american contests just a warning

[roswell]

for the most part i enter only canadian contests, and not sure how all the american fees etc apply to all items, but just thought i would let you know about GST. i got my laptop today that i won, at the border they tacked on a gst charge, so while it is a $700 laptop and worth the fee it was $83 on delivery i had to pay, which got me thinking what if it was bigger , appliances or a car, still worth it i guess if you could sell the car etc, but would you have $3000 or something to shell out to take delivery???. i have won lots of little things from the states , no charges, but i guess on something bigger it is more. and the guy said if at all possible have them NOT use UPS, use US MAIL, which turns into canada post on this side and often those fees dont apply and there is a distribution??? fee often , i didnt get hit with that one but he said usually there is that too especially with UPS, so you could always request when you win that they not use UPS . so i guess just something to think about

[Tanyab79]

that is good to know because I have been entering a few US contests but might not as much on the bigger stuff

[roswell]

i think crackercrumb is the expert on all this maybe he has more to tell us

[johnnyc]

Thanks Roswell, thats good to keep in mind.