Customs Question about shipping into Canada & Customs Fees

I recently got a doll from Souldoll and apart from a week extra waiting time (it was around Christmas and they got a few more orders than they were expecting) I had a very good experience with them! Beautiful doll, the default face-up was exceptionally high quality, great resin quality (even if it attracts dirt it's nothing a bit of water and tissue paper can't fix) and great communication from Souldoll.

I asked them for an estimated shipping date twice, each time they replied within 24 hours and gave me a shipping date (they refer to it as 'delivery date' but that's a mistranslation).

Customs for Canada will be a percentage of the total price of the doll, but I wouldn't imagine it to exceed $100? In the UK we get about 33% of the total worth added as tax/customs when importing...

 

Hi Stephy,

I'm in Canada, and I ordered a Soulkid doll that arrived in January. I was worried about having to pay a big customs fee, but Souldoll marked my doll's value on the customs form as $20, so I didn't have to pay anything! Hopefully it will work the same for you.

 

Oh, I forgot to answer the second part of your question. I had a very positive experience with Souldoll -- my doll is beautiful, and the company seems professional and good to deal with. No complaints here.

 

Hi! I received an order from Volks that was around $400 and customs was about $64 - I hope that helps!

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my doll was only insured for $50 and he was SD sized.

 

I haven't ordered from SoulDoll myself but a few others have in the Toronto area and they have lovely dolls. Customs fees will be $10-15 processing fee + your provinces taxes (so in Ontario it's about 15% of the declared value).
Your doll will be sent via EMS from SoulDoll, and may be delivered to your house by CanadaPost, Purolator or even UPS. If you're not home they'll leave a post card with the address to pick up your package, and it should be marked with whatever customs fees are due.

 

hello~~~
I'm looking forward to buying my first BJD from DOD,
but I've heard something about.. CUSTOM FEES?..
I've never heard about them.. I've ordered things from other countries before
and they never charged me about custom fees
Do Canada have custom fees? Or did i make a mistake?
also, if there are custom fees,
how much are they usually?
Thanks so much for your helps ^^

 

Yeah, there are Canadian customs fees. I sometimes don't have to pay or I do. It all varies.

I've had packages marked at $400 with around a 6-7% customs charge. But I've also had a $150 package with a 10% customs charge.

 

It really, really depends on two things: How much the company has marked as the value, and how the customs officers are feeling at the time. It's so random and hard to know how much you might have to pay.

I've never paid customs fees on any of the ones I've gotten from overseas, mostly because the companies have marked the packages at a much lower value (even though I told them specifically not to in one case). It's always a risk asking the companies to do this - it's actually illegal to under declare a package's value, but the companies often just automatically do it.

Best idea is to leave an extra $100 to the side, just in case. Then if you're lucky and aren't charged any fees, then you can buy some extra accessories for your doll instead.

 

awww~!!
that sucks T^T
I'm also thinking about ordering the MSC from VOLKS
do they charge Custom fee on that as well?
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPLIES :]]]]]

 

If I order my bjd on June 7th, and it will take 40 days to make and ship out, how long will it take to arrive to my house in Canada? I'm not sure on how long it would take...

 

While I can't say exactly how long customs may hold your doll, anything I've ordered through the states typically take an extra week. On the flip side, I've received things from Japan faster than USA.

 

i just received 20$ brokerage fee for a 20$ item, some kind freak me out
so does any one have ideas?

 

hmmm if i'm not wrong I don't think the brokerage fee itself would be much more than 20$, it's the custom fees you should be worried about if you get hit by them.
They should be about 7-13% of your package's value depending on what province you're from.

Kick me if i'm wrong!

 

I've never had to deal with brokerage fees before either, that is interesting.
For customs fees, I received a box from VolksUSA around 1500 and paid about 200 dollars in fees.

 

I've only dealt with brokerage fees when using UPS from the US to Canada. Whenever I buy at Volks USA, I have them ship by USPS to avoid the brokerage fees.

 

Curious on approx customs charge on 330 dollars worth of doll parts from US to Canada via USPS?

 

I haven't been dinged by customs for dolls in a verrrrrrry long time, but I remember that they used to and it was always a lot. Read more about it here:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...fees-should-I-expect&highlight=canada+customs

 

Thank you!
Too bad there isn't more info, but that works

 

Hi!
I ordered my first BJD, a Delf Lishe from Luts in December, and I need to know if I'll have to pay customs at the door when she arrives in a few weeks.
This is really important so please give me recent answers.

If you've received a doll from Luts in the last two-three months, and live in Canada, please let me know if you had to pay!

Thanks!
~ Nana ​

 

Hi there,
I think it might depend on where you live, but I'm in Ontario and I've never had to pay any customs fees for packages from Luts. =)

 

Has she shipped yet? LUTS says they'll mark down packages. http://eluts.com/board/view.php?board_name=DREAMBOARD2&choose2=&choose1=&ID=75197

I've been charged customs on dolls and doll stuff before from other companies, so it's possible.

 

No, she hasn't been shipped yet. Should I ask them to mark her down?

 

Customs chooses packages relatively at random to tax. If your girl hasnt shipped yet, you can ask luts to mark it to a gift under 60 dollars, as 60$ is the threshold at which they start charging. Im not aware of taxing for items not classified as gifts.

 

Customs can also be charged if it is possible/believed that the item(s) could be purchased within Canada. My dealings with customs have been variable but I do know that any DVD/Book/Anime goods I've order through the USA, I've been charged. When I've ordered from overseas (China/Japan), it's been 50/50 chance of being charged. Both my dolls came through the USA and there was not a charge. Perhaps it's a matter of value to the Canadian economy... dolls aren't necessarily a high dollar value in some eyes.

