Proper way to ship skis USA-CAN & CAN-USA

truerider411 · Jan 13, 2015

Thought I would post a useful thread to help everyone out shipping bought skis/hulls from the USA to Canada and from Canada to the USA.

First off if you live close to the border just drive them across and avoid all the brokerage fees. On average they will charge you 125-175 bucks to do the paperwork. If you can cross the border and drop it off at a shipping terminal you will avoid those fees and possibly even taxes if your choose your words carefully.

I recommend lining up shipping with a big company like freightcenter.com or freightquote.com there are tons of websites like them and they choose a bunch of freight companies to give you the best rate.

Get the best shipping rate by keeping the crate size and weight as small as possible but make sure it isn't going to fall apart in a truck. Rickter boxes are awesome. And if it asks you for freight class a jetski or hull falls under class 150

Paperwork: when shipping a ski/hull into Canada you will need the following paperwork whether it's a private sale or a new sale. You can send it with the crate but make sure the broker gets a copy first. I recommend doing both.

*Bill of Lading - supplied by shipping company.
*Bill of sale - both signatures are needed. Buyer and seller
*NAFTA - a form that tells where the origin of the item is from/made . (Example: a hurricane would be USA) when bringing in from china and Japan you will get hit with 10% or 15%
*Commercial invoice - you can find tons of templates online. Your broker should give you one if you don't have one. It's basically a receipt / bill of sale.

Paperwork: when shipping a ski/hull into USA you will need the following paperwork whether it's a private sale or a new sale. You can send it with the crate but make sure the broker gets a copy first. I recommend doing both.

*Bill of Lading - Supplied by shipping company
*NAFTA - a form that tells where the origin of the item is from/made . (Example: a hurricane would be USA). There will be no tax or fee if purchase price is under 2500.00.
*US CUSTOMS INVOICE - basically Canada's Commercial Bill of Sale.

You should be able to ship a hull around the USA and to Canada for around 350.00+ taxes.
In Canada depending on where you live you will have to pay you GST on the ski and PST depending on province. And depending on your broker maybe another 125.00 fee.

I assume these same laws and rules apply to importing into the US. I will confirm tomorrow as I am just shipping a hurricane down to Tennessee for 272.00.

I hope this is helpful. There are lots of little tricks here and there to help out the situation. Please feel free to correct any of my mistakes. Send me and Email or PM and I can get you all the paperwork or your broker should be able to provide it as well.

user_error · Jan 14, 2015

For what its worth:

I purchased an SXR from a seller in Canada last year. He lived close to the border and i did as well. I drove across the Canadian border, purchased the ski, and drove back across the border.

At the border crossing i declared that i had purchased the vessel from Canada for use in the United States. I went inside the office and showed the customs agent the bill of sale and title for the ski. I did not have to pay any fees or do any paperwork. After checking the title and bill of sale i was free to go. I went to our local Licensing Department and transferred the title into my name and purchased tabs without and hiccups.

It was much easier than i thought it would be. I was told, however, that if i had bought a trailer in Canada with the ski that the trailer would be subject to multiple inspections and would need taxes paid on it as it is used on the roads.

truerider411 · Jan 14, 2015

That's awesome. Yah trailers are a hole different rodeo.

digger · Jan 20, 2015

Hey Ryan,
Great info!
Your right on..When importing, if your ski does qualify to be NAFTA ( made in Canada, USA, or Mexico ) no federal duty is not charged, just GST when in Alberta.
But, when a Ski that is manufactured in other countries, you should only get charged between 5% - 9.5% federal duty. More than likely the max 9.5%.. Not sure how this is decided.
Also found out some interesting info about getting a ski built or modified in the states. - You are expected to pay duty ( if not NAFTA) and tax for the total value of the finished product no matter the orgin/owner of the parts you install into it. E.g. - if you tare a SJ down , ship parts down to get installed in a AM hull. You will be expected to pay tax on the value of the ski after the parts are installed.. Even though you already own the parts you put into it..
Make sense??

truerider411 · Jan 21, 2015

I am not to sure about that Digger because when I brought back a ski that I said "had some work done" they just made me pay GST on the bill for parts installed.....

hink320 · Jan 21, 2015

digger said:
Hey Ryan,
Great info!
Your right on..When importing, if your ski does qualify to be NAFTA ( made in Canada, USA, or Mexico ) no federal duty is not charged, just GST when in Alberta.
But, when a Ski that is manufactured in other countries, you should only get charged between 5% - 9.5% federal duty. More than likely the max 9.5%.. Not sure how this is decided.
Also found out some interesting info about getting a ski built or modified in the states. - You are expected to pay duty ( if not NAFTA) and tax for the total value of the finished product no matter the orgin/owner of the parts you install into it. E.g. - if you tare a SJ down , ship parts down to get installed in a AM hull. You will be expected to pay tax on the value of the ski after the parts are installed.. Even though you already own the parts you put into it..
Make sense??

Duty is completely dependent on the country that the hull is manufactured. When I bought my Footrocket and imported it from Australia it was 18%!

MCrider · Jan 21, 2015

My father in law sold a gpr to a guy in Canada and he came down and picked it up and took it back on a trailer they stopped him at the border and said the ski was good but the trailer couldn't cross. So my father in law sent the guy 400$ for the trailer and went and picked it up the next day at some parking lot (how it stayed there over night idk?). A couple days later another guy from Canada wanted to buy the trailer, he told him what had happened and he took a chance and got over no issues. obviously this isn't shipping a ski but it just shows how funny the border can be.

truerider411 · Jan 21, 2015

you just have to have the paperwork in place for a trailer