What your Canadian customers pay at the door, and why

A parcel from a US store can reach a Canadian front door with a bill attached. The shopper pays it before the carrier hands the parcel over, or refuses it and the parcel goes back. For the store, a refused parcel usually means a lost sale and a return shipping bill. Here is what the charge is made of, and what decides whether there is one at all.

What the charge is made of

A door charge in Canada has up to three parts:

• Duty. A share of the value, set by the product's tariff code and where it was made. Goods that qualify as made in Canada, the US or Mexico can enter without duty under CUSMA.
• Sales tax. GST at 5%, or HST in Ontario (13%) and the Atlantic provinces (14% or 15%), charged on the value plus any duty. Some provinces also collect their own sales tax on imports.
• A fee for handling it. Canada Post charges a C$9.95 handling fee on mail that owes duty or tax. Couriers charge their own clearance fees, which vary by carrier and by value.

The fee often costs more than the tax. A C$45 order of US made goods sent by mail to Alberta owes C$2.25 in GST, and the shopper still pays C$12.20 at the door once the handling fee is added.

Mail or courier changes everything

Canada lets low value parcels in without duty or tax, but the limits depend on how the parcel travels.

So a C$35 order by courier usually owes nothing at the door, while the same order by mail owes tax plus the handling fee. Above C$40 by courier, tax applies; above C$150, duty applies too unless the goods qualify for CUSMA.

These limits depend on where the parcel ships from, not where the product was made, as long as the goods were in the US or Mexico before they shipped. A parcel from overseas that only passes through the US does not get them.

Who pays: the customer or the store

Under the usual terms for online orders (DAP), the customer pays at the door. Under DDP, the store pays the border charges up front and the customer pays nothing on arrival. DDP costs the store money on every order but avoids refused parcels and surprised customers. Our guide to DDP and DAP covers how to choose.

Four ways to stop surprise charges

1. Show an estimate before checkout. Shoppers who know the amount in advance rarely refuse the parcel.
2. Pick the service with the better allowance. For orders between C$20 and C$150, courier often costs the customer less in total than mail, even when the label costs more.
3. Offer duties included shipping. Add the expected border charges to a shipping rate and pay them yourself.
4. Get the tariff code and origin right. A wrong code or origin can turn an order that owes nothing into one that owes duty, or the other way around.

Check a parcel now

The free checker prices a product, a value and a route in a few seconds, and the duty guides show common products to every province. Othermile does the same for every order a store receives, before it ships.

This guide explains public rules in plain language for general information. It is not customs, tax or legal advice; the exact tariff code, your paperwork and the carrier decide the final amount.