Buying an EBR bike in Canada?
- Thread starter grendel
- Start date
Allroads
Active Member
Hi, I am a Montrealer with the M2S All Terrain Sport R500 . I purchased this in 2019 in Florida and brought it back home.
There are many options available for CDNs . Check out your local bike shops which offer ebikes.
Also Rad, IGO are in Canada, there's a reseller in Calgary WILDERNESS EXCURSIONS which offers Frey bikes a more premium product. There are many choices with varying levels of quality at your fingertips.
theemartymac
Well-Known Member
If you figure out why the shipping is high, you can potentially find a way around it. A few things to examine:
1. Is it the Fedex/DHL/UPS cross-border fees? If so, they are the biggest scam in shipping right now. They charge a percentage of the item value plus a huge number of fees so the value of the shipping and brokerage ends up being easily anywhere from 50%-to-nearly-equal the value of the product. You can avoid all this by refusing courier delivery and "Self-clearing" the product at any CBSA office. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/how-to-avoid-extra-fees-for-international-delivery-services-1.3280694
2. Another option if the manufacturer has a flat fee in the lower 48 (or free US shipping), is to ship to a border clearing house with cross-border delivery. I live on Vancouver Island, so I use a company called Air Express from time to time. They take delivery in Blaine Washington, and then deliver it to the Victoria Airport (By Truck) and I clear the item myself at the CBSA desk at the Victoria Airport and then bring the receipt next door to the AE warehouse for pickup. Super easy, and relatively cheap.
3. And option 3 is to use a similar US side receiver, and then pick the item up yourself inside the US. Obviously this is restricted due to Covid at the moment, but normally it's the cheapest and easiest if you live anywhere near a land border, and you simple declare the item when you cross back. When I lived in the SE corner of BC, I used a receiver in Eureka Montana for these things, and took advantage of the duty-free and cheap gas/groceries/alcohol while I was over there.
Any of these are complicated by potential returns for warranty replacement or major service of course, but if you are a self-maintainer, or plan to use your local LBS for service, the risk is possibly worth the hassle.
And you can use this calculator to determine the duty and taxes you'll have to pay the CBSA desk. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html
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Thanks for all the feedback and yes i meant EBC 
I know about the options in Canada, as a matter of fact i have an IGO myself but my wife was interested by this model and it was cheaper than other options since she only wanted to use it on weekends.
RAD as interesting as well but she's not convinced by the design (can't say i disagree).
We will see where this goes, maybe having it delivered in a city ner the border will be an option, depending on when Covid decides to leave us alone .
Anyway, thanks again for your comments.
I know about the options in Canada, as a matter of fact i have an IGO myself but my wife was interested by this model and it was cheaper than other options since she only wanted to use it on weekends.
RAD as interesting as well but she's not convinced by the design (can't say i disagree).
We will see where this goes, maybe having it delivered in a city ner the border will be an option, depending on when Covid decides to leave us alone
.Anyway, thanks again for your comments.
EBC says that they ship lots of bikes to Canada. It would be nice to here of anyone who has done this and relay any issues that they have had at the border .
soyabean
Active Member
- Region
- Canada
What issues?
An ebike is not illegal contraband.
On the value of the ebike, you pay its federal tax, provincial tax, harmonized code customs and duties, and brokerage fees.
A proper commercial logistics courier (like Fedex Trade Networks, UPS Brown, DHL Logistics) are bonded to do things properly and collect all costs to ensure your merchandise is imported legally and properly.
soyabean
Active Member
- Region
- Canada
Agreed.
All you need to do is get into USA to take the physical item back into Canada and do all the paper work in person "at any CBSA office".
Curious, how is that working out with borders closed?
That's a lot of fees to consider including the 1000 $ shipping ebc charges . I hear that ebc is looking into opening a Canadian store (outlet) . I have my fingers crossed but not holding my breath lol .
soyabean
Active Member
- Region
- Canada
And all can be quoted and looked up.
There are zero surprises when it comes to commercial merchandise import. The CBSA are great at helping with all confusion.
Your choices are either: A. Do what is legal and proper, or B. work with a LBS to satisfaction.
Ebikes aren't some $98 Movelo (something that looks like a) MTB from a Walmart Supercenter.
Ebikes do cost some money, and to some: a way lot more money. That means: get a lot of money ready for an ebike.
theemartymac
Well-Known Member
You don't have to go into the US to complete that process, although that would be the best work around if you wanted to avoid the hassle of being refused import in the first place. If you refuse courier delivery in lieu of self-clearing 'at the door' so to speak (or once they call you to arrange drop off), they will hold the item at the depot or border clearing house (Canadian Side) until you have the receipt from customs. Then you just pick the item up yourself at the courier depot with the receipt. I'm sure there is a window after which they will send it back to the shipper, but you would certainly get several days as long as they knew what you were doing. It's a pretty common practice.
The closed border definitely eliminates the option to just pop over and take delivery at a private US clearing house for the short term, but I suspect we are only a month or two away from seeing most border restrictions lifted.
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