Expert: James Yee - 9/18/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi James, I have found a site on the internet called Go2cubancigars, and it says that they deliver any where in the world (I live in Canada). They also say that there is no name or mention of cigars on the package (they say that it is a "gift" or "book"). I am asking you if you think I can get an order of cigars into Canada without paying all the taxes and other charges that go along with it? I ordered $135 worth of Cubans from Switzerland a while ago and had to pay $213 to get them out of the post office. I heard that Canada has an x-ray machine that can tell what is in the package is this true?

ANSWER: Hi Grant,

When ordering cigars through mailorder, there is always a 50/50 chance that you may have to pay extra for your cigars.  Your chances are definitely improved when the merchant lists your package as something other than cigars but there’s no guarantee that your package won’t be x-rayed or randomly inspected.  If the package is x-rayed and the contents do not match the description of contents on the shipping label, the package will definitely be opened and inspected.  Some packages that list taxable items (ie: books and clothes) may be opened and taxed accordingly.  It’s really weird/unpredictable how Canada Post screens packages and even I can’t guarantee if you’ll have to pay extra for your package.  I’ve ordered a few things in the past and some things miraculously slipped by Canada Post while other things weren’t so lucky.  There’s really no guarantee with something like this.

All you can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope your order gets by without any problems.

Hope this answers your question. If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I’ll be happy to help.

Regards,
James


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick,reply James. Just one more thing, I have been ordering cigars from the U.S. and they label them usually as a book worth about $20, I have ordered from them about 6 times and had no problem. Those cubans that I got busted for I ordered from Switzerland, I wondering am if they inspect a package from over seas more closly or did I have bad luck on that one package. Also the cigars from Switzerland were not marked as a gift or book, and it did have a return address of La Cava. Thanks again Grant

Answer
Hi Grant,

Yes, I’ve been told that international packages are screened more often; especially if the contents are vaguely or suspiciously labeled.  Again, it’s weird how Canada Post works.  Sometimes it can be pure luck that a package will get by and other times it’s caught and inspected when we least expect it.  It may also depend on how the package is shipped.  A premium or even private shipping service may also be less likely screened.  (Speaking from experience, I had packages shipped with a lower-cost method thoroughly inspected while packages shipped with a more expensive service were untouched.)

Switzerland is a big cigar mailorder source overseas and I’m sure Canada Post knows this so they must have a way of flagging packages from Switzerland that have a certain name in the return address.

Hopes this helps.

Regards,
James