Buying over seas... well, Canada

So I was planning to buy something from canada... for time being, let's assume it's an ukulele. Would I have to pay a duty or anything? :anyone:

When I bought strings from MGM they didn't put duties on it. not sure about a uke. My best advice is to either ask who you are buying it from or ask the local post office. though I've bought a few things from america without duties going onto it.

i've bought 7 ukuleles from MGM and one from Ko'Aloha over the past couple of years (i'm going in the reverse direction too - buying from the states, shipping to canada). from what i know, products made in canada, the usa or mexico are free of duties but you may have to pay state tax on it (provincial tax for me). Also, if it is being sent via a courier (ups, purolator, etc) there may be brokerage fees as well. Aloha!

So... Assuming the product made in Canada, due to NAFTA I know we north Americans would not pay taxes. But what of thee product on question was made over seas? Like... Japan. Or china? For example if I were to buy a phone from Canada that was originally produced in japan, would i then have to pay a duty?

I think it depends who it's shipped through. I bought a bunch of T-shirts from the States (I'm in Canada) and had them shipped with UPS who decided to charge me insane brokerage fees.
However, I ordered from the same company but shipped with Canada Post and there were no additional fees.

From my experience having stuff shipped from US to UK...

It depends a lot on who the carrier is, not because the rules are different but because the independent companies like UPS do things properly and declare everything, while with ordinary country post offices (Canada Post, USPS, Royal Mail etc) rely on the customs officials checking parcels - and they seem to have time to check only a small percentage.

Anything I've had sent to me via USPS has arrived with no extra charges. The parcel sent via a commercial carrier ended up so expensive (more than the item itself) that I didn't bother to pay. They sent it back.

So, someone less scrupulous than me might suggest you ask them to ship via Canada Post and ask them to mark the item as a 'gift'. But that would be dishonest.