p.1 #1 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Anyone have experience buying from Canada recently and run into any issues on the tariff side? I have a seller I really like and would like to buy their camera but hesitate because of the potential 35% hit for import. Seems like these little deals are small potatoes and seem like it shouldn't factor but who knows these days.
Just curious on experiences, I don't want this to turn into a political discussion. I've already formed my opinion and you won't change that.
p.1 #4 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Craigslist, fb Marketplace, or FM Buy&Sell with local sales becomes again more and more desirable now!
Aug 05, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #5 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Seabassius wrote:
Anyone have experience buying from Canada recently and run into any issues on the tariff side? I have a seller I really like and would like to buy their camera but hesitate because of the potential 35% hit for import. Seems like these little deals are small potatoes and seem like it shouldn't factor but who knows these days.
Just curious on experiences, I don't want this to turn into a political discussion. I've already formed my opinion and you won't change that.
It probably won't work in your case because you live in Denver and are not close to the border, but it seems to me that if someone in Canada lives close to the border they could cross the border with their camera, sell it to someone in the US and return across the border without anyone having to pay any taxes. Obviously as taxes including tariffs go up the incentive to make such deals will get a lot stronger. Most Canadians do live close to the border (I think I saw a statistic somewhere that something like 90% of Canadians live within 2 hours of the US border), so US residents might think about trying to arrange such a deal if they can get close to the border where a Canadian seller lives. I thought I would mention this possibility in case you would be close enough to the border where the Canadian seller lives in the not too distant future. For example, if you were going to Buffalo, New York and the seller is in Toronto, such a deal could possibly work.
p.1 #6 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Steve Spencer wrote:
It probably won't work in your case because you live in Denver and are not close to the border, but it seems to me that if someone in Canada lives close to the border they could cross the border with their camera, sell it to someone in the US and return across the border without anyone having to pay any taxes. Obviously as taxes including tariffs go up the incentive to make such deals will get a lot stronger. Most Canadians do live close to the border (I think I saw a statistic somewhere that something like 90% of Canadians live within 2 hours of the US border), so US residents might think about trying to arrange such a deal if they can get close to the border where a Canadian seller lives. I thought I would mention this possibility in case you would be close enough to the border where the Canadian seller lives in the not too distant future. For example, if you were going to Buffalo, New York and the seller is in Toronto, such a deal could possibly work....Show more →
That’s a big ask. It’s basically illegal to bring a camera from Canada to the US in order to sell that camera without a bunch of paper work and possibly a business visa. I personally would never do it.
p.1 #7 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
no recent experience. i would only be concerned of tariff for new gear but not for used.
don't use ups, who will collect "a duty fee" at the pt. of delivery. if the receiver isn't willing to pay the fee on the spot, usp will return the shipment to the sender.
do report back of your experience should you decided to go through with the purchase.
p.1 #8 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Tariffs are based on country of origin. So the tax rate is depends on where the particular camera was made. Leica just became affordable.
Aug 05, 2025 at 04:24 PM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #9 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
chez wrote:
That’s a big ask. It’s basically illegal to bring a camera from Canada to the US in order to sell that camera without a bunch of paper work and possibly a business visa. I personally would never do it.
I was a Permanent Resident of Canada for 25 years and the last 8 years of that permanent residency I worked in the US and crossed the border every week. I have crossed the border hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Here's what would happen when you cross the border. The border agent would ask you what is the purpose of your trip. You would respond. Based on your response the border agent may ask a follow up question or two. Then you will either be allowed to cross the border. They will call you into the office to ask more questions or they would ask you to return to Canada.
Is it possible that they would ask you for paper work and a business visa, yes, but in practice that would depend on how you answered the questions. Pragmatically how you answered that first question about the purpose of your trip will be crucial. If you said, "I am going across the border to sell a stranger a camera." You probably are going to get asked to go into the office and they will ask you a bunch more questions like the sale price and are you willing to pay import taxes on it. At that point you could either pay those costs or return to Canada without making the sale. I assume most would return to Canada without paying the extra money and filling out the forms.