 

I think Luts automatically marks down packages... at least, I've had three dolls arrive from them within the past year or so and the value was always listed as $60 for 1 doll and $20 for doll's accessories. Of course, you can ask them to make sure.

 

I suggest anyone who's curious to do their own research (Google is a very handy tool), but I'll share what I've found-

This site helps those in Canada figure out what they can expect to be charged for out of country shopping taxes, duties, etc.
http://betterdollar.com/?s=Dolls

Dolls and doll items should be free of tariffs.

Tariff Items Description of Goods

9503.00.90.1 Dolls representing only human beings
9503.00.90.11 Whether or not dressed
9503.00.90.12 Garments and accessories therefor, footwear and headgear
9503.00.90.19 Other parts and accessories
9503.00.90.5 Toys representing animals or non-human creatures (I included this for those anthro/fantasy mythical creature dolls)

These should all be free of 'MFN Tariffs' and 'Applicable Preferential Tariffs'.
MFN stands for Most-Favoured-Nation
Preferential Tariffs are more out of country tariffs.


However, that being said, they're still applicable for for taxes GST, PST / HST... Anything mailed in that's over $20 in value, and any gift over $60 in value.

http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/customs/a/shopshipcanada_2.htm

It can also depend on which service ships your packages.
Some shipping companies will charge you extra brokerage fees, which, really, should be included in your shipping costs in the first place. Frankly, I think it's sneaky and dishonest.
I've found that when I had something shipped with either UPS or DHL, I got charged extra. Every. Single. Time.
I don't mind getting charged every now and then, but every time... I won't use either of those shipping services if I can at all help it. I'll even go as far to ask if I can PLEASE get my order shipped by someone else.

Hopefully this helps someone out, and helps clear things up a bit.

 

With DHL, was that even with declaring it with less than $20/60 for gift? I have some accessories that is being shipped via DHL. OTL

 

I had a package sent with DHL and even though the value was marked at $35, I still got charged duty fees + GST/PST/HST + processing fees. -_- So I think I'd play it safe and request EMS whenever possible because I've never had any charges with that method..

 

Was the package sent as a gift or not? Because if it was a gift, they shouldn't be able to charge you with duty fees unless customs decided to up the value. :/

Ok, now I'm getting worried. At this rate, I wonder if DHL has been losing business to EMS since it seems most people in Canada get hit with fees with DHL instead of EMS.

 

I've never had anything worth under $20 shipped by either UPS or DHL, so I wouldn't know. : / I've just learned to avoid these companies with a ten meter pole.

If DHL's losing money, it's because their customers don't appreciate getting hit with extra charges at the door. Unless it's tariffs (which dolls and doll items shouldn't be charged for), or taxes, then it's the customs broker charges.
Basically, these shipping companies use customs brokers to help get their packages through customs. These brokers charge a fee, which some shipping companies include in the shipping price, while others don't (and I suspect this is so that they can appear to have less expensive shipping ).
So, really, when you're using those shipping services, you've gotta factor in the cost you get hit with at the door as the whole shipping cost.

Given that we have to deal with shipping a lot in this hobby, I think it's important to know how the system works!

 

I've never been charged any border taxes for my resin doll stuffs from Asia, Europe and the USA. I lived in Saskatchewan and the packages did not go through Ontario, packages went through Vancouver. Luts and Soom marked down the packages automatically, so I did not pay taxes on the dolls. Volks USA do not mark down prices but I have only ever bought accessories from them. Strangely, I was never charged a tax even when the amount far exceed $60 from Volks (USA). I assume that if I had bought a doll from Volks USA, I'd pay taxes like crazy!

The one time I paid taxes for a doll was when dolllie went from the US to Ontario and then to Saskatchewan. It was not a resin bjd, the seller cannot mark down the price because the doll is a well known 36" American vintage doll, a simple scan will identify her and her market value. No choice....I paid. Many of the items I bought from the USA such as DVDs, etc are taxed if the prices are not marked down. Canadian border tax is something I can never figure out. I once asked the post office staff how the duties are calculated and she said nobody actually knows. I have to call up and inquire! It varies from package to package! Yes, DHL and some postal services charge. I avoid those.

 

I ordered some eyes and wigs from Luts that arrived last week. I know that's not really comparable to a doll, but Luts had marked down the price quite a bit without my asking. And no, I didn't have to pay any fees upon receiving the package, which was really nice!

 

Is it best to ask LUTS to mark down packages? I'm in Canada and I'm also going to order from LUTS, I'm terrified she will even be held in customs... I have ordered from overseas before and I haven't and any problems but something big like a doll I'm not sure of.

 

I just recieved my doll this week, and I asked them to mark it down and they did, so its worth a shot. If you don't write them though, they should mark it down anyway.

 

Thanks!

 

Just got my box today - I just had to sign for it and that was it! No customs charges! :
The retail value was almost $300 but since it was shipped EMS I was confident that the package wouldn't get lost.

I requested them to under-declare the value in the [Comments] box of my order. I said to put $45 which I think is reasonable to a non-doll collector for what a bunch of "doll stuff" might cost. Basically anything less than $60 is safe for not getting slammed with customs fees. Even if they opened the box to inspect it Luts didn't put any invoices inside that would indicate the regular retail price.

 

I've had several doll-priced packages from Luts, and I don't recall paying any fees on them. I remember paying $20 for one package, but I don't recall if it was from Luts or not.

But, yes. Technically you shouldn't have to pay anything other than possible taxes on anything doll-related in Canada. I've heard of people being charged over $100 for things, though. You can certainly have the post office review the charges to have them dropped if you do get some for whatever reason, but you won't get your package in the meantime, which pretty much blows.

Most of the time, though, someone comes to my door, I sign something, and they hand me the package. n__n​