bluenail]

Couple of things to address:

1) GST - You only have to register for the GST if your personal annual income (I assume that you'll be registering a sole proprietor) is more than 30,000. That includes any money from the business *in addition* to any income that you are earning any other way. (i.e. a job) If you're not going to be making that much, don't worry about registering for the GST.

2) If MOE is going to be drop-shipping your orders, I think the only thing that you really can do for your customers is request that MOE put a Statement of Origin on the package when they send it. It's hit and miss, depending on which customs agent processes the package, but the odds are a touch more in your favour...and at least it will give you more oomph if the form is on the package if you end up having to dispute the charges.

 

[bikruca]

bluenail- thanks for the info on the GST and the Statement of origin.. I hadn't heard of that before.. I am really new to this..

http://upload.mcgill.ca/purchasing/statement.doc

Is that what you mean by the statement of orgin?

My income will not be that high, so does that mean I don't have to charge/ pay GST? I am confused.. sorry!

Thanks for your help!

 

[bluenail]

Yup - that's the statement. And yes, if your TOTAL personal income is not over 30,000 - you don't have to register for the GST. Therefore, you don't have to charge GST, as you won't be collecting it either. Hope that helps clear things up!

 

[jillyofthevalley]

There is GST on diapers but no PST. If customs charges the PST you can send in the form for a refund. If you live close to the border you could consider getting a mailbox in the US and drive the shipments across yourself and bypass that $5 fee. Although, there generally is a fee to have a mailbox so I guess you just need to figure out what's cheaper for you. It's cheaper for me to pick up my orders in the US because I only pay a few dollars to the package place and I also save on shipping. I can also keep an eye on what customs is charging me (they always try to overcharge so you really need to know your tariff codes). I really don't know how to get around it though if MOE is dropshipping to your customers. If customs decides to charge the GST they will also have to pay the $5 fee.

 

[MamaFern]

what if you just put "gift" on all packages sent out?

 

[NathansMommy]

Someone just recently told me they're really cracking down on packages marked Gift, especially when they have a biz name as the return address. Also, I don't think MOE would be willing to do that would they? I think duties are so ridiculous

I dropship too, and I had one customer have to pay $28 in duty on an order of about the same value. I paid her back the duties because I felt so bad so I ended up losing money. I recently ordered some bath tea from the US, it was only in a small box, well the shipper forgot to put a value so customs opened it, decided it was worth $50 and charged me $9 in duty on it. I'm talking a bath tea sachet that cost $10!!! I'm going to see if they'll refund me, I don't know who the heck at customs thinks that much bath tea is worth $50!!

 

[bikruca]

I guess I can have the orders shipped to me and then distribute them, and see how it goes.

I don't know about the box across the border, it is about a 1 hour drive, but I don't drive and it would be hard to swing I think...

Ok so about the GST thing..

SO because I don't have to pay GST to the government

And don't have to charge GST to my customers

They shouldn't charge me GST at the border?

SO I just get to dispute it every time?

DO I get refunded the 5 dollar fee if I dispute it and I win?

 

[CarrieMF]

Quote:

the problem is that orders will be shipped directly to my customers.. so I don't want them having to pay fees.. I don't know what to do now..

Your best bet would probably be to have the wholesaler ship to you. I know dropshippers usually ship to the customer but see if they'll ship to you instead. If the product costs the customer $20 or less there are no customs charges.

Quote:

) GST - You only have to register for the GST if your personal annual income (I assume that you'll be registering a sole proprietor) is more than 30,000. That includes any money from the business *in addition* to any income that you are earning any other way. (i.e. a job) If you're not going to be making that much, don't worry about registering for the GST.

Nobody is talking about registering for GST, this is the GST that the Heather or the customer would have to pay for purchasing the products.

Quote:

My income will not be that high, so does that mean I don't have to charge/ pay GST? I am confused.. sorry!

You don't have to charge GST if you don't have a GST number, however you do have to pay it. IF you had a GST number you can get the GST you pay back(or part of it back).

Quote:

what if you just put "gift" on all packages sent out?

If it is not a gift and you mark it as a gift it is mail fraud and you get into major trouble for it.

Quote:

Ok so about the GST thing.. SO because I don't have to pay GST to the government And don't have to charge GST to my customers They shouldn't charge me GST at the border? SO I just get to dispute it every time? DO I get refunded the 5 dollar fee if I dispute it and I win?

No. You don't have to pay GST, you don't charge GST, BUT you do pay GST at the border on any products you purchase. If they charged you PST each time, then you would have to dispute it every time. I do not know if you get refunded the $5 fee, I doubt it since it is a customs fee that they charge for handling the product.

 

[jillyofthevalley]

You would only get the $5 back if you owed nothing at all. If you were charged taxes/duty by mistake then you can get it back. If you were only charged PST by mistake and still owed the GST you don't get the $5 back (I hope that all just made sense

)

Customs is awful. I once had a customs officer tell me that there was no code at all for hemp fabric that I was bringing across the border and she would have to charge me 8% duty plus the 14% GST/PST! You also have to pay GST/PST on the duty!

She told me only raw hemp could be brought across the border duty-free (like anyone brings across big bags of just the plant, not legally anyway :LOL ) Anyway, when I got home and checked the tariff schedule, sure enough there was a code for hemp fabric, duty-free. I'm still waiting for my refund. I printed off that page and have it ready for customs the next time.

 

[bikruca]

thanks for all the help everyone.. where do I find this duty schedual?