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CUSMA and Tariff Info

If you place an order including mostly non-CUSMA goods expect to pay a fixed brokerage fee (typically ~$18) plus 15% of the order value on those items. For a Nine Continent motor kit, there would be an additional brokerage and duty bill from UPS or DHL for on the value on the motor, the battery, and the charger. While the controller and torque arm components of the order (which are CUSMA compliant) should remain duty free. 

If you purchased a full All-Axle kit (CUSMA compliant) with a downtube battery (non CUSMA), then the box containing the motor and kit should arrive without any duties to pay. But the separate dangerous goods box containing the battery will have a duty and brokerage fee as the downtube (and bottle batteries) are all assembled in China. 

If you get an All-Axle kit with our LiGo 10X batteries, then the whole shipment would be duty-free as the motor, controller, and batteries are all made in Canada. 

Checkout Notification

We have created a "shipping notification" window that shows up in the checkout page to so that the duty bill will not be a surprise. If you have entered a US shipping address, we will summarize in paragraph form which items in your cart are likely to have duty and which items should be duty-free under CUSMA in a callout text like this. 

If for some reason you do not see this window, please send us a screen capture and information on your browser and shipping location so that our web-dev team can investigate why it might not have shown up.

Why No USPS / Canada Post

Historically the least expensive shipping option for small packages to the USA was via the Post. Unfortunately, the US postal system is unable to process CUSMA free trade goods, and so everything shipped with Canada Post / USPS would be charged 15% duty. As a result we have completely removed postal shipping as an option for the USA. 

Kinks in the System

Unfortunately, the assemsment of duties is done by separate brokers who work for couriers and isn't something Grin has control over. We do our best to ensure they have the required documentation to assess duties correctly, but the broker's goal is to clear packages as quickly as possible and they can overlook or ignore CUSMA eligibility during the process.  Regardless of us doing all the paperwork correctly,  there are always some shipments that should be duty free under CUSMA and are incorrectly charged duty. This can generally be reversed but it is a process that takes time and your patience is appreciated as we work through the paperwork. 

What You Need to Know as the Importer

The responsibility to request CUSMA preferential treatment technically falls on the importer (that’s you!), but we’ve simplified the process by taking care of the critical documentation,  including preparing and submitting the Certificate of Origin.

  • The Certificate of Origin is the key document that qualifies your shipment for duty-free treatment under CUSMA.

  • We handle all required fields and submit the necessary documents at the time of shipping, directly through the courier’s platform whenever possible.

  • In most cases, no action is required on your end.

If Customs Broker Gets It Wrong

If you notice incorrect duties or charges on Canadian made items:

  • Reach out to us and we’ll assist in resolving the issue.

  • Alternatively, you can contact the courier’s brokerage team directly to request a detailed breakdown of the charges and ask for a duty exemption review based on the CUSMA Certificate already on file.

Final Thoughts

The USA has gone from being the easiest place in the world to order from to being by far the most expensive in a very short timeframe, and there is a lot of rapid adjustment underway. In other countries people have been used to paying VAT sales tax when they purchase goods from other countries, but this hasn't been the case for most American consumers who have had the benefit of an $800 deminis exemption for quite some time and are not used to this extra burden. 

Historically ~60% of our sales have been to American customers, and we hope with CUSMA eligibility that we will continue to make Grin items available to Americans at a reasonable cost.  We appreciate your continued loyalty to purchase from Grin and are actively looking at bringing our downtube battery assembly here in Canada too. This will allow the majority of our US kit sales to be entirely duty free.