This guide is for any new Canadian ebay users.  If you are new to Ebay, I would recommend you to read THE REAL MEANING OF SUPER LOW PRICES AND SUPER HIGH S/H by chinchchin first.

    Now for some tips and things to know for all Canadian buyers:

1) If you plan on buying an item over $20 CAN (excluding shipping and handling) you have to pay taxes on the full price of the item (GST,HST,and/or PST are applicable)

Warning: This $20 CAN exemption does not apply to certain items, such as: tobacco, books, periodicals, magazines, alcoholic beverages, or goods ordered through a Canadian post office box or intermediary.

2) Anything you buy that has to cross Canadian borders is charged a $5 CAN handling fee.  Remember to add that in to your total cost of the item.

Tip: If you plan on buying multiple items, try to find a seller that sells many of the items that you want and has combined shipping available.  Even if it costs more to buy only from this single seller, you must take into account the money saved on shipping and customs charges.

For example: If you planned on buying 3 different video games from 3 different buyers for $5.00 CAN each.  The total cost would be $15 CAN +  (3 x $10 CAN shipping and handling) + (3 x $5 CAN for border crossing shipping and handling) = final cost of $60.00 CAN.

However, if you found the same 3 video games at a single buyer for $8.00 CAN each.  The total cost would be (approximately) $24 CAN + (1 x $13 CAN shipping and handling because of combined shipping) + (1 x $5 CAN for border crossing shipping and handling) + (tax of $24 x 0.07) = final cost of $43.68 CAN.  This way you manage to save about $16.00 CAN, and if you use Ebay often, this extra money adds up very quickly.

3) If you plan on buying any type of toy or model gun, make sure it is not realistic. If the cylinder of a model revolver rotates or the side of a model automatic pistol moves once the trigger is pulled, it is considered a replica firearm and will be disposed of once it gets to Canadian customs.  Pellet guns cannot be imported either.

4) Reminder: When purchasing something over Ebay, talk to the seller first to make sure the lines of communication are open. This ensures that you can contact the seller if there are any problems during bidding on or after winning an item.

5) Since Canadian customs is now harder for packages to get through, there may be delays in shipping.  Even if the seller guarantees it will arrive in 2 weeks, the time it takes to get through customs may extend by maybe a week or two.  So, before leaving a negative feedback for those sellers, just wait a while longer and keep the lines of communication open.

6) Beware: Most packages sent to Canada from the US cannot be insured or tracked.  This makes buying anything over Ebay from the US a risk as you will not be able to find out where it is, if it has been lost, or if it has been destroyed.

7) Remember to buy things from power sellers with at least 90% positive feedback and a high rating. A lower positive feedback indicates a smaller percentage of people who were satisfied with the item they bought.  A lower rating indicates fewer people the seller has served.  For example, consider a seller who has 9 out of 10 positive feedback and one who has 900 out of 1000 positive feedback.  Both have a positive feedback of 90%, but one has 9 satisfied customers, whereas the other has 900. The more positive feedback a seller has, the better.

8) Remember to convert currency to get the true price (which ebay does for you already so...) and remember to read the whole description page before placing a bid.