With 1 US dollar equalling 1.12 Canadian I'm not rushing to the US to buy anything. Things would have to be a lot cheaper to make it worthwhile to spend the gas and pay the duty.

 

Yes, they are cheaper and have been for many years.

 

Even when the exchange rate isn't favourable, prices in the US are sometimes much cheaper for the same goods, and it can make sense to buy things there even considering the taxes at the border. I wouldn't make a special trip for it though; I usually combine my shopping with trips I'm taking for other reasons. I also order things online from the States when the price (including shipping and taxes) is cheaper than the price of that item in Canada, or if that item isn't available here (which happens a lot).

In my experience you don't usually pay duty unless you've been gone for less than a day and you're coming back with more than your allowed total of purchases (or if you bought liquor -- I learned that one the hard way...the $20 bottle of wine I bought ended up costing me $45). However, if you declare at the border you will have to at least pay GST and the provincial sales tax (unless your purchases are under the allotted amount. I usually look up the amount I'm allowed to bring back based on how long I've been out of Canada, and just make sure my purchases are under that amount. If you buy in a sales-tax-free state like New Hampshire, this can be a very good deal).

Because I'm a frequent border crosser and don't want to get in trouble, I always declare my purchases. Inspections happen less frequently on the Canadian side than on the US side, but they do happen. One time when we were coming back from a wedding in the US, the Canadian customs agent spent 45 minutes searching through our car, looking at the tags on every item of clothing in our bags and even the ones we were wearing, searching under the seats, etc., trying to find items we might have bought and not declared. I hate to think of what would have happened if we were trying to avoid paying taxes by not declaring things we'd bought; it's not worth the stress. I know plenty of people who do it all the time and don't get caught, but if you get caught once I think you'd regret it.

 

CBC did a nice story about 2 years ago when the loonie was quite close to par (link below) on certain products and their price differences between us and our neighbor down south.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/price-drops.html

I don't know if the info is still valid as of now but I find it pretty intriguing the difference in prices for cars (I know FT has recently written about this topic on his blog), household products and clothing.

If anyone else has a more recent story on this very topic, please share.

 

It's weird, they do have a lower cost of living even if the buck was lower. You can feed 3 people at a cheap resteraunt for 12 bux. You can't do that in Canada!

They also have the lowest wireless cell phone charges in the world (don't quote me on that but they've gotta be the closest).

Bottom line, shopping stateside can be a big savings if you know what your looking for, but don't forget to factor in your gas, time and duty at the border.

 

I work in the States often and work with Americans in Canada. They can't believe the extra fee's we pay everywhere (bank's, cell phones) and the cost of living (food, taxes)

In Canada it does cost a lot more to deliver goods, build telecom and road infrastructure etc per capita because we're rediculessly spread out. I'm sure there's also a safety buffer for the exchange rate, and then more just because they can

When I'm working in the States and have time to shop around, I find lots of deals. I wouldn't make a special trip to buy at US retail, because you can wait at home for a local sale and save the hassel, and support your economy

I'm sure stores next to border crossings know what's going on and take advantage of it rather than putting on sales.

So once you factor in all the hassel I doubt it's worth a special trip. Unless it's for something like a vehicle. I'm hoping to buy my next vehicle used down south that hasn't seen salt

 

Most tax treaties seem to be set up to avoid double taxation.

1) Is there some way I can claim an exemption or refund of US state tax when making purchases I bring back to Canada? Complicated or not, I can't find anything on the internet about this.

2) When charged the duty when returning to Canada, I was charged on the amount including state tax. Shouldn't the Canadian duty be charged on the amount excluding state tax?

I live on the border and frequently cross for shopping, and for anything over $100, it seems that I am being double taxed.

Can anyone help with some links or information about this?

p.s. One tip commonly used is to set up a PO Box in the US to receive online purchases and cross the border to pick it up. A lot of times, this will save a fortune in shipping costs (although you have to factor in tolls for border crossing and gas to pick it up), but this should also avoid any customs charges being automatically applied to your order when bought online, and if you have an order around $100, you probably won't pay any tax at all.

 

Most tax treaties seem to be set up to avoid double taxation.

That's true for income tax, but I don't know if it's true for sales tax.

1) Is there some way I can claim an exemption or refund of US state tax when making purchases I bring back to Canada? Complicated or not, I can't find anything on the internet about this.

I don't think you can, but I do agree that the Canadian taxes at the border should be levied on the item price alone, not the item price plus the US sales tax.

About 11 years ago I ordered a wooden flute from a flutemaker in England who had a 10-year waiting list. The flute was finally ready last year, and I had heard so many horror stories about musical instruments disappearing in Canadian Customs when shipped to Canada from other countries that I had the flute shipped to a friend in the States instead. The US post office charged him $400 in US taxes, which I reimbursed him for. Then when I crossed the border back to Canada with the flute, I had to pay $650 in federal and provincial sales taxes. I was told there was no way to be reimbursed for the US taxes, but at least they didn't make me pay Canadian sales tax on the US taxes I paid.

