That tall asian officer had to go through my bags after customs waived me into a secondary inspection at YVR.

Picked everything apart, piece by piece, making small talk, etc. I declared everything so I was good to go lol
Posted via RS Mobile

went bmx-ing like 5 years ago with a few friends in Renton, we rented out the skate park there "skatebarn" just for ourselves, going over, no problem, coming back, they wanted to take my bike because it looked new, my friends all beat the shit out of their bikes, i was the only one to clean and take car of mine and not fall all the time so they were convinced that my bike was new or at least frame, i had to look through my phone for old pics to show them it was previously owned, it was a huge mess and i was like 16

i cant understand that at all. why lie about something small? if you're going to lie about it i suppose it would have to be "worth it".
in any case, im always honest, i dont count to the dollar but a close estimate. never been pulled over since i was a teenager.

I'm always curious how they prove it? No receipts, price tags, boxes, whatever...how can they just say "something looks new"? That's like the police saying "that guys looks guilty".

then everyone will ditch receipts and tear tags off haha
but yeah i get ur point, boarder security can get away with alot, friends seats got cut open cuz they smelled pot, didnt find anything, and they send him on his way with cut up seats to his car..

If your merchandise looks spanking new and there's no labels with french on it...chances are they'll suspect you are bringing goods back.

i knew of a group full of people that went down to the states for like 9 hours then came back across the border, was your typical group of asian chicks rocking all designer purses, nice shoes etc driving parents Lexus

they got pulled over for secondary and the inspectors found other pairs of shoes, clothes, etc. in the back. They had all gone out of the way to dispose of receipts, tags, etc and put it all in bags but the inspectors knew it was obviously bullshit, so the guy comes in and asks a few times about the stuff, says he knows they are lieing etc

they all say no, it's all from before yadyayaya

he comes back saying "ok now that we've analyzed the bar codes on the items we know these were all purchased in the states"

they fucking buckled and paid like 6k in fines! hahahahha

Also to save yourself time if your travelling in multiple cars make sure no one is bullshiting about your doing for no reason

When me and some friends went to Arizona to go golfing we took seperate vehicles and were about 30 minutes apart in crossing, the other friends had gone before us and it was only 2 of them in their vehicle and 3 of us in ours

When we pulled up we said we were going golfing with some guys who had gone ahead of us already, he goes on to say "Oh yea, those three guys right?"

us: "ahh no, only 2 of them?"

Agent: "you sure? pretty sure it was 3 of them heading to Seatac..."

us: "yea.. only 2...."

Agent: "ok have a good day"

the second you cross info you just cost yourself a delay

was returning home last year from some christmas shopping with my mom and aunt and cousin. the total value was 730 some odd dollars, and at the border i said under 750...the bitch made me pull over and lectured me about declaring the exact ammount and if i was 1$ over what i declared it would mean my truck would be seized and bla bla bla...bitch..

Since you guys are talking about the show,

So many butthurt people making comments on that video.

First thing I'd do is turn on my phone's sound recorder.

"Oh, you analyzed the bar codes? You mean the UPC codes that are identical for every identical product in existence? Or did you mean the serial number because there isn't a chance in hell any manufacturer would 1.) have that information readily available to some border cop immediately after purchase or 2.) want to raise privacy concerns about their company over some border cop...OR did you mean the manufacturer date codes which would logically have to be before TODAY."

C'mon.

The notion that the border guards can tear your car apart at will, and just send you on your way with no repercussions if they find nothing doesn't sit well with me.

I just avoid travelling to the states as much as possible. I have no real personal desire to go there.

I usually don't declare unless I have 5 truck tires in the back of a small/bobbed toyota pick up... Kinda hard to hide those.

Honestly, in this case, it really basically is that you're guilty until proven innocent.

If you have items of value, especially electronics, you can register them prior to entering the States so that there is a record of it... but obviously this doesn't make sense for other items like clothing.

They can seize your belongings that they deem suspiciously new looking and let you go to claim them at a later date with proof of prior ownership. Providing you cant prove while in their custody.

I made a derp mistake before of just printing one receipt out of 2 on a set of rims I bought, didn't think it'd be a big deal. It was basically half the value. Long story short they found the actual amount on my phone and online. It was a level one offence, which means everytime you cross by land past Canada Customs you get questioned/searched for 7 years.

The 2nd time you get caught you can face possible criminal charges.

Learned my lesson. Don't undervalue your stuff, such a huge hassle...

Wait.. I thought we weren't allowed to record our encounters with border patrol agents?

the 1 thing that pisses me off is the inconsistency of them charging you for duty/tax

i understand every purchase, legally should be taxed.. thats all good and i understand that.

one time my roomate brought 2 tires worth 250$ back, declared real amount.. didnt get charged a cent in duty, meanwhile i brought back a camera lens and a intake worth 190$ and i got hit with duty.

You're also not allowed to lie at the border.

Is that true? Seems silly to say they can tear my car apart but I can't record them doing it.

^ its obviously to the discretion of the officer. If they tax everyone according to the rules, CBSA would be shifting its focus from drugs and weapons to collecting tax. And no one wants that. If your so bothered by the 'inconsistency' tell the officer you would like to pay tax voluntarily. They won't and can't refuse you.
Posted via RS Mobile

It's also entirely possible that the tires were made in Canada, USA or Mexico and thus aren't subject to duty (because of NAFTA) while your lens was made in Japan or somewhere outside those 3 countries and subject to duties. There might be a reason to what you may think is inconsistent.

It's not inconsistency and border agent's can't just choose how much to tax you.

There is a huge list of how much duty is charged to what sort of good and what classification it falls under. Where it was made is also huge, as mentioned, due to free trade agreements.

Here's a chart:
Canada Customs Duty Rates, Tariffs and Taxes | Cross Border Shopping - Deals, Sales and Coupons for Canadians

Camera equipment is all duty free, BTW. Not tax free but duty free.

I went to the states last week with 5 people in my car.
Crossing the border back in, she asked me how much we spent.
I said "around $300-350". (truth)
She said "between all of you??"
I said yes.
Then she chuckled and said "wow that shopping trip sucked"

:okay: