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Guides to duties, tariffs and shipping across the border

Plain language guides for stores and manufacturers that sell between Canada and the US: what parcels owe at the door, how CUSMA works, and how to keep border costs out of your margins.

A shopper checking her phone beside a parcel at her front door

What your Canadian customers pay at the door, and why

Duty, sales tax and a handling fee can turn a C$45 order into a C$57 surprise. Here is what the charge is made of, why mail and courier differ so much, and four ways to stop it.

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Hands placing an Othermile box on a shipping scale

Shipping from Canada to the US now that small parcels pay duty

Since August 29, 2025, parcels worth US$800 or less no longer enter the US without duty. What changed for Canadian sellers, how CUSMA helps, and what to do about it.

A store owner folding printed shirts beside a heat press and an Othermile box

Print on demand across the border: where it is made matters more than where it ships from

A shirt sewn in Honduras and printed in North Carolina is usually still a Honduran shirt at the border. Why origin decides duty, CUSMA and tariffs, and where to find it for your products.

Two people in a machine shop reviewing an order beside finished parts and a strapped box

How to put a number on your tariff exposure

Your bank, your board and your buyers all ask the same question: what do tariffs cost us a year? How to work it out product by product, run what ifs, and keep the number current.

A parcel waiting on a golden hold point before a gate on a dark relief map

How Othermile checks an order before it ships

Every order can go out by more than one route, each with its own cost, border charge and delivery time. What Othermile looks at, how your limits decide, and what happens when an order needs you.

A store owner at her laptop beside parcels taped with Othermile tape

DDP or DAP: who should pay the border charges on your orders

Every order that crosses the border is shipped on one of two terms: the customer pays on arrival, or the store pays up front. How each works, what DDU really means, and how to choose.

Two people planning a route along a border on a paper map

CUSMA in plain language for online sellers

The trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico lets qualifying goods cross without duty. Which goods qualify, how a claim works, when no certification is needed, and what CUSMA does not cover.

A truck crossing a long bridge over a misty lake, with a dashed magenta border line

US import bans on some Canadian products start September 29

Beer, wine, spirits, whey protein, molasses and motorcycles from Canada are barred from entering the US from September 29. Here is what it means for online orders.

A container port at dawn with an Othermile container on the quay

The US updated its 50% tariff list on Canadian goods

The Section 338 list that started August 22 changed on September 15. A CUSMA certificate does not remove this tariff.

A parcel seen through a glass lens beside a doorway where an Othermile box waits

Canada adds surtaxes on more than 700 US products

From September 8, US made goods in the affected groups face 15%, 25% or 50% at the Canadian border, with clothing in the 50% group.

Follow along with the RSS feed. Every figure in these posts is an estimate for general information, not customs advice.