If, however, you answered that first question about the purpose of your trip with the response that you were meeting an acquaintance with whom you have been having discussions on line, pragmatically the response will be, "Have a nice trip," and you will be across the border in minutes at most. You would have to feel comfortable with this approach if you were going to respond this way, but my experience with hundreds if not thousands of border crossings is that such an approach would work pretty much exactly like that. Personally, if I were still a Permanent Resident of Canada I would be totally comfortable with such an approach, but some very well may not be.
p.1 #10 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Steve Spencer wrote:
I was a Permanent Resident of Canada for 25 years and the last 8 years of that permanent residency I worked in the US and crossed the border every week. I have crossed the border hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Here's what would happen when you cross the border. The border agent would ask you what is the purpose of your trip. You would respond. Based on your response the border agent may ask a follow up question or two. Then you will either be allowed to cross the border. They will call you into the office to ask more questions or they would ask you to return to Canada.
Is it possible that they would ask you for paper work and a business visa, yes, but in practice that would depend on how you answered the questions. Pragmatically how you answered that first question about the purpose of your trip will be crucial. If you said, "I am going across the border to sell a stranger a camera." You probably are going to get asked to go into the office and they will ask you a bunch more questions like the sale price and are you willing to pay import taxes on it. At that point you could either pay those costs or return to Canada without making the sale. I assume most would return to Canada without paying the extra money and filling out the forms.
If, however, you answered that first question about the purpose of your trip with the response that you were meeting an acquaintance with whom you have been having discussions on line, pragmatically the response will be, "Have a nice trip," and you will be across the border in minutes at most. You would have to feel comfortable with this approach if you were going to respond this way, but my experience with hundreds if not thousands of border crossings is that such an approach would work pretty much exactly like that. Personally, if I were still a Permanent Resident of Canada I would be totally comfortable with such an approach, but some very well may not be. ...Show more →
So you are basically lying to the boarder agent as your sole purpose is to actually sell the camera. Again, some might feel it's OK...but I sure would not do that for a couple of bucks.
I too have crossed the Canada / US border hundreds of times...I use to do a lot of work in the US and I know many of the border agents have been trained to spot signs of lying and even if one has a poker face...there are tell tale signs you are hiding something.
p.1 #11 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
The camera isn’t made in the US or Canada so tariffs don’t apply.
Aug 05, 2025 at 05:05 PM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #12 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
chez wrote:
So you are basically lying to the boarder agent as your sole purpose is to actually sell the camera. Again, some might feel it's OK...but I sure would not do that for a couple of bucks.
I too have crossed the Canada / US border hundreds of times...I use to do a lot of work in the US and I know many of the border agents have been trained to spot signs of lying and even if one has a poker face...there are tell tale signs you are hiding something.
First, my response in the hypothetical above was not a lie in any way. The border agent never asks you what are all the purposes of your trip? They ask you what is the purpose of your trip and if I say to meet someone with whom I have been having discussions on line, that is in no way a lie. You might say that I am not revealing everything, but the border agent really isn't asking me to reveal everything about my trip. That would be tedious and greatly hold up the line. I would never advocate lying to the border agent, but I don't think my approach is advocating that despite what you say.
Second, it turns out that my field, social psychology, studies how good people are at lie detection, so I know the studies on that. The bottom line is people suck at it. Most people are wrong at guessing people are lying about as much as they are right. They maybe get it right about 54% of the time (where flipping a coin gets you 50%). They do train border agents to detect lies, but the training is pretty lousy. Border agents are hardly better than non-trained people and studies do not find them getting it right more than 60% of the time. Better training is possible, but even the best trained people top out at about 65% accuracy. Oh, and polygraph examiners with people hooked up to a polygraph are hardly any better. They only get about 70%. That is why polygraph tests aren't admissible in court. They are wrong way too much and the scary part is errors happen both ways about equally. People are falsely accused of lying a lot and liars simply aren't caught a lot.
So, if you are right and border agents rely on the ability to detect lies that is most unfortunate because they are going to be really bad at it and any time you cross the border you are going to be in jeopardy of getting accused of lying and even if you are telling the truth you are going to get accused of lying a lot. Fortunately, that has not been my experience crossing the border. I have never lied crossing the border, even though I never give a detailed response to the purpose of my trip usually saying things like, "I am visiting my son," or "I am going to work," or "I am visiting a friend," and I have never been accused of lying when I crossed the border either.
p.1 #13 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Steve Spencer wrote:
First, my response in the hypothetical above was not a lie in any way. The border agent never asks you what are all the purposes of your trip? They ask you what is the purpose of your trip and if I say to meet someone with whom I have been having discussions on line, that is in no way a lie. You might say that I am not revealing everything, but the border agent really isn't asking me to reveal everything about my trip. That would be tedious and greatly hold up the line. I would never advocate lying to the border agent, but I don't think my approach is advocating that despite what you say.
