As a Canadian, My Experience With Buying a GoPro 9 from gopro.com

GoPro 9 Black is a reputable action camera for the adventure seekers. Being an avid fisherman, I have always wanted to invest in an action cam to capture the memories when fishing. After many years of waiting, I finally decided to buy GoPro 9. I was anxiously waiting for a sale but it never happened. So, while shopping around, I found the price for GoPro 9 Black Bundle on gopro.com the most economic. They offered the bundle for $399 USD. I went ahead and placed the order as it was lower than any advertised price from a retail store, even after currency conversion. But, little did I know that there was duty to be paid. Here’s what happened after I placed the order.

Taxes, Duties & Carrier Surcharges on GoPro 9

They had a little note stating that Taxes, Duties & Carrier Surcharges will be calculated in checkout. Indeed, an amount showed up towards the end which brought up the total to around $448 USD. I didn’t mind as this was basically the tax on the price. Having placed the order already, I was skeptical whether there would be additional duties to pay on top of this. So, I did some research and many Canadian customers said that they had to pay hefty duty fees on top of what was charged by gopro.com. This made me nervous. I wanted to save money by purchasing directly from gopro.com but if this is the case, I will end up paying even more.

I contacted GoPro live chat immediately to cancel my order. I simply didn’t want to take the risk of paying so much for duty. A customer service representative said he will try to cancel the order from the warehouse. After about 2 hours, I get an email that the order was shipped out. This was literally happening 2 hours after I placed my order. I was like wow, did they ship it out so fast so that they can avoid cancelling the order? Now, I was unable to do anything and could only wait for the hefty bill from customs. The next day, I wake up to an email from the GoPro customer service rep who stated that he wasn’t able to cancel my order because it is now outside my front door. I was like, what?? Outside my front door? It’s been less than 24 hours! I look outside and yes, there is a box sitting from GoPro. I nervously opened the box to look for the duty fees.

To my surprise, there was no additional duty to be paid! I was totally taken aback since hundreds of Canadians mentioned that there was no way to avoid the duty charges. I double checked all the included paperwork and yes, there were no additional fees to be paid. I was greatly relieved and could finally enjoy the GoPro without having buyer’s remorse.

If you are a Canadian and thinking of buying a GoPro camera directly from gopro.com, please be aware of the additional fees you may have to pay. I might’ve just gotten lucky by trying to cancel the order. So, before you purchase, know that you may have to pay fees equivalent to almost 80% of the purchase price.