Excellent info Norcam
I was willing to help anyone here to mark any value they wanted on the customs form anyways but I completely understand at the same time that some people don't want to do that. Like I said you live and learn and I plan to stay away from the expensive or large heavy stuff when I go picking for parts. Cheers

I was under the impression if the part was USA made, there were no customs duties coming back in from Canada. Proving it was USA made might be difficult though.

I think that's why they call it a commercial value charge. It ensures that whatever is being imported is brokered through customs under a bonded program so they can track exactly what's coming into the country regardless of it's original origin? If the original is foreign, then the broker would assess a customs fee with additional charges. The commercial value fee is not a lot, but the brokerage fee from the carrier isn't cheap nor are the bond fees for anything over that $800 exemption. I shipped a set of carbs to a guy in Texas and UPS sent him an added bill of $185 for import charges on a $1700 sale.

No different for the Canucks when we import parts from the US where we get hammered for brokerage and customs fees on the entire value. The only time we get an exemption is if we were visiting inside the US for more than 48 hours and then we get the $800 allowance. On top of that we get the added charges of Tax here in Canada, and it all adds up.

I've been using the "Antique Auto Parts" Nafta exemption provision to receive parts shipped from the U.S to Canada for my resto projects (69 COPO Camaro, 69 Z-28, 67 Hemi GTX, 70 Cougar 428CJ)

The parts need to be over 25 years old and I have them write "Made in the U.S.A" on the box, no duty applies then, not sure if it works in the other direction yet as I just started listing
parts for sale on this site.

Parts made in the Commonwealth are also duty free into Canada fyi

Cheers