Quick Question About Sales Tax

[Neeliyo]

Hi I'm planning on buying the parts for my new build and was wondering how sales tax works. I live in Ontario and it seems like there is only shipping costs and no sales tax. I'm buying the parts from direct Canada, Ncix, newegg and canada computers and every time I check out there is only the shipping cost added and no sales tax. I am very confused as I have never really bought anything online.

Thanks

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/15p5G

 

[thesuperguy]

There will always be sales tax. A whopping 12 percent added to every purchase in Canada. I would know. I live in Canada too, and that is why I purchase all my parts from the US, ship them to a pick up place right across the border and save big.

 

[Neeliyo]

There will always be sales tax. A whopping 12 percent added to every purchase in Canada. I would know. I live in Canada too, and that is why I purchase all my parts from the US, ship them to a pick up place right across the border and save big.

Where do you pick up the parts or ship them? In fact, I could do that. My family and I visit the US every so often to shop in Buffalo.

 

[thesuperguy]

Well I live on the Western side of Canada down near Vancouver. I pick up from a small post office that is one of many with a service called Kinek. Depending on the size of the package, they will charge a fee of 3 or 5 dollars to pick up. You can find other places that have the service using the Kinek website but you have to sign up first.

https://www.kinek.com/find-border-kinekpoint

 

[Neeliyo]

Well I live on the Western side of Canada down near Vancouver. I pick up from a small post office that is one of many with a service called Kinek. Depending on the size of the package, they will charge a fee of 3 or 5 dollars to pick up. You can find other places that have the service using the Kinek website but you have to sign up first.

https://www.kinek.com/find-border-kinekpoint

Wow this is amazing so how does this work? When you purchase the parts are they shipped to a location in the US with your name and ID and then you cross the border and pick it up? Also customs are extremely strict, so how does that work out?

 

[Paperdoc]

Many Canadian on-line sellers will not collect PROVINCIAL Sales Tax on shipments going outside their own province. They should still be collecting the GST at 5%, however. Technically YOU are supposed to be an honourable citizen of Ontario and take your invoices to the nearest Ontario government office and pay them the extra Ontario Sales Tax, but you can guess how many people actually do that. In fact, I'm not sure whether you can actually do that now that Ontario has no Provincial Sales Tax, and only a HST administered by the federal GST people.

I live in Ontario, and often buy from on-line USA sellers and have goods shipped to a package handling company just south of the border - it's a 40 minute one-way trip from my home to them. They will hold a package for a few weeks at least, and charge US$3 per package when you pick it up. This means you MUST have a Canadian passport with you to enter the USA. When you return to Canada you must stop at Canada Customs and declare how long you've been out of the country and what you are bringing back. Assuming you are honest about this, they are supposed to charge you the appropriate duty and HST on those goods. Usually I find the duty rate on computer parts is nothing and you pay HST. But it seems there is some minimum amount (maybe $100 but I can't figure it out) below which they just don't care and tell you to go away. So SOMETIMES you avoid paying the tax that way. Even if you do pay the HST, though, sometimes the price is better, and sometimes that's the best way to get exactly the parts you want.

Here's another small point about the process I do. It costs me my time and some gas to make the round trip to the border to pick stuff up, so I try to set up several items for pickup at the same time. I don't worry about my time. But before I make the trip I arrange to have my car's gas tank low so there's just enough in it to get me there. After picking up my packages I fill up at the US gas bar next door, and their gas prices are much less. In my case, it works out that the money I save on a tank of gas this way pretty much covers the gas I spend to make the trip, so I come out even.

Oh, another important little hint. The package service company tells me (and all their customers) to tell the SENDER of the package that my address is their address. That is, to the sender, I live in the USA near the border at the package company's address. But that can be a wrinkle for paying by credit card, because some on-line firms' systems will NOT ship to an address different from that on the credit card - to prevent credit card fraud. So I have arranged with my credit card company to place that USA street address (where the package company is) on my credit card file as an Alternate Address. This seems to let the automated credit card processing systems accept that address as a legitimate place to ship to.

