Quote:
Originally Posted by fred
and that is why most vendors won't ship to Canada anymore (except to a select few who never returned stuff cause of extra duty)
it is the law. if you import cigars to Canada you must pay duty and excise tax. the range is anywhere upto and including 200% of the value of the cigars.
refusing the cigars because they got caught by customs 
as with most things, its a numbers game. if your package is the one that gets inspected, you pay duty. 99 times out of 100, your package is not picked. |
I will tell you from personal experience that:
a) the amount of duties/taxes seems completely arbitrary, and can be significantly more than 200%. Honestly, there is no rhyme or reason to it. I had 2 packages arrive the same day, '00 PP1 that were assessed at $1550 (I kid you not), and '01 Sig V's with an $8 price tag. I refused the Partagas, first time I ever did that. I felt bad but the vendor understood. Another time, I had a box of Oliva MB3's assessed at $1700. I interpreted this as Customs encouraging me to shop in Canada.
b) that 99 times out of 100 figure is way off. Way off. Canada Customs are aggressive tax collectors.
As for the "red flag", I agree with what other posters said above. They have bigger fish to fry.