LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Home > Guides > Underdeclaring customs value
Underdeclaring the value on a customs form is a gamble with bad odds: if customs disagrees with your number, the parcel can be held, reassessed, fined, or seized, and repeat offenders can have future shipments flagged. The honest declared value is the price the item would sell for.
This is general information, not legal advice.
| The trick people try | What actually happens |
|---|---|
| Write "gift" on a commercial shipment | Gifts are only duty-free when they are genuine person-to-person gifts, and only up to a modest threshold. A parcel from a business marked "gift" is still assessed. |
| Declare a fraction of the real price | Customs can reassess using catalog prices, your own store listing, or the value of identical goods. You pay the missing duties plus penalties. |
| Split one order into many small parcels | Deliberately splitting shipments to stay under duty thresholds is treated as evasion, and it multiplies your paperwork instead of shrinking it. |
| Declare used goods as worthless | Used goods are valued at fair market value, not zero. "Second-hand" lowers the value; "worthless" just looks dishonest. |
Only if it genuinely is one. Canada exempts true gifts sent between individuals up to a small dollar threshold, and the US has a similar rule: the key word is individuals. A shop order marked "gift" does not qualify, and neither does a parcel from a business to a customer. Customs officers see this attempt daily. The giveaway is usually the paperwork itself: a commercial invoice, a business return address, or a product that arrives in retail packaging. If the gift is real, declare it as a gift with its honest value. That is the entire loophole, and it only works when it is true.
Start with the mild end: the parcel is held while an officer reviews it, which adds days or weeks. Then the value is reassessed. Officers are not guessing blindly; they check the manufacturer's catalog price, the price on your own website, and the declared values of identical goods from other shippers. You pay duties on the corrected value, plus administrative penalties. At the severe end, goods can be seized outright, and in both Canada and the US there are criminal provisions for customs fraud. The middle outcome is the one people underestimate: your name or business gets flagged, and your future parcels get inspected more often. One saved duty payment buys years of slower shipping.
Not every parcel, but enough of them. Clearance is risk-based: X-ray images, mismatches between weight and declared contents, and values that do not square with the description all trigger reviews. A parcel declared at five dollars that weighs four kilograms and rattles like electronics is an easy catch. Couriers cooperate with customs too, because the courier is on the hook for the paperwork it files. And here is the detail sellers forget: in Canada the value for duty is not just the item price. It is the price paid plus additions like international shipping and insurance, so even an "honest" declaration can be wrong if you left those off.
Declare what you can defend. For used goods, use the fair market or resale value: what would it fetch on a marketplace today. For a handmade item, use the price you charge, including your time and materials. For a sample with no price, use the cost to produce it. One more reason to be honest: shipping insurance pays out based on the declared value. Underdeclare and you also underinsure. If the parcel is lost, the carrier owes you the number you wrote, not the number you meant.
Ready to ship it? Get a shipping label with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and get your label.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com