 

[thesuperguy]

Well I live on the Western side of Canada down near Vancouver. I pick up from a small post office that is one of many with a service called Kinek. Depending on the size of the package, they will charge a fee of 3 or 5 dollars to pick up. You can find other places that have the service using the Kinek website but you have to sign up first.

https://www.kinek.com/find-border-kinekpoint

Wow this is amazing so how does this work? When you purchase the parts are they shipped to a location in the US with your name and ID and then you cross the border and pick it up? Also customs are extremely strict, so how does that work out?

For Kinek, you sign up and they give you a personalized address which includes a code that you have to add to your shipping address every time. You then bring some kind of ID and I would assume you are supposed to bring proof of purchase but my pickup place only asks for ID. As for customs, like Paper said, you just declare your items just like any other items like groceries and if you are lucky and the price is not high enough for tax to be worth anything significant, they will let you go on your way back into Canada.

Recently I bought an abundance of computer parts and I think it might have been the racial connection between the border patrol and I , but I was let to go without paying tax on $600 worth of parts.

 

[Neeliyo]

Well I live on the Western side of Canada down near Vancouver. I pick up from a small post office that is one of many with a service called Kinek. Depending on the size of the package, they will charge a fee of 3 or 5 dollars to pick up. You can find other places that have the service using the Kinek website but you have to sign up first.

https://www.kinek.com/find-border-kinekpoint

Wow this is amazing so how does this work? When you purchase the parts are they shipped to a location in the US with your name and ID and then you cross the border and pick it up? Also customs are extremely strict, so how does that work out?

For Kinek, you sign up and they give you a personalized address which includes a code that you have to add to your shipping address every time. You then bring some kind of ID and I would assume you are supposed to bring proof of purchase but my pickup place only asks for ID. As for customs, like Paper said, you just declare your items just like any other items like groceries and if you are lucky and the price is not high enough for tax to be worth anything significant, they will let you go on your way back into Canada.

Recently I bought an abundance of computer parts and I think it might have been the racial connection between the border patrol and I , but I was let to go without paying tax on $600 worth of parts.

Ah so if im lucky (which i doubt it) I won't have to pay tax on $2000 worth of parts.

 

[Neeliyo]

Many Canadian on-line sellers will not collect PROVINCIAL Sales Tax on shipments going outside their own province. They should still be collecting the GST at 5%, however. Technically YOU are supposed to be an honourable citizen of Ontario and take your invoices to the nearest Ontario government office and pay them the extra Ontario Sales Tax, but you can guess how many people actually do that. In fact, I'm not sure whether you can actually do that now that Ontario has no Provincial Sales Tax, and only a HST administered by the federal GST people.

I live in Ontario, and often buy from on-line USA sellers and have goods shipped to a package handling company just south of the border - it's a 40 minute one-way trip from my home to them. They will hold a package for a few weeks at least, and charge US$3 per package when you pick it up. This means you MUST have a Canadian passport with you to enter the USA. When you return to Canada you must stop at Canada Customs and declare how long you've been out of the country and what you are bringing back. Assuming you are honest about this, they are supposed to charge you the appropriate duty and HST on those goods. Usually I find the duty rate on computer parts is nothing and you pay HST. But it seems there is some minimum amount (maybe $100 but I can't figure it out) below which they just don't care and tell you to go away. So SOMETIMES you avoid paying the tax that way. Even if you do pay the HST, though, sometimes the price is better, and sometimes that's the best way to get exactly the parts you want.

Here's another small point about the process I do. It costs me my time and some gas to make the round trip to the border to pick stuff up, so I try to set up several items for pickup at the same time. I don't worry about my time. But before I make the trip I arrange to have my car's gas tank low so there's just enough in it to get me there. After picking up my packages I fill up at the US gas bar next door, and their gas prices are much less. In my case, it works out that the money I save on a tank of gas this way pretty much covers the gas I spend to make the trip, so I come out even.

