Fall Of Canadian Dollar

Has the drop in the Canadian dollar vs the U.S. dollar affected your stamp purchases? With many stamps offered in U.S. dollars, the price to Canadian collectors has risen significantly and I, for one, have to think twice about bidding on many stamps I would like to own.

Not the purchase but where I buy from, or should I say exchange, I'm already contacting my pen pal persons around the world I'm use to exchange stamps for stamps with.

The drop has been about 17% in the last year, right?

It makes it easier to buy a new UNITRADE Catalogue when CAN$ 48 is only USD$ 33

KirkS even better; we have a guy here in Canada ( reseller, ex emplyee of Unitrade ) who sell them $34.99 CDN + shipping , but Unitrade is out of stock and he have only few copies left

The exchange rate definitely has had a great impact on my bidding activity. If I come across material that I really want, I contact the sellers to determine if they deal directly with Canadian buyers and usually send them a want list. This has (and should) provided me some savings and has provided the seller with a potential repeat buyer in the future. I see this as being a win-win for both sides.

I'm sure some sellers are worried that they are losing many Canadian bidders and this is one way they can realize sales. Naturally, I'm pleased because I can get my stamps at a price that is still within my means.

66 -- I think I saw that deal, but the shipping to USA was significant. At CanadaPost, the catalogue is C$47.99 and shipping to USA is free.

It's hard to compete with the CP when they can offer FREE shipping.

Kirk

CP is cheaper if you order only the book, but the guy sell Unitrade mounts and I'm always in need.

Canada Post make some effort to promote the hobby, in every post office they have a starter set for kids, many post office also carry Stock Book

I just bid at a US Auction House and won a cover at $600 hammer. They also sent it to me with the Invoice on the outside of the package, even after I repeatedly asked them to try to avoid Customs.

The invoice including Shipping was $735. Customs and Duty with Federal HST Tax was $140 CDN. This ends up around $1200 CDN. I knew it was going to be expensive and this is just a barometer for me that I'm spending double the price of my bid.

I actually think the bidding was extremely low as this cover usually sells for $1000 hammer price in CDN dollars. So it may be that the US Auction houses are taking the hit selling Canadian stamps and covers. I didn't really expect to win with my low bid.

There is no customs duty on imported Philatelic Material
Tariff code 9704.00.00 - duty 0%
(see http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-co...2013-eng.pdf page 1375)

Pretty much the same for the US and UK - no import duty under this classification, though taxes may be charged by national/local entities.

chipg - that's what I keep telling them but I always get charged when there's an invoice on the outside. And I know there is the 13% HST Sales Tax. Maybe the $139 CDN was just the Sales Tax.

Yes they charge taxes on the 735 U.S. But they adjust it in can before

Here's a chart with the basic duty rates to import stamps into most countries.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/hs-co....00.0000/95/

US$735 is about C$1000. 13% of C$1000 is C$130. Add a misc. fee or charge for the privilege of billing you, and you come pretty close to what they wanted you to pay.

So, while your wallet may be lighter, you really can't blame customs duties - it's the taxes you would have had to pay if you bought in Canada. The good news (minor) is that you didn't have to pay US sales taxes also.

That's what really s.... Customs charge us both federal and provincial taxes in my case 5 and 9.5%. But if I order from Ontario the company charge me only the federal taxe so I pay around 10% less

Also Canada Post charge me to collect the taxes. In our 20 stores we don't have the right to charge customers for the taxes we collect ... Now if it come by UPS those rats charge an overkill broker charge + the taxes , they now very well the receiver have no choice

You have a lot of ebay sellers in Canada who charge us both taxes even if we are not in the same province. They have no taxes registration in Quebec and don't have the right to collect this tax. They never return the tax to the government they just slip it in their pocket as additional profit

That is the GST that you are paying, plus a service charge to collect it. You would have paid the GST, if you would have purchased it at home anyways from an auction.

Canada Post charge $10 on a $50 sale it's 20% ........way more than the taxes they collect. No other business aside of cp and this bandits shipping companies can charge fees for collect taxes in Canada