Anyway, that turned out to be one very expensive flute (but it was well worth the wait and the money).

 

I am looking for a fall/winter jacket and found one that I like in a catalogue of a major outdoor gear retailer. The jacket retails for $89.99 USD online while the same jacket is selling for $179.99 CAD at the local shop. Mind you, we have not factored in the exchange rate and duty but this is pretty mind-boggling.

 

$89.95 Price
$10.00 UPS shipping (if you can get it that cheap)
$25.00 UPS Brokerage
$15.00 exchange costs
$02.50 Credit card fee for currency exchange
$12.00 GST & PST
======
154.45

$30.00 savings

Being able to try it on or return it -- priceless!

 

Dave, I already tried on the jacket at the local store and there is no way I'd pay $200 for it ($179.00 + PST and GST) when comparable items are available for less.

If I have the jacket shipped to an UPS store in a border town Stateside then the shipping cost is negligible and I don't have to pay the UPS Brokerage fee (if it even applies).

I am all about supporting the local economy and jobs but we have choices as consumers. To splurge without doing your due diligence is no longer acceptable in this day and age. I saw a men's jacket at a local Banana Republic store today that retails for $160.00 pre-tax. I happen to glance at the label and it was made in Vietnam. Having immigrated to Canada from said country, i can tell you that jacket didn't cost more than $20 CAD to make back there. The beauty of capitalism.

 

$89.95 Price
$10.00 UPS shipping (if you can get it that cheap)
$25.00 UPS Brokerage
$15.00 exchange costs
$02.50 Credit card fee for currency exchange
$12.00 GST & PST
======
154.45

Whenever I made the mistake of shipping standard UPS, their absurd brokerage fee ruined the deal (it can be more than the price of the product). I've even seen a few stores warn Canadians about this, but most are clueless since it's after the fact

I find USPS airmail the best deal if possible (don't know why, but it's even cheaper than ground it seems to bypass taxes or something)

Depending on the item I will use USPS ground or Fed Ex. UPS expedited is actually includes the brokerage fee so it's actually faster and cheaper, but I boycott them anyways for this practice

 

I find USPS airmail the best deal if possible (don't know why, but it's even cheaper than ground it seems to bypass taxes or something)

But some vendors in the US will NOT ship USPS. Picking stuff up on the other side of the border is great for those who live near by. That excludes a lot of folk in Canada, though.

 

Speaking of online, I do wish more Canadian retailers sold things online. The range of choices here is far smaller than in the States -- just compare Amazon.com with Amazon.ca, for example. I have yet to find a good Canadian online bike shop that allows you to order parts and bicycling equipment online, and apart from MEC I don't know of any good outdoor apparel/equipment shops that sell online within Canada. Same goes for gardening stores -- in the States i used to buy from Gardener's Supply; I've never found anything like that here. Lee Valley is good for tools, but even their selection is fairly limited compared with what you can find from online stores in the States. I guess it all boils down to the size of the market, which of course is much smaller here.

I rarely have time to shop at a real store -- I don't have a single weekend free between now and November and I rarely have time to go out shopping during the week, so online ordering is pretty much my only option.

 

I'd like to support local retail as long as the difference is not outrageous -- recently I bought a 200 USD cargo box from the a dealership in US , I did asked for local dealership first and was quoted 404 CAD for the EXACT same item . Even adding the exchage rate/duty/state tax the difference is around 35% (either way I need to pay GST/PST) .

If we all pay MSRP price I am sure it will take care local retail/employee/manufacture CEO and his/her dog very well -- but they need to be competitve at the first place

 

^^ Exactly

I would be happy to buy locally and I would pay more for that convenience if it wasn't such a rip off

I imagine a store in Canada prefers to sell 1 jacket at 100% markup that 2 at 50% (less stocking, less shipping, same profit). For competition to work, more people have to seek out the best deal

 

I recently returned from a holiday in the States. Using hotwire, I was able to get a hotel for 46 USD a night with continental breakfasts and free wireless, compared to $100+ a night offered anywhere else for the same hotel.

My wife and I put off a lot of purchases in Canada because we knew how much we'd save in the States. If you are going for a vacation of 48 hours or more in the states you can purchase quite a bit. Additionally the cost of gas is a joke compared to what we are paying in Canada. Food is also cheaper, portions large (although you need to watch that one closely).

This past trip we both spent up to our limit and came away supplied with items that are definitely cheaper than Canadian items, such as ink, some automotive parts, and clothing. Hitting an outlet mall also had enormous savings as compared to shopping at a mall in Canada. Right now in the States it seems as though the stores are also trying to ensure that consumerism stays strong.

One other note, on a recent business trip to Texas I was able to watch a new movie theatre release for 4 USD. In Canada I'd be looking at 9-10 bucks.

It's hard to support you're local economy, when the concept of local economy has passed long ago with the advent of Walmart, Home Depot, IKEA, Sportschek, etc.

 

Hey, no need to knock SportChek.

That's still a good home-grown small-cap Canadian company.