Second, it turns out that my field, social psychology, studies how good people are at lie detection, so I know the studies on that. The bottom line is people suck at it. Most people are wrong at guessing people are lying about as much as they are right. They maybe get it right about 54% of the time (where flipping a coin gets you 50%). They do train border agents to detect lies, but the training is pretty lousy. Border agents are hardly better than non-trained people and studies do not find them getting it right more than 60% of the time. Better training is possible, but even the best trained people top out at about 65% accuracy. Oh, and polygraph examiners with people hooked up to a polygraph are hardly any better. They only get about 70%. That is why polygraph tests aren't admissible in court. They are wrong way too much and the scary part is errors happen both ways about equally. People are falsely accused of lying a lot and liars simply aren't caught a lot.
So, if you are right and border agents rely on the ability to detect lies that is most unfortunate because they are going to be really bad at it and any time you cross the border you are going to be in jeopardy of getting accused of lying and even if you are telling the truth you are going to get accused of lying a lot. Fortunately, that has not been my experience crossing the border. I have never lied crossing the border, even though I never give a detailed response to the purpose of my trip usually saying things like, "I am visiting my son," or "I am going to work," or "I am visiting a friend," and I have never been accused of lying when I crossed the border either....Show more →
p.1 #14 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
KarmaKramer wrote:
The camera isn’t made in the US or Canada so tariffs don’t apply.
Yes, the tariffs from the country of origin would apply.
Aug 05, 2025 at 06:20 PM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #15 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
chez wrote:
We all have our individual standards.
Yes, we do and for eight years I had a home in the US and a home in Canada. I suppose since my residency was in Canada, every time I sold a lens to somebody in the US I should have paid duty on that lens when I brought it to my home in the US to sell it. I didn't and I don't feel guilty about that. Maybe you would. Maybe you pay GST and PST or HST when you sell a lens in Canada. Maybe you don't and you don't feel guilty. Maybe you don't and you do feel guilty. You are right we all have our standards about such things. Personally, I will leave such matters to each person's conscience and what they feel comfortable doing as I suggested in my original post.
p.1 #16 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
I once brought a drift boat that a friend sold to a person on Vancouver IS. (another friend of a friend). Crossing the border into Canada, the only thing that worried the guards was that I didn't have a license for the boat. I guess Canada or BC really tax boats. They couldn't believe that in Oregon, non-motorized boats are free. I feel sorry for the over taxed Canadiens, but at least they get something for their taxes other than an over priced military. Our relationship to Canada and the rest of the world is being plundered by a %#&*. The USA deserves everything that it reaps. Cameras from the Orient are not high on the list of worries. The fellow who bought the boat was so scared of losing his job for smuggling a used boat that he turned himself in to face the music.
p.1 #17 · Buying from Canada (or anywhere really) in all this asinine trade crap
Steve Spencer wrote:
Yes, we do and for eight years I had a home in the US and a home in Canada. I suppose since my residency was in Canada, every time I sold a lens to somebody in the US I should have paid duty on that lens when I brought it to my home in the US to sell it. I didn't and I don't feel guilty about that. Maybe you would. Maybe you pay GST and PST or HST when you sell a lens in Canada. Maybe you don't and you don't feel guilty. Maybe you don't and you do feel guilty. You are right we all have our standards about such things. Personally, I will leave such matters to each person's conscience and what they feel comfortable doing as I suggested in my original post....Show more →
I don't think you were violating any laws or owed duty. It depends on intent, whether you brought in in for personal use, and how long you owned that equipment abroad or here before selling it.
"Worn clothing and personal effects: Worn clothing can be eligible for duty-free entry if it meets specific requirements of noticeable wear and bulk packaging under heading 6309.00.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Personal effects, such as clothing, jewelry, and photographic equipment, may be brought in duty-free if for personal use and not intended for sale."
Just as I don't owe duty when bringing my personal used gear into Italy during my relocation there. I am free to sell it used there as well. It is personal property not intended for commercial use.
