General Forum

I purchased 34 common football cards from Sportlots back in March. With exchange, I paid $30 for them. Yes, that is alot but I have not been able to find these cards anywhere else. 

I received a notice today that my package has arrived and is ready for pickup. According to the slip I
apparently owe $50. That means that my purchase of 34 cards is going to cost me $80 in the end. That is crazy!

I trade cards back and forth all the time with folks in the US and I never have to pay anything. I sent a message to them to see if they can explain how the package was mailed bc in Canada they do not charge duty unless the claimed amount is greater than $20. In my case, there is no way the cards I purchased were worth more than $20 so I am quite confused. 

I also asked to see if there was a chance of refund if I was to not accept the package. 

I'm really disappointed with this as I really want those cards but $2.35 for a common card is ALOT to pay.

This has not been a good experience at all with Sportlots and has left a sour taste in my mouth. I will definitely not be ordering through that site again. 

Would anybody actually consider paying the $50?

How rare are the cards?

well, I have 2500 cards that you want. You have 64 I want, need. Check me out. i don't mind trading to Canada. You and I have the same vision.. To just trade cards. Not worried matching book value.. Donn

Were you careful about which shipping you chose? Did you have them sent in one lot from Sportlots as choosing the box method from them is a lot cheaper for Canada. A dollar or two (or less) for sellers to send to Sporllots and then 6$ for sportlots to send to you. That's usually how I do it. How many different people did you buy from could be an issue too as each of them will be charging you shipping.

I did use the box method. 10 different buyers to 1 box. My total cost of the cards themselves including shipping to the box was $7.70.

It is all unclear, but it looks like the customs declaration was incorrect, because it was based on the wrong value or something like that. They calculated taxes on that inflated amount, plus a $10 custom brokerage fee. Issue is you contest it and ask for a review from the Canadian Customs, but Canada Post (acting as your default custom broker) doesn't really know how to handle that and they'll probably return your package to the U.S. or ship it to the dead mail centre in Nova Scotia, if unclaimed. If it was shipped by a courrier such as UPS or Fedex, $50 is usual business, because they charge you the taxes required to be collected, then $40-50 as brokerage fees.

If you're having something shipped from the U.S. to Canada have the shipper claim a value of $20 or less on the customs form/sticker regardless of the actual price paid. Anything under $20 is duty and carbon tax free.  

If Sportslot doesn't want to help you can probobly get your bank/credit card to issue a refund. You paid their price which included a shipping cost so it's on them to get you your product. Save all communications and contact sportslot abd tell them you expect your cards delivered as agreed upon when you made the purchase. I had my bank reverse a charge a few years ago for a small ebay purchase gone sideways. 

Sorry bakery, my comment looks a little condescending now that I read the rest. I see now that it was a shipping/customs fee, not an extra Sportlots fee. Sorry about that. I do hope it works out.

So Sportlots got back to me and turns out it was an error or their end. They forgot to clear the customs amount from the order that was processed before mine so it got shipped as $246, hence why i got sacked with a huge duty fee. Anyways, they are gonna make it right. I'm going to pay the duty and they are going to credit my account for the duty amount. So in the end it all worked out!