Questions on shipping from Canada to USA.

[Maxi Grip Store]

Hi, I recently opened up an ecommerce website
I am located in Canada and I expect lots of my client to be within the US.

Most of my orders will be between 100 to 800$ and weight from 0.5 up to 12 lbs.

I have recently been recommended UPS from an online retailer. He mentioned that they will deal with custom fees themselves and are really good.
Will my US customers be required to pay for any kind of taxes on receipt? If yes, what does it depends on? States, city?

I am aware that I will need to produce commercial invoice (I now have a nice template for them) and I have my harmonised code for my product.
Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks for your help,
Richard

[Rugles]

You can make your UPS shipments so that the shipper is responsible for any taxes or duties, or have it set that the customer is always responsible. But, if your products are made in Canada, the USA or Mexico then it is likely there is no duty or taxes because it falls under the NAFTA agreement.

[Rugles]

I should mention, that if there are any local taxes due (State or local) its up to the customer to remit the taxes. Which I suspect nobody really does.

It is not your responisbility.

[Maxi Grip Store]

Thanks for your answers!

You can make your UPS shipments so that the shipper is responsible for any taxes or duties, or have it set that the customer is always responsible.

What is the norm on this? I shipped a fairly big order today and identified the shipper as responsible for any duty (My product is made in europe). I am still unsure about how to proceed :)

[Rugles]

Well, if you want to build a customer base ... you should cover the duty. If it were my company, I would build it into the cost of the product. So they would be paying without ever knowing.

You are already asking your American customers to get over the fact you are a foreigner(that is a huge issue the further you go south), so the last thing you need to do is make them regret buying from you. Or worse, call you up and demand a refund or want to return your product because of it. Or post about it on some industry message board.

Take the path of least resistance.

[lgn1]

Most anything under $200 US will be shipped to your US customer duty and tax free, and no brokerage in the states under Section 321 of the customs act.

If you ship a lot of individual items, with nothing over $400, I would split ship, one day apart, with each shipment being under $200. The shipping is a bit more, but you will save in repeat business and customer service.

Americans are a big part of our business, and if you are Canadian, you got to make yourself look American.

It's kind of stupid that some Americans won't buy from Canada, but will have no problem walking into a Walmart, where most of the products are made from even farther away.

[Rugles]

you got to make yourself look American

Absolutely. Any hint of being a Canadian company will chase away a certain percentage of US customers.