I have a friend in the States who wants to ship something to me in Canada. I do NOT want to be attacked with a ridiculous border fee. How can we avoid that whole rigmarole?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I've mailed several things to Canada and have been frequently asked by the Canadian buyers to mark the items on the customs form as a "Gift" with a value of less than $10. It may not be an honest thing to do, but apparently this avoids any outrageous customs fees.

I do the exact same thing, and appears to work the majority of the time.

I remember being asked to keep it under $25 so I usually do.

$10 and marked gift is the preference. And definately ship via mail.

Merchandise is allowed in the country up to $20 Canadian, and gifts up to $60 Canadian before being hits with border fees, but it can be very arbitrary. I just got a cheque a couple of weeks ago because I fought some customs that I had to pay that I shouldn't have had to. If you do get hit, don't forget the extra $5 Canadian handling fee Canada Post adds in.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/.../rc4051-e.html