The practical answer first: when you buy from a Canadian website that ships to the US, your real cost is the product price plus international shipping plus import duties plus a customs service fee from the carrier — and the third and fourth items now apply to almost every order. The $800 duty-free threshold is gone, so budget for duties on any purchase. Before you pay, ask the seller which carrier and service will carry the parcel, because that single question determines which service fees you face. If it goes by UPS, you can wipe out a $12 fee simply by paying the import charges online before the driver arrives; if it goes by FedEx, the carrier's disbursement fee rose as of July 20, 2026 and cannot be avoided.
Three carrier service fees decide what you pay beyond tax
Three service fees do most of the damage. UPS adds a $12 International Collect on Delivery fee to the US recipient whenever duties and taxes on a package are not paid before delivery [2]. FedEx raised its Disbursement Fee effective July 20, 2026, from the greater of $15 or 2% of duties, taxes, and merchandise processing fees to the greater of $17.50 or 2.5% of those charges [1]. And UPS separately applies an Entry Preparation Charge to Canada-to-US ground shipments regardless of whether any duty is owed, to cover its brokerage work in preparing clearance documents [2]. These sit on top of the government charges themselves. The FedEx increase is rolling out market-by-market, so the active price for your route should be checked against the current Ancillary Charges schedule.
An illustrative total, using placeholder numbers only: a CAD 200 item (about USD 145), USD 25 shipping, USD 15 in duties at an assumed rate, and a USD 17.50 disbursement fee comes to roughly USD 200 — nearly 40% above the sticker price. The duty rate in that example is invented; your actual rate depends on the product's HTS classification, which UPS notes is essential for accurate duty calculation [2].
The $12 you can actually save: pay before delivery
The easiest saving is the UPS ICOD fee. UPS recommends paying online before delivery: track the package on UPS.com, and when a yellow banner appears, click the Pay Now link to see the charges and pay [2]. If you wait until the driver is at the door, UPS applies the $12 surcharge and your payment options shrink [2]. Ignoring the bill entirely is worse: UPS's collections process runs up to 42 days from the invoice date, after which an unpaid invoice reverses to the original shipper in Canada — which can strain your relationship with the seller and complicate any return [2]. Set a reminder to check the tracking page daily once the parcel clears the border.
Two structural fees you cannot dodge, only plan around
The UPS Entry Preparation Charge on Canada-to-US ground shipments applies even when no duty is owed [2], so choosing ground service does not spare you the brokerage cost — ask whether an air service or a different carrier changes the fee picture. Separately, UPS bills a fee for every commodity line beyond the first three on the commercial invoice [2]. If you are ordering several items, ask the seller to consolidate them onto one invoice with three or fewer lines; a multi-line invoice otherwise generates per-line charges that have nothing to do with the goods' value.
Duties now apply to small orders
CBP's June 24, 2026 rules indefinitely suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for imports valued at $800 or less, following the executive order that took effect Aug. 29, 2025 [3]. Currently, all shipments valued at $2,500 or less are subject to applicable duties, with narrow exceptions: genuine gifts valued at $100 or less ($200 from the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa) and certain personal or household articles accompanying travelers [3]. In plain terms, do not assume any online order clears customs tax-free anymore. The framework is still moving — a CBP proposed rule published Oct. 8, 2026 would modify informal-entry filing for goods at or under $2,500 and add an electronic mail entry type, with comments due Dec. 7, 2026 — so the exact mechanics of small shipments may shift again [4].
One more date worth knowing before you order
If your purchase can wait, note that FedEx's US package list rates for import services rise an average of 5.9% on Jan. 4, 2027. From Jan. 18, 2027, FedEx adds a $25 fee per shipment when trade documents are provided in a non-electronic format requiring manual processing — this one does affect US-import shipments — while the Residential Delivery Charge will apply to all qualifying international shipments into the US [1]. Ordering before those dates and asking the seller to use electronic trade documentation avoids the $25 paper-document fee.
The bottom line for this purchase decision: total the four components before paying, ask who ships and how, pay any UPS import charges through the Pay Now banner before delivery to keep the $12, keep invoices to three commodity lines, and prefer electronic documentation on FedEx shipments. The duties are unavoidable under current rules; the avoidable fees are entirely within your control.