 

Bumping up an older thread now that $1 USD is only about $1.03 CAD and dropping.

Are you folks making any big purchases in the States to take advantage of the strong loonie? The nicer weather is here now so it is getting easier to move around. We are heading to Boston for Easter and I hope the loonie continues to hold up then.

There is a long-running thread about buying cars in the States and savings thousands in the process on RFD. I may have to look at that and decide if I should go that route.

 

One thing I noticed is that watches are much cheaper on Amazon.com. Half of MSRP. Look here first if you want a new watch.

 

One thing to note is that the Canadian customs inspectors at the border are going to be a lot more suspicious when you come back home. A few years ago when the Canadian dollar came close to parity with the US dollar, the inspectors held us for 30 minutes and searched our car, even inspecting the tags on the clothes we were wearing to see if we'd bought them in the US and were trying to bring them through without claiming them.

We're always scrupulous about saving our receipts and reporting all purchases at the border; it's not worth the risk to try to "fly under the radar." Some people get away with it for years, but if you get caught the consequences are not worth it.

 

this is interesting.. i m guessing this is more for land travel.. i flied to the US very often during 07-08 and bought tons of stuff, mostly electronics, and the custom officer never search/check on me

 

Unfortunately, the US border is a lot tighter these days. I don't know if the underwear bomber had something to do with it but I found that a lot more cars are being checked these days, so be prepared for a lengthy delay at the border even if you are not singled out for a thorough check. As brad points out, Canadian border service officials are also checking residents for purchases in the US, so add another potential lengthy delay when coming back. Unless I can save hundreds of $$$s, the border delays alone leads me to think twice about making a shopping trip.

 

Guys, if we were to believe the American ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, the current border wait time is actually less than pre-9/11

Article here http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...a/article/777370--canada-u-s-border-crossing-faster-than-before-9-11-ambassador

I know the technologies employed by both CBSA and the Homeland Security have grown by leaps and bounds compared to 10 years ago.

 

Guys, if we were to believe the American ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, the current border wait time is actually less than pre-9/11

I typically go into the US 15-20 times per year, and while I agree that the waits now are certainly shorter than they were in the months immediately after 9/11, I wouldn't say they're much shorter than they were before 9/11. On a normal non-holiday-weekend Friday at my usual border crossings I typically wait about 20 minutes in line to get across to the US, and usually 10-15 minutes or so coming back into Canada. Sometimes it's much longer (I once waited 5 hours to cross the border into the US on a holiday weekend, and I've occasionally had 30-40 minute waits to get back into Canada) and sometimes I have no wait at all. All of that was generally true before 9/11 as well.

I have noticed that my car is searched much less frequently now going into the US than it was even before 9/11, and I've only once had my car searched by Canadian customs.

 

It varies depending on the location and your method of crossing. They reconfigured the US bound lanes on the Ambassador Bridge here and added a load of booths so it has cut down the wait a good deal at times. We'll see though once the spring and summer come and all the various events that will be going on.

You have the option of using NEXUS whereas it didn't exist before 9/11. That can greatly reduce your wait at times too.

The fact that less people are crossing the border probably doesn't hurt either.

http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Canada+traffic+steep+decline/2579430/story.html

Canada-U.S. traffic in steep decline

In 2009, Americans visited Canada 9. 2 per cent less than the previous year, while Canadians visited the United States 10 per cent less according to figures released Wednesday by Statistics Canada -- continuing a decade-long trend.

Same-day car trips -- the ones that most affect border towns like Windsor -- were off the most. Americans took 13.9 per cent fewer day trips across the border, while Canadians took 13.3 per cent fewer.

 

Definitely worth it to cross just to stock up your wardrobe for summer, just wear old clothes and shoes over the border and give them up to a salvation army or toss them and wear new clothes back over. Spending $500 at the outlets in Pennsylvania nets you the same amount of goods here(Mississauga) but at a cost of approximately $2000.

 

Is a NEXUS card for private individuals travelling for pleasure? I always thought it was a commercial thing like for truckers and salesmen and such. Is there a cost? What type of security scrutiny are you placed under?

 

It's available to any Canadian or American citizen. The cost is $50 for 5 years. You are fingerprinted, photographed, and iris scanned.

 

I only buy things from the States IF they are considerably cheaper, and I won't get raped on shipping/duty across the border.

There are also some things that are only available down there, a certain additive for my fish tank and a certain brand of dog shampoo.... I know, strange items but I can't find them here.

-Dave

 

For people in Southern Ontario, the best reason is get a NEXUS pass is that you can use the Whirlpool bridge in Niagara, which is ONLY for NEXUS pass holders! Rarely ever any wait.

 

My wife and I have Nexus and use the Whirlpool bridge all the time. It is especially useful since I have a mailbox just outside the entrance on the US side.

As far as shopping across the border, I just ordered tires and rims online and had them shipped to my mailbox. I then drove them over figuring that even with the duties and taxes, I'm still saving hundreds.

Next purchase will be a TV which is considerably cheaper in the US.