Caught at Customs

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I once crossed with a complete ZX7R race bike in the bed of my truck... went a little something like this.

- Crossed the ambassador bridge into Windsor, 6 lanes open with no line ups. which one to pick!?
- Rolled up to the booth. Customs guy was reading a Maxim and mowin down on Smartfood with his feet up on the desk.
- Came to a stop at the window with me and my buddy's passports in my hand already out the window.

- Hey, how's it going?
- Great. You're both Canadian?
- Yes
- Alright.. see ya later.


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LiNK666 said:
LOL gotta love our laws when the onus is on the average citizen. I assume they monitor sites like ebay and stuff. Probably get information from them about people purchasing so they have it on record and can catch you when you try to run over the border with it.
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They monitor ebay quite a bit, i've seen people make purchases and come across with BS receipts and paperwork with lower costs, 5 min later, Customs officers come out with the EXACT add of the item sold listing the purchase price.

Get caught lying to them, you'll have an enjoyable experience every time you return to Canada from that point on.
 
Change your license plate so there is no record of the vehicle (worked for me).
 
LiNK666 said:
If you rip off the packaging and tags and pretend it's your purse that you've been using before you entered US. How are they to prove that you bought it over there?
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Apparently, the burden of proof is on you. That's why they suggest documenting items with the CBSA before you cross the border. I built a mountain bike and lost track of most of the receipts, so I took a picture of the bike, listed the bike frame's serial number along with every part's make and model on a piece of paper and took that and the bike to the CBSA office at the airport to get the paper stamped so I wouldn't get hassled when I returned from the US.
 
reciprocity said:
They monitor ebay quite a bit, i've seen people make purchases and come across with BS receipts and paperwork with lower costs, 5 min later, Customs officers come out with the EXACT add of the item sold listing the purchase price.

Get caught lying to them, you'll have an enjoyable experience every time you return to Canada from that point on.
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That would suggest that ebay is giving them information about the item/person who purchased them. Otherwise how would they know you bought the item. Unless if they gather all the sold item information and keep an average of the sold amount. The exact receipt would be impossible imo unless if they were being told by ebay who purchased what... that I don't think is possible.
 
And this is why I claim everything... Never had to pay a tax yet and never tried to lie....
 
LiNK666 said:
That would suggest that ebay is giving them information about the item/person who purchased them. Otherwise how would they know you bought the item. Unless if they gather all the sold item information and keep an average of the sold amount. The exact receipt would be impossible imo unless if they were being told by ebay who purchased what... that I don't think is possible.
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No, they look at the item you have and do a search for the description.

I've seen people try to come across with race bikes worth $15k+, with a receipt for $2000

Canada customs officer's are not idiots, so they'll search a bunch of different locations, depending on the items presented and oddly, with the power of the interweb, they'll find the EXACT bike that is sitting in front of them with a price tag MUCH higher than what is being declared.

I know for a fact that Fort Erie, Queenston and Niagara Falls crossings will search the WERA race org classifieds for a description of the race bikes coming across if they feel like things are not as they seem.

I've brought a LOT of bikes across and I've helped a lot of other's bring them across, I've got a pretty good idea of what they'll do if they feel like digging deeper.

I've gone through this, and I've had them wave me through without even asking what's inside my 20ft enclosed trailer.

With my NEXUS and FAST status, I rarely get stopped but I also declare EVERYTHING.
 
thats odd, there is nothing wrong with doing that.

Its still lightyears cheaper to go to the states (providing you live near), buy your booze (or whatever), declare it and pay the taxes...
that is a ridiculous amount cheaper than paying LCBO prices.

the fact that they said warning? I think that applies to not declaring it.
 
djbordie said:
thats odd, there is nothing wrong with doing that.

Its still lightyears cheaper to go to the states (providing you live near), buy your booze (or whatever), declare it and pay the taxes...
that is a ridiculous amount cheaper than paying LCBO prices.

the fact that they said warning? I think that applies to not declaring it.
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id agree with the part about other materials/ bike gear/ accessories...with booze however, if youre doing a day trip, it may not be worth it because depending on who you get and if they refer you in... even a voluntary disclosure of alcohol ( I bring it 40 proof stuff) you can get taxed anywhere from 30-123% of the value of the alcohol.

BF and I declared 2 bottles each, bottles we cant get in canada (Ciroc x 2 and at the time Crown royal black and crown royal bin 122 but real cheap 30 bucks vs 120 in LCBO)

My part was the ciroc and bin- total of purchase 70 usd. total in duties (based on alc content AND brand/type) + taxes = $76 CDN.

