Pain In The Tariff!
So, I was eying “Dexter’s Laboratory – The Complete Collection” at several retailers and had never considered that the tariffs would have a secondary effect on goods that are not tariffed so I didn’t expect sticker shock a few days back – The price of this DVD collection just skyrocketed, by $30 at some of these retailers.
Like CDs and vinyl, DVDs and Blu-rays are not currently included in the list of goods that are being subjected to tariffs. But I suspect their prices will go up in the states, well above the $20 postal importation exemption, which is rather annoying. And I presume any shipment from the states would be delayed going through customs because they’ll have more forms to fill out, unless Canadians just stop importing from the states via mail.
I did just order the collection from a Canadian seller on eBay for the amount I had encountered before the hike, preferring to avoid the American and Chinese sellers. And if need be I could always try the U.k and Europe for other releases as well.
I personally like Amazon u.k, Amazon France and FNAC for CDs and Region Free DVDs from Europe, and I do have a region free DVD player for some French films that never made their way to DVD in North America. But sometimes deals can be had for under $20 Canadian, not including shipping, and sometimes the shipping rates are acceptable.
I have emailed my local MP and several electoral candidates suggesting a $60 exemption for postal importations from Europe, the U.k and several more of our stable trade partners so I’m hoping we’ll be able to order more from those countries after the election is done.
If you want to support a $60 exemption for postal imports, which is long overdue, you can contact your local Member of Parliament via this form, after the election of course.
Hopefully we’ll be done with this tariff nonsense soon…
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British Pound More Affordable
You may want to consider ordering goods from Great Britain as soon as possible because the British Pound is near parity with the American Dollar and consequently more affordable to Canadians, as you can see from the current exchange rate shown in this graphic:
Alibris U.K, Amazon.co.uk, HMV.com and Musicroom.com are the U.K companies I import from the most and I tend to order CDs, sheet music and film on DVD/Blu-ray from them, the latter being playable only on multi region players, which can be purchased from Amazon Canada and Amazon America.
You should note that some DVD and blu-ray players can play Region 0 discs, some in PAL so consult your player’s manual for details.
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High Currency
Now that the Canadian dollar is stronger at around 80 cents against the greenback I’d say this is the time to take advantage of sales in the states, like those at Amazon.com, American Musical Supply, Arkiv Music, Guitar Center, Music & Arts, Musician’s Friend
and Sheet Music Plus.
Please note that most shipments valued at less than CAD$20 are exempt from duties and taxes. Click here for details on this exemption.
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Ebay Asks Canadian Users To Sign Petition
Ebay is asking Canadian users to support their petition to raise the de minimis threshold from $20 on postal importations for personal use.
Most postal shipments imported into Canada for personal use valued at less than $20 in Canadian funds are exempt from taxes and duties. And although this amount was acceptable when it was adopted in the 80’s, many nations have adopted higher de minimis thresholds since.
The current de minimis thresholds for American residents is US$800 and when European Union residents import merchandise for personal use their de minimis threshold is €150. Considerable amounts compared to the Canadian rate.
In late 2016, a petition had been submitted to the Parliament and the government responded by saying it is assessing their options :
“The Government is working to facilitate trade and streamline administrative burdens, and has undertaken concrete actions to facilitate low value shipments. In 2013, as part of the Beyond the Border Initiative, Canada and the U.S. harmonized processes to expedite the customs administration of low value shipments and waived the requirement for a certificate of origin for such shipments to benefit from preferential tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Furthermore, in 2011, three generic tariff classifications were introduced in the Customs Tariff to facilitate the processing of low value non-commercial imports arriving by post or by courier.”
Please consider signing this new petition by clicking here. Thank you.
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Postal Update And More
It appears that we will be getting our mail delivered on Friday. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has refused arbitration and Canada Post had delayed the lockout until noon, Monday the 11th of July, 2016.
The other carriers have been reporting a boom in business so it is obvious that most of the e-commerce retailers have already taken preemptive action to keep their parcel deliveries flowing. And as I’ve mentioned in previous entries, most people will likely see no significant delays in their parcel deliveries.
I will update this blog with new information if the situation changes, of course. So don’t forget to pop on by over the next few days.
By the way, a new Parliamentary petition has been created to ask the federal government to raise their de minimis threshold on postal imports from $20 to $200 (in Canadian funds).
At the moment postal shipments valued at less than $20 in Canadian funds are exempt from duties and taxes. And this petition calls for shipments to be valued at less than $200 in Canadian funds to be free of duties and taxes, in response to a study commissioned by eBay that I had mentioned in a previous post.
I have signed the petition and hope that you will sign it too before the October 14th, 2016, when the petition closes.
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eBay Wants Changes In Duties
A study published by the CD Howe Institute is the latest attempt by eBay to get the Canadian government to consider raising the duty free thresholds.
Most postal shipments valued at under $20 and gift shipments valued at under $60 (in Canadian funds) that are imported into Canada are not subject to duties and taxes. And this eBay commissioned report studies the possible effects of a hike of this threshold to $80, $100 and $200 (in Canadian funds).
Apparently the authors of this study have found “that an increase of the DMT in Canada will be fiscally neutral or even positive for the federal government” and that such an increase would “likely to yield a net economic benefit for Canada”.
The American threshold was raised from $200 to $800 (in American funds) last February so hopefully the government will consider a higher threshold, reducing a need for paperwork for eBay sellers and Amazon Marketplace
For additional information on importing music by mail you can either click here to read my article on saving by importing films and music or click here for the official information issued by the Canadian Borders Services Agency.
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