What fees stack up on a DHgate parcel into Canada?

Why

• The carrier charge is the line buyers least expect, because it is a service fee rather than a tax and appears on no duty schedule. This desk models the disbursement band at about twelve US dollars when duty or tax is collected at delivery, applied per parcel rather than per dollar of value, so it does not shrink when the order does and can dominate the arithmetic on an inexpensive item.
• Tax is calculated on a value that includes the international freight, so the shipping line quoted at purchase forms part of the base instead of sitting beside it. A light but bulky item with a high freight charge therefore carries a larger assessment than its price suggests, and the carrier tier changes the total twice over, once through the carriage line and again through the value the tax is calculated on. A bulky coat shows the effect better than a dense small item, because the box is large, the weight is modest, and the freight is priced on the space it occupies. The assessment then follows the freight, so that space is paid for twice, and weighing the box against its volume is the check that predicts it.
• Duty and tax do not necessarily begin at the same value. Separate low-value thresholds apply to the two, so a parcel can clear duty-free and still be assessed for tax, which produces the familiar pattern of a small tax bill with a comparatively large handling charge attached. The duty gauge models the two lines separately for that reason, and quoting a single combined figure hides the structure of the bill.
• Courier tiers differ in how they clear a parcel and in what they charge for doing it, and that difference is often larger than the freight difference between the tiers. A cheaper freight tier that hands off to a postal clearance route can finish with a lower all-in charge than an express tier, which is why the fee stack is read after the carrier is chosen rather than before the decision is made. A lower carriage line does not always produce a lower delivered total, and the gap between the two is usually the clearance route rather than the freight rate. Comparing tiers on the carriage figure alone hides the line that decides the final amount. The clearance route is not printed on a listing and is rarely mentioned before dispatch, so it has to be asked about directly: which carrier hands the parcel to which clearing agent, and what that agent charges for the service. One question, asked early, replaces a surprise later.

When this answer flips

• The declared value falls below both thresholds and the carrier clears the parcel without an assessment, because the handling charge can then be the only line and it may still be levied.
• The seller ships one consolidated parcel covering several orders, because a single handling charge then covers every item inside it and the per-item share drops sharply.
• The goods attract a specific duty rate rather than a general band, because the duty line then moves independently of value and the comparison against a general estimate stops holding.

Three things to do next

1. Estimate the Canadian duty band
2. Build the full landed cost
3. Read who is billed for a revaluation