Canadian owners on the RV and trailer boards give each other one piece of advice about buying from the US more than any other: do not let it come by courier with brokerage. The stories behind that advice are real, a thirty dollar fee on a sixty dollar part, hundreds on a large order. But the rules changed, and the arithmetic depends on what you are buying and how it ships. Here is how it actually works, and an honest account of when a Canadian dealer is the better choice.
The three thresholds
For a parcel shipped from the US to Canada by a commercial courier, Canada applies three bands under the trade agreement:
| Declared value | Duty | Sales tax (GST/HST/PST) |
|---|---|---|
| Under CAD 40 | None | None |
| CAD 40 to CAD 150 | None | Charged |
| Over CAD 150 | May be charged, depending on origin | Charged |
Two details matter. These bands apply to courier shipments only. A parcel that comes through the post keeps the old CAD 20 threshold, above which both duty and tax can apply. And duty depends on where the product was made, not where it was bought: a part made in the US or Mexico can enter duty-free under the trade agreement, while a Victron product made in the Netherlands or a lithium battery made in China is assessed at the ordinary rate for its category, which may be zero or may not. Sales tax applies either way above CAD 40.
Brokerage, which is the fee owners are actually angry about
Duty and tax go to the government. Brokerage is what the carrier charges for clearing the parcel on your behalf, and it is where the horror stories come from, because some courier services charge a percentage-based brokerage fee on top of a disbursement fee, and on a large order that runs to hundreds of dollars.
The ways around it that the boards have worked out:
- Postal delivery clears through Canada Post with a small flat handling fee, though it loses the courier thresholds above.
- Express courier services generally include brokerage in the shipping price, so the fee you see at checkout is the whole fee.
- Self-clearing at a customs office is possible for the determined and rarely worth the drive.
What we actually do
We ship to Canada. The shipping charge for your address and parcel is calculated and shown at checkout before you pay, and our shipping policy states plainly that duties, taxes, brokerage and customs charges are your responsibility unless the checkout says they are included, and that customs time is not part of our delivery estimate. We do not pretend otherwise, and you should not order until you have added those to the checkout figure. The store can display prices in Canadian dollars; use the currency selector so you are comparing like with like.
Lithium batteries are hazardous goods in transit and we may not be able to ship them across the border at all; the checkout will tell you.
When a Canadian dealer is the better buy
For most of what we sell, there is a Canadian retailer with domestic free shipping and prices in Canadian dollars, and for those items they will usually beat us once duty, tax and shipping are added:
- Victron: Canadian authorised dealers stock the SmartShunt, MultiPlus and Orion ranges with free shipping above a modest threshold. Our Victron prices are competitive in US dollars, but a MultiPlus is well over CAD 150, so tax and possibly duty apply, plus cross-border shipping on a heavy box.
- Bearings, brakes and axle parts: Canadian trailer-parts retailers carry Dexter, Timken and Lippert with free shipping above about CAD 100.
- Lithium batteries: Canadian lithium brands ship domestically without hazardous-goods border complications.
We say this because you will find it out anyway, and because the orders where we are the right choice are worth getting right.
When ordering from us makes sense
Parts nobody stocks in Canada. This is the main one. Black Series camper parts, and the generic replacements we have matched to them, have no Canadian dealer today; our Black Series parts in Canada guide covers ordering them. The same applies to any of the off-road camper brands whose US parts channel runs through us.
Small parts under CAD 40. A seal strip, a bearing kit or a latch shipped by a courier service clears with no duty and no tax. Group them into one parcel that stays under the band you are aiming for, and check the shipping charge at checkout against the saving.
Items a Canadian dealer has on backorder. Victron's 120 volt North American variants are sometimes short in Canada while we have them in Upland. If the wait is the problem, the border cost may be worth paying; the SmartShunt and other small Victron items also fall in the tax-only band.
The order of operations
- Put the items in the cart with the currency set to Canadian dollars.
- Enter your address and read the shipping charge at checkout.
- Add sales tax for your province on the declared value if it is over CAD 40, and allow for duty if it is over CAD 150 and not North American made.
- Compare with the Canadian dealer's delivered price.
- Order from whichever is lower, including from them. We would rather you came back for the part they do not have.
Questions about a specific part or a border question we have not covered here, ask us before ordering rather than after. Everything ships from Upland, California.