Oh, another important little hint. The package service company tells me (and all their customers) to tell the SENDER of the package that my address is their address. That is, to the sender, I live in the USA near the border at the package company's address. But that can be a wrinkle for paying by credit card, because some on-line firms' systems will NOT ship to an address different from that on the credit card - to prevent credit card fraud. So I have arranged with my credit card company to place that USA street address (where the package company is) on my credit card file as an Alternate Address. This seems to let the automated credit card processing systems accept that address as a legitimate place to ship to.

Thank You very much. Very thorough and informational.

 

[Neeliyo]

Well I live on the Western side of Canada down near Vancouver. I pick up from a small post office that is one of many with a service called Kinek. Depending on the size of the package, they will charge a fee of 3 or 5 dollars to pick up. You can find other places that have the service using the Kinek website but you have to sign up first.

https://www.kinek.com/find-border-kinekpoint

Wow this is amazing so how does this work? When you purchase the parts are they shipped to a location in the US with your name and ID and then you cross the border and pick it up? Also customs are extremely strict, so how does that work out?

For Kinek, you sign up and they give you a personalized address which includes a code that you have to add to your shipping address every time. You then bring some kind of ID and I would assume you are supposed to bring proof of purchase but my pickup place only asks for ID. As for customs, like Paper said, you just declare your items just like any other items like groceries and if you are lucky and the price is not high enough for tax to be worth anything significant, they will let you go on your way back into Canada.

Recently I bought an abundance of computer parts and I think it might have been the racial connection between the border patrol and I , but I was let to go without paying tax on $600 worth of parts.

I heard you can order the parts from the US and some services will ship them to your location in Canada. Is that so? I really don't want to spend the time going over the border and then have to declare the parts.

 

[thesuperguy]

I would think those services are only for convenience in the case that there is something that is only found in the US. I doubt they would be much cheaper from just ordering from Canadian sources. You would also have to probably pay taxes of both countries. One for the website shipping to US and another when the shipment goes through customs. Not to mention the extra time, extra fees for the service and just general higher chance of something screwing up. Why not just coordinate the pick up with your routine trip to the US?

 

[Neeliyo]

I would think those services are only for convenience in the case that there is something that is only found in the US. I doubt they would be much cheaper from just ordering from Canadian sources. You would also have to probably pay taxes of both countries. One for the website shipping to US and another when the shipment goes through customs. Not to mention the extra time, extra fees for the service and just general higher chance of something screwing up. Why not just coordinate the pick up with your routine trip to the US?

Isn't it cheaper just to buy it here in Canada. If I buy it in the US I have to pay shipping plus tax, then I have to pay tax when crossing the border. Not only that but what if a part is damaged, how will I return it?

 

[thesuperguy]

Well it really depends. First off, it is not uncommon to see free shipping when you purchase a certain amount. Second, US websites typically have much better deals on basically everything. Assuming you are made to pay a total of like 20% tax, if you are a good deal hunter, it would probably still be cheaper amazingly. But I suppose you have no chance of avoiding the extra canadian tax (unless you lie ) so picking up from the US will not be as much a benefit for you as it was for me. All this effort is going towards saving you a few bucks but if you feel it is not worth wasting your time on, you might as well just ship to yourself.

 

[Neeliyo]

Well it really depends. First off, it is not uncommon to see free shipping when you purchase a certain amount. Second, US websites typically have much better deals on basically everything. Assuming you are made to pay a total of like 20% tax, if you are a good deal hunter, it would probably still be cheaper amazingly. But I suppose you have no chance of avoiding the extra canadian tax (unless you lie ) so picking up from the US will not be as much a benefit for you as it was for me. All this effort is going towards saving you a few bucks but if you feel it is not worth wasting your time on, you might as well just ship to yourself.

Yeah I think I'm just going to get it shipped here. Not worth the trip + tax + all the hassle like changing the credit card address or faulty products. I checked the deals only the case was slightly cheaper. Thank you so much for your help.

