I never include shipping costs in my declarations and have always been ok.

If they don't ask what you bought, do you have to personally declare it?

I would, unless you want to be accused of hiding something if they send you to secondary inspection.

Usually they'd ask these simple questions in this order:

Where do you live?
What's your purpose of going to Point Roberts?
(You would obviously answer with what exactly you picked up and from where)
Who's it for?
What's the total value of the package?

And then your off. Unless they decide to tax you, then you walk in and pay.

It's really no biggy. I go there every few weeks. They're not as harsh as when you cross over the Peach Arch.

An older border guard told me that technically it's the total cost of acquiring the item, which would include all state taxes and shipping cost.

However, I still always feign ignorance and always just report the actual price of the item.

I wouldn't. Just answer what you're asked.

i always tell then the whole price in USD BEFORE shipping, and havn't been taxed once, most i've brought back was ~400

They've been a lot more lenient in the past few years. About a decade ago, they were much more vigilant in making people go inside to pay customs.

I've brought back and declared over USD1000 in goods on a day trip and got waived through.

The ace up my sleeve though is to come back really late at night, well after midnight if possible. They should have a lean staff working at that time, and may be less inclined to put extra work on themselves by making you go in to pay customs.

Declaring your items with shipping price is like telling them you filled up at the gas station.

Back in the days (number of years ago) sometimes they were real jerks and would ask for the receipt of the package receiving place since it was part of the cost of acquiring the item, as was shipping. I never ask for a receipt from TSB/Shell so they would give me a hard time. The last 3-4 years has been smooth sailing pretty much every time, I don't recall getting waved in to pay tax (my purchases never more than ~$300) or have my car searched.

I ship to The Letter Carrier. Depending on who you buy from(merchant), some will let you enter different shipping and billing address. I use TLC as my shipping address(US) and my home address(Canadian) as my billing address. When you go over the border you declare the value of the goods without shipping. They will charge you the value of the goods in CAD, converting the USD value of it.

I've only had to pay tax twice out of the many times i've gone across the border, so they're usually pretty cool about it. Only reason i got taxed was the high amount of declaration of goods (1600 and 700 for a 20min trip)

How much did they tax you? ive been considering getting a set of rims shipped to tbs worth roughly $580, just trying to figure out if its better to go down and pick up or pay the $760 here.

Tax is always 12%. Sometimes they tack on 6.x% duty if your stuff isn't make in North America or not on the duty free list. Its completely random whether they will duty you or not, but even with 12%+6.x% you still save about $70 absolute worse case scenario.

Thats weird because ive brought back 300 worth of car parts and a 30 car part and i got charged $30 on both, seperate times.

came back the other day and got taxed $62 on $520. should have made 2 trips!

Can I get a clarification on this subject?
It'll be my first time picking up a few items next week of 200$ at TLC in point roberts. I don't have a nexus pass,
so do i have to fill out an order sheet of what I bought when crossing the border?

I've been to the states before and always verbally declared how much $ I spent on goods,
but some people in this thread are saying you have to fill out an order sheet?

Just have your receipts with you in case they ask. Its really very simple.

They just ask you how much the total value of the things you're bringing back is, and sometimes they'll ask for receipts. Be sure to bring receipts or print them off at TLC (they have a laptop and printer for customer use now) or else they'll hassle you at the border. Other than that, you're good to go. I've brought back approx $275 worth of stuff from Point Roberts before and haven't been charged tax, just asked to check the receipts and they sent me on my way

I haven't done such thing my past few visits. When you're coming back into Canada, they'll ask the usual, purpose of your trip, and you tell em you picked up a few packages. They'll ask what and the value. Just show em a print out receipt/invoice or even have it ready on your phone. Then its up to them if you'll get taxed.

*wow, i type slow. Same answer as previous two posts.

The "order sheet" people are talking about is probably the Traveller Declaration Card that the people with NEXUS can fill in. If you don't have NEXUS then it won't apply to you. Just verbally declare and like everyone else says, have receipts ready in case they ask for it.

anyone got their rims ship to pt roberts before?
or should i just get it sent to my house?
$50 vs $150 shipping to my house

just pick it up, 100$ is quite the difference in my opinion. Plus if your unlucky, you could get custom fees + tax if you ship it to your house, where as its only taxed and no custom fees when going through the border. Who knows, you might get lucky and not get taxed at all.

get gas when your down there too...20cents difference

Custom fee/brokerage is only $8.50 with Canada Post. Don't forget to account for cost of the place to receive your rims too, it'll probably cost you about $5-7/rim. If its UPS/Fedex then for sure ship to PR since their customs brokerage fees are much much higher and I find they tend to tax packages more often than Canada Post

I've always assumed that you would have to pay taxes when crossing the border with new wheels in the back of your car, but I'm not too sure as I've never done it before. If the tax on the new wheels is around the same or more as $100, then I'd just get it shipped to your house.

Sorry, terrible advice. You're subject to tax whether you're bringing it across the border yourself, or getting it shipped to your door in Canada.

Here's the breakdown.

Getting the wheels sent to the border: Save $100 guaranteed on shipping, but pay customs (any applicable duty and tax) when bringing it back across. There is always the chance you could get waved through without paying customs.

Getting the wheels sent to Canada: Pay $100 extra guaranteed for shipping, and most likely pay customs via Canada Post.

So... the net difference is you're saving yourself $100, plus getting better odds of not having to pay customs.