Canadian man has to pay $189 in import fees after shipping heirloom ring he forgot in the U.S.

National Post

3 days ago

A B.C. couple say it's not right that they have to pay nearly $200 in import fees to reclaim a wedding ring — also a family heirloom — that was shipped back to them from family in the United States after being mistakenly left behind earlier this month.
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Admittedly, the Nanaimo resident isn't a jewellery guy, so the gold ring given to him by his late father, Jimmy, almost 20 years ago, had sat unused for many years.
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'I thought about getting it resized,' he told National Post. 'My fingers are substantially more slender, right? His ring was too big for all of them, other than maybe my thumb if I was lucky.'
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He'd always promised to make use of it one day, and that came two years after his father's passing in 2022, when he and his common-law partner of many years, Andrea Nelson, decided to get legally married.
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They had the ring fitted for his hand, picked another of his rings for Nelson to use as a wedding band and were married in 2024.
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'I think he would have just loved the fact that I had finally done something with it,' Baker-Taylor said.
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While visiting his godparents in Washington State earlier this month, he removed the ring before getting in the shower — 'Its structure holds water,' he explained — but then left without putting it back on dry hands. They realized and called their hosts before even departing the state, who confirmed with a photo that it was safe and sound.
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Relieved, they did the practical thing and quickly arranged to have it shipped back to their address via UPS with $500 worth of insurance on the package.
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When it arrived some days later, however, the delivery person informed the astounded couple that it would cost a combined $189 in cross-border duty, taxes, import tariff and brokerage fee to have it returned.
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'We discovered it's being treated like a jewelry transaction, an import across the border,' said Baker-Taylor.
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'There's no way for them to prove that I purchased this; the burden should be on them.'
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They've since discovered that proving that the ring was, at one time, a bequest from his father is somewhat challenging.
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The Canada Border Services Agency, in a statement to National Post, said the Customs Act doesn't allow it to discuss the couple's case specifically, but a spokesperson did clarify some of the guidelines that would apply to their situation.
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Under the Act, any personal (non-commercial) goods brought into Canada are subject to duty and taxes at the time of importation 'based on federal and provincial tax rates, as well as current rates of duty.'