Duties, taxes and brokerage on furniture shipped into Canada

When furniture is shipped into Canada from another country, three charges can apply at the border: customs duty, sales tax on the import, and a customs brokerage fee. For a dropship store, these land on your customer unless your supplier ships with duties and taxes paid, or the stock is already in Canada. This guide explains each charge and how they add up on a piece of furniture.

What charges apply when furniture crosses into Canada?

Four costs make up the landed cost of imported furniture:

1. Customs duty: a percentage of the value, set by the furniture's tariff classification and its country of origin.
2. GST or HST on imports: charged on the value plus duty.
3. Brokerage fee: what the courier or customs broker charges to clear the shipment.
4. Freight: cross-border shipping of a bulky item, often the largest line.

How do the CUSMA low-value thresholds work?

Courier shipments from the US or Mexico have low-value thresholds under CUSMA, measured in Canadian dollars:

Almost every piece of furniture is worth more than $150, so a dropshipped sideboard or dining table crossing the border will normally be assessed for both duty and tax.

Is furniture from the US duty-free in Canada?

Only furniture that qualifies as originating under CUSMA is duty-free. Shipping from a US warehouse doesn't make furniture American: a table made in India or Vietnam and stored in the US keeps its country of origin, so it pays Canada's standard duty rate for that tariff line. Canada has also applied surtaxes to some US-origin goods since 2025, and the list has changed several times, so check the current CBSA guidance before you import.

Who pays the brokerage fee on a dropshipped order?

The importer of record pays, and on a dropshipped order that is usually your customer. Unless the supplier ships delivered duty paid (DDP), the courier collects duty, tax and its brokerage charge from the person at the door before handing over the furniture. For a store owner that means surprise fees, refused deliveries and returns that have to cross the border again.

How can a Canadian store avoid duties and brokerage?

The simplest way is to source from stock that is already in Canada. A domestic shipment from a Canadian warehouse carries only the normal GST/HST or PST on the sale — no duty, no brokerage, no customs delay. Other options are a supplier that ships DDP and builds the costs into its price, or becoming the importer yourself and bringing stock in bulk.

Artisan Furniture Canada holds its 1,710 handmade designs in Brampton, Ontario, so dropship and trade orders ship domestically, in Canadian dollars, with free delivery to all 10 provinces.

Importing in bulk instead

The opposite of dropshipping across the border is importing a full container yourself. Duty and brokerage are paid once per shipment rather than per order, but you take on customs paperwork, freight booking, warehousing and the cash tied up in stock. For smaller buyers, no-minimum-order wholesale from Canadian stock is usually cheaper overall.