Buying Crutches from a US Store: What Arrives at Your Door in Canada

The complaint we hear most from Canadian buyers is not about price. It is about being surprised. You order something, you see a total, you assume that is the total, and then a courier asks you for more money on the doorstep a week later.

This page is about making sure that does not happen to you, whoever you buy from. None of it is specific to us.

The checkout total is not the final cost

When you buy from a store based in the United States, what you agree to at checkout is the product plus whatever the seller charges for shipping. What you have not yet paid is everything that happens when the parcel crosses the border.

There are typically three additional pieces, charged by three different parties:

Canadian sales tax. Goods imported into Canada are generally subject to GST, or to HST if you are in a participating province, at your province’s rate. This is charged by the government, not the seller.

Duty, if it applies. Whether duty is owed depends on how the goods are classified and where they were manufactured. This is determined by the Canada Border Services Agency when the shipment is assessed. A seller can tell you where a product was made; only CBSA can tell you what that means for your shipment.

The courier’s brokerage or handling fee. This one catches people, because it is not a tax at all. It is the courier charging you for doing the customs paperwork. It varies by carrier and by service level, and it appears on no part of the checkout page.

On top of those three, a store that prices in US dollars adds a fourth variable: your bank sets the exchange rate on the day and many cards add a foreign transaction fee of a percent or two. That one does not apply here, because this store quotes and charges Canadian dollars. The first three still do.

When you actually pay

Almost always on delivery, or shortly after.

The normal sequence is that the carrier clears the shipment through customs, pays whatever is assessed on your behalf so the parcel keeps moving, then collects that amount from you. Sometimes that is a card payment at the door. Sometimes it is an invoice that shows up a few days after the crutches did, which is the version people find most annoying because the purchase already felt finished.

How to avoid being surprised

Assume there is more to pay, and find out how much before you order. Not after. The carrier’s own website will usually explain how they bill brokerage for the service level being used.

Check what shipping method the store uses. Courier and postal shipments are handled differently at the border and are billed differently. It is worth knowing which one is coming.

Look up your provincial rate. GST and HST rates differ by province, so a friend’s experience in another province is not a reliable guide to your bill.

Check which dollar the price is in. A US dollar price is not a Canadian dollar price, and when your bank does the conversion the rate it uses is not the mid-market rate you see quoted online. A store that quotes and charges you in Canadian dollars takes that variable off the table. One that quotes in US dollars leaves you to absorb it, on top of everything below.

Get the size right the first time. Any return is an international shipment. That changes the calculus on “I will just order both and send one back”, which is reasonable advice domestically and expensive advice across a border.

What we charge, specifically

So you can separate our part from everyone else’s:

• The in-Motion Pro is C$225 a pair. That is a Canadian-dollar price: the store runs a Canada market, so you are quoted and charged in your own currency and your bank is not converting anything at its own rate.
• Shipping by FedEx is free on orders over C$200, which every pair is. A part ordered on its own is under that line and pays shipping, shown before you pay, not after.
• Canadian duties and taxes are included in the price. Global-e is the merchant of record and settles them, so the carrier has nothing left to bill you and no brokerage fee is waiting at the door. Before 2026-08-27 those were charged by Canada and by the carrier, which is what the rest of this page describes; from 2026-09-13 shipping is free as well.
• So we can quote your landed cost, which we could not before. Under the store’s policy from 2026-09-14, shipping is free on orders over C$200 and duties and taxes are included, so an Ontario address and a Yukon address, the far end of the country, both pay C$225 and nothing more.
• Returns are 30 days, back to the United States, with the return label deducted from the refund.

If it helps to reduce the number of times you do this: read the sizing page first, and if you expect to need tips or cuffs eventually, order the parts with the crutches rather than paying to cross the border twice.