Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys have been busted by customs?

And a secondary one, do you know if it's true that Canada Customs keeps a tab on addresses and people who they have caught before (a red flag)???

For myself, I think I've received around 5 packages and been busted twice. First time a ridiculous amount, second time a reasonable amount (which I paid).
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How is it "busted" when it is an expected legal import duty fee?
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I'm not Canadian, but I still think that I can say with some confidence that no customs anywhere in the world would keep such a list, unless you get a container shipped to you several times a week. Given the amount of parcels flying back and forth in these days, that kind of a list would grow very big very fast. Still, I do know for a fact that Finnish customs do have some retailers (mainly on-line alcohol retailers) flagged, but I've never, ever heard of some private person on the receiving side being flagged.

And it's not like you're doing anything illegal, as long as you're paying the taxes for the parcels that you accept, so why would they bother giving you any "special treatment"?
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i am also not i canada but i have also been busted twice and the charges was a 100% + more than the value of the cigars
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Be careful of the direction this thread takes, any discussion of how to skirt a country's laws will subject this thread to deletion.
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I guess that if someone would have a foolproof way of doing that, they'd be more worried about the Black Choppers than forum moderation? :-)
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My chopper is blue. :-)
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The reason why I started this thread was not to try and help anyone pull one over customs. Jsut interested in ppl's experiences with Canada and other country's customs when it comes to cigars :-)

Phil

Ps. Already spoke to Tom bout this
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CPU power and data storage are relatively cheap things in today's market.

I think you just hit the nail on the head so to speak.
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Well I am Canadian, and got a box from HK a few years ago that got tagged by customs. They wanted over 200 per cent, it went back, I don't order from overseas anymore.:-)
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and your colors don't run. :-)
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They're too old to run, Darrell! :-)
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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.
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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.
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I didn't order it, it was a prize in a contest. No way I'm paying double + what they are worth on a box I can get anytime I like for a lot less.
They get enough taxes from me as it is.:-)
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I think the issue here is whether we are hurting the supplier. When a parcel comes in with an exhorbitant fee, you have two choices. Pay up, or refuse the parcel. But refusing a parcel is not the problem to the supplier. It's charging back the credit card payment. The supplier gets screwed. So why would they want to do business that way?
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Yeah...there aren't going to be any suppliers if they aren't able to make any money doing business here.
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It's not duty it more like extortion:-)
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