 

[thesuperguy]

Meh. I saved big because I was lucky

EDIT: OH I REMEMBER WHY I WASTED MY TIME SHIPPING AND PICKING UP AT US
I was purchasing from newegg and they don't charge sales tax on purchases except to the states of California, New Jersey and Tennessee. Most of their items don't charge shipping too. They also have lots of combo deals and flash sales for good spontaneous purchases. If you purchase over the course of a week or two, you can take advantage of several deals on your purchases. If I remember correctly, when I spent that $600 every single item was bought with a coupon code

 

[Neeliyo]

Meh. I saved big because I was lucky

EDIT: OH I REMEMBER WHY I WASTED MY TIME SHIPPING AND PICKING UP AT US
I was purchasing from newegg and they don't charge sales tax on purchases except to the states of California, New Jersey and Tennessee. Most of their items don't charge shipping too. They also have lots of combo deals and flash sales for good spontaneous purchases. If you purchase over the course of a week or two, you can take advantage of several deals on your purchases. If I remember correctly, when I spent that $600 every single item was bought with a coupon code

Wait so newegg charges no sales tax that's amazing because that is what is adding to the cost What about ncix, outlet pc or amazon? Even if I do get no sales tax in the US I still have to pay Canadian sales tax. Arggh I'm so confused on what to do. Is there anyone way to get it over the border without paying tax and not lying?

 

[thesuperguy]

From what I know, all those other retailers do charge tax. When it comes to avoiding border taxing, what you could do is pick up the parts in several batches but that might be of great inconvenience to you. You should also keep in mind that you can bring up to a certain degree of goods back without paying tax depending on how long you have been out of Canada. Perhaps you should coordinate your purchase with some kind of mini trip that your family could have.

 

[Paperdoc]

Let's not get too hung up on "paying tax". Basically, to get stuff into Canada you should be paying the HST at 12% or so, and MAYBE (probably not) some import duties. You would pay tax at the same rate on a purchase in Canada. So, if the original selling price in the USA is 60% of the Canadian price, you end up paying 60% of the final price, too! Not to sneeze at!

Now, it does not always work out that way. For example, I buy on-line the refill cartridges for a laser colour printer from the Canadian site because the price from their US counterparts is almost the same. And yet, the item is shipped to me direct by mail from Texas with all charges included! So, make sure you know the prices both ways and THEN decide, item by item, whether buying from the USA is worth the possible saving.

Quite separately from the near-border companies that will receive and hold a parcel for you, there are some on-line sellers (like newegg.ca) that take care of all the details. Although they are based in and ship from USA warehouses, they will do all the work and costs of shipping directly to your home in Canada, and include all those costs in their selling price. They quote (and bill) all costs in C$ delivered to your home, no extras to be added. Those sellers make it easy to compare pricing. Just be aware that the shipping times for this process can one to two weeks, not a couple of days. And some of them have a smaller selection of goods, so you may not be able to buy from them exactly the item you want.

 

[Neeliyo]

Let's not get too hung up on "paying tax". Basically, to get stuff into Canada you should be paying the HST at 12% or so, and MAYBE (probably not) some import duties. You would pay tax at the same rate on a purchase in Canada. So, if the original selling price in the USA is 60% of the Canadian price, you end up paying 60% of the final price, too! Not to sneeze at!

Now, it does not always work out that way. For example, I buy on-line the refill cartridges for a laser colour printer from the Canadian site because the price from their US counterparts is almost the same. And yet, the item is shipped to me direct by mail from Texas with all charges included! So, make sure you know the prices both ways and THEN decide, item by item, whether buying from the USA is worth the possible saving.

Quite separately from the near-border companies that will receive and hold a parcel for you, there are some on-line sellers (like newegg.ca) that take care of all the details. Although they are based in and ship from USA warehouses, they will do all the work and costs of shipping directly to your home in Canada, and include all those costs in their selling price. They quote (and bill) all costs in C$ delivered to your home, no extras to be added. Those sellers make it easy to compare pricing. Just be aware that the shipping times for this process can one to two weeks, not a couple of days. And some of them have a smaller selection of goods, so you may not be able to buy from them exactly the item you want.

Sorry I took so long just finished my exams. All the parts I am buying are exactly the same price in Canada and the US. With that said I'm just going to buy the parts from Canada.

Thanks