The officer said to just surrender it and that way I save the money but I told him id pay it instead because I couldnt get the stuff in canada, and the other stuff is 120 at home.

long story short...alcohol is where your wallet will get hurt the worst.
 
ice05 said:
long story short...alcohol is where your wallet will get hurt the worst.
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Agreed. I paid ~$20 (excise?) tax for a $25 bottle of Elijah Craig. All the fees added up to about 100% of the original price.
 
slow said:
So here's the situation. Long story short.

- I went to Buffalo with 3 others (another dude(driver) and 2 girls) for about 2-3 hours.
- Dude and myself didn't buy anything.
- Girls bought a purse each, did not declare
- Got pulled to the side and the girls, got caught.

etc...
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My take:

NO ONE has the right to mess with my records statistics etc. If I'm going to commit perjury it will be for my benefit not someone else's.

Discuss the question "Do you have anything to declare?"

Is the "You" plural?

Maybe the question is "Does anyone have anything to declare?" Then is the onus on the customs officer to ask each person what they are bringing in.

Are you required to declare that the passengers are smugglers?

What if, unknown to you, someone bought something small in size, big in value and had it hidden? Know your friends because I think you would be lubed.
 
caboose483 said:
I once crossed with a complete ZX7R race bike in the bed of my truck... went a little something like this.

- Crossed the ambassador bridge into Windsor, 6 lanes open with no line ups. which one to pick!?
- Rolled up to the booth. Customs guy was reading a Maxim and mowin down on Smartfood with his feat up on the desk.
- Came to a stop at the window with me and my buddy's passports in my hand already out the window.

- Hey, how's it going?
- Great. You're both Canadian?
- Yes
- Alright.. see ya later.


​
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Came across the Ambassador at Windsor last month with my fishing kayak on the roof.

-What/where/why were you in the states?
* Fishing
-Is that one of those fishing kayaks?
*yup
-Wow, you even have a special lock for it. That's cool. Did you know there is a huge kayak fishing tournament going on this weekend on the Detroit River?
-(hands me passport) Have a nice day.
 
Used to work for car deal that bought 5 year old US cars and bring them to Canada from Florida. I took a flight down and picked up a car for mini vacation.
Threw the dealer plate on it drove thru customs was so tired forgot it was a dealer car and was halfway down the hwy when i realized i didn't hand in the paperwork and had to drive back and declare it so it could be sold in Canada.
 
lol try and not be so sketchy next time, i live in st catharines so im over quite a bit and ive never had any problems with the border guys asking me questions.
 
When I cross the border with friends and family, we always claim about $70-$100 each person, regardless of how much we bought. (In the event we bought nothing, we obviously say $0). Usually this is a satisfactory amount that does not arouse suspicion and does not warrant a waste of their time taxing you.
 
CBSA won't seize your car unless it's been modified to smuggle goods. That being said, I wonder what their position would be if you bought new tires and rims or other parts state-side.

If the agent suspects that you were released in error, they can dispatch the CBSA or RCMP to your residence and seize your goods.
 
Given that you now have to show passport, and they have the ability to scan the passport, they now know all they need to about you. If you get sent off for inspection, and you fail, or someone in your car fails, chances are very good that every time you cross and they scan your passport, you will get some special questions. The driver is responsible for contents of the car, including passengers. Call it unfair all you want, but no one ever said life was fair. I do not recall ever having to pay at the border for anything. I have hundreds of crossings that must be in the system. Don't even get hard questions at the border, ever.

The same principle applies to having stuff shipped to your house. Have one package inspected and have them find something that is not admissible, your address is now in a list, and everything you get shipped to your house will be held up at customs. I have a friend that bought an inadmissable knife, that got caught by customs, and now he has to get someone else to buy for him if he wants it in the same year it was shipped.
 
bear22099 said:
The same principle applies to having stuff shipped to your house. Have one package inspected and have them find something that is not admissible, your address is now in a list, and everything you get shipped to your house will be held up at customs. I have a friend that bought an inadmissable knife, that got caught by customs, and now he has to get someone else to buy for him if he wants it in the same year it was shipped.
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I believe that would only happen if the item was improperly declared. I ordered a toy machine gun from the US that was seized by CBSA. It was properly declared, but the CBSA deemed it to be a "replica" and therefore prohibited because it said "replica" on the box. It was about 1/4 the size of a real M16. :rolleyes:

Anyway, none of my shipments are ever held up in customs, except for one, which was put in the dangerous goods section in error. It was a chess set - LOL!
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