Buying coffee greens from USA to Canada

#1: Post by **Manuqc** » December 2nd, 2015, 6:44 pm

Hi

Im looking to roast my coffee at home.

I want to have idea for price and taxes if i bought Green coffee in usa.

For example if i bought 10 lbs at Sweet Marias ?

Price of 10 lbs : 60$ us -> 80 $ ca
Ups : 50 $us or 50$ ca ?
Tx ??

To summarize:

For one dollars us of Green coffee , i Will paid 2 , 3 ... $ca

Tks

#2: Post by **mfortin** » December 2nd, 2015, 7:43 pm

Hello Manuel,
If you import coffee in small quantity (less than 20 lbs), you will pay between 10-13 $ can (If the coffee is sent USPS, you may not have to pay duty but if it is shipped UPS then it will add to the cost).
In Canada, you can buy from idrinkcoffee (I do not know about the quality) or seb (on this forum).

#3: Post by **Boldjava** » December 3rd, 2015, 7:56 am

mfortin wrote:..(If the coffee is sent USPS, you may not have to pay duty ...

There is no duty on items shipped in USPS boxes. The US and Canada have an agreement that boxes handed from one post office to another will not incur import duties.

#4: Post by **Bodka Coffee** » December 3rd, 2015, 8:03 am

There is a roaster up there that would likely sell you greens also.

December 3rd, 2015, 6:37 pm

Boldjava wrote:There is no duty on items shipped in USPS boxes. The US and Canada have an agreement that boxes handed from one post office to another will not incur import duties.

AFAIK, there is no duty on green coffee coming into Canada. Doesn't matter how it is shipped. The international postal agreement is that there are no brokerage fees - and that applies to all postal items. There is (to Canadians) a $10 flat handling fee for items shipped EMS (= USPS Priority Mail International Express and Global Express Guaranteed) plus applicable duty, if any, plus applicable sales taxes, if any (varies by province, e.g., 13% in Ontario, but, again, no sales tax on green coffee - in Ontario, don't know about Quebec). Generally they don't charge the handling fee unless taxes are due (and then the handling fee is always charged, regardless of postal class).

So, of course, the time for Canadians to buy stuff is right about now, because Customs has high volumes and doesn't want to be anti-Christmas and lets a lot of parcels through that normally would be hit by duty/taxes - although this year that hasn't been the case so far

... I used to always buy cigars from the US this time of year (and then I realized that I had a decade's worth of cigars, LOL).

Courier companies like UPS and PitneyBowes (eBay "Global Shipping") charge for brokerage, for handling, for I have no idea what, but it ends up costing a lot more than $10 in fees.

I have bought greens from Mill City and Sweet Maria's. USPS large flat rate box is $56.75US IIRC and can handle 18-20 pounds of greens. So that's a $3 or so per pound premium ... which makes buying locally the way to go for non-exotic greens.

Within Canada I have bought from Le Cafe Crema in Trois-Rivieres (Hi Séb!) and Green Beanery in Toronto - because I go to Toronto regularly and can pick up at their café. Also, many roasters sell greens.

#6: Post by **Bob_McBob** » December 3rd, 2015, 7:06 pm

There is no duty on green coffee imported into Canada, and there should be no sales tax under the Excise Tax Act, but experience has shown UPS and other couriers often do charge sales tax and force you to dispute it. DHL in particular doesn't even have an internal dispute procedure and makes you appeal to the CBSA, which means you can't recover the $10 fee they charge to incorrectly collect the tax. Note that UPS brokerage fees are charged on the value of the package whether or not the items have duty or tax, so there is no way to avoid the basic brokerage charge with UPS Standard. Also, if you order from somewhere like Sweet Maria's and add a few bits and pieces to your order, you can end up exceeding the 5 line customs classification limit and paying extra fees even with expedited and express.

If you import by mail (USPS), Canada Post charges a flat fee of $9.95 to collect duty and tax on any package with a value over $20 ($60 for gifts), not just express service. In recent years they have been much less strict about nailing packages under about $200, but I wouldn't count on it. There is no duty and tax on coffee so there is no collection fee, and I have never been incorrectly charged sales tax on green coffee by regular postal mail import.

https://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipp ... rance.html

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manu ... sp#1382717

#7: Post by **happycat** » December 3rd, 2015, 7:12 pm

I am in Montreal and I buy 18lbs from Sweet Marias several times a year for a number of years.

I always choose the USPS option because I don't want to deal with UPS and courier issues. The posties bring the coffee up to my home office in my condo if I am in and otherwise I can pick up at the local post office if I am out.

No tax, no handling fees on any of my coffee.

Now the BIG problem is how the Canadian dollar really sucks right now compared to US$. So costs have gone way up due to exchange rates. My $160 purchases now go over $200.

You need to crunch the numbers for cost per pound, shipping, and exchange rates while taking into account the variety and quality Thom Owens offers vs what else is out there.

If there is a good selection of direct-trade coffee that is high quality at comparable prices in Canada, then I am all ears.

#8: Post by **saepl** » December 4th, 2015, 10:07 am

why not contact one of the many coffee roasters in Canada? I'm sure they'll sell you green but since coffee is traded in USD you'll still be paying the upcharge for the weak Canadian dollar.

#9: Post by **Boldjava** » December 4th, 2015, 1:51 pm

happycat wrote:I am in Montreal ...Now the BIG problem is how the Canadian dollar really sucks right now compared to US$. So costs have gone way up due to exchange rates. My $160 purchases now go over $200.

....

When the energy and materials (metals, wood, paper) sectors come back, the Loon will yodel again. Those sectors have been creamed on the market all year.

https://eresearch.fidelity.com/eresearc ... ding.jhtml

#10: Post by **happycat** » December 7th, 2015, 10:28 am

Just wanted to note that I contacted Seb at Cafe Crema in Trois-Rivieres Quebec and he was amazingly responsive despite it already being evening, and shipped greens out to me right away and I already got them. He had more varieties available than I expected and easy payment using PayPal.

Thanks Seb! Looking forward to roasting them up.