Rudy wrote:Occasionally, when an item is rare and the seller doesn't ship outside the US, i asked other moderators to help me out with a purchase on eBay. Usually it comes even cheaper as they don't charge extra for shipping to Europe. Usually marking it as gift is sufficient to avoid that customs opens it up but, for larger items it's better to be careful. They enjoy opening big boxes here, and if they find something which seems a bit too valuable for a gift, they'll contact you for sure.
The most annoying thing here is that they do not only charge import tax on the purchase value of the items, but also on shipping costs. Yes, on shipping costs, would you believe that?! Shipping costs from the US to Europe are usually more than the actual purchase value of the item too.
Like you said, customs likes to examine larger items in order to assure themselves that nothing illegal (i.e. weapons) are being shipped across the border. If you ship a desktop computer, they may open the package, but it's rare that they'd actually check it. It's often too much of a hassle to look through a desktop hard drive when they have other shipments to look into.
A laptop, however, is easy to check and so they often do. In fact, I wouldn't recommend bringing a laptop with you to the United States. USCIS tends to take laptops away from visitors to examine them. You may not get it back anytime soon, too.
I think the reason USCIS is so paranoid about laptops is because they've found terrorist plans and other potentially disastrous data on laptops before. I can't say I blame them, but it's certainly a nuisance to anyone visiting and wants their laptop handy.
Even without USCIS, when going through TSA, you'll have to place the laptop on the x-ray conveyor belt and/or turn it on. They also request you place cameras, camcorders and cell phones in the conveyor belt trays, but I never do that. If they want, they can inspect my bag and the camera or camcorder. I also stuff my cell phone into one of the carry-on bags.
Fortunately, CATSA is far more lenient in most cases, although they will check electronics (but at least you don't have to remove your shoes). I wish that same leniency carried over to CBSA. It doesn't and I've found they can be just as bad as USCIS.
As for shipping costs... well, I can understand why it's so much. Even shipping an item using regular mail, the costs are higher going to and from the U.S. and Canada (let alone Europe, Asia or Australia). Part of the reason is time needed in shipping and processing, customs inspection, changing services (USPS needs to hand the item over to Canada Post), and any duties, taxes and fees required of incoming or outgoing items.
It's a long and complicated process. Because of this, shipping fees can be astronomical. In all honesty, I'd rather the cost be higher than expected if the item arrives safely.
NOTE: I realize some here may not know all the abbreviations I used, so if you're interested in finding out, here they are:
1. USCIS - United States Customs and Immigration Service (which replaced INS) when DHS was created.
2. INS - Immigration and Naturalization Service
3. DHS - Department of Homeland Security
4. TSA - Transport Security Administration (also formed when DHS was created)
5. CATSA - Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
6. CBSA - Canadian Border Services Agency
7. USPS - United States Postal Service
As you can see, I've spent way too much time traveling back and forth between Canada and the United States.
