Originally Posted by santiago
I am not against paying duties and fees. I will clear customs on my own and pay duties and taxes. By clearing customs on my own I save on the brokerage fee. I pick and choose what I buy from the U.S. but there are some things that can't be beat. Baggy cycling shorts are a good example. The cheapest I can find are the MEC Primal Scream for $50 CAD here in Montreal. Forget about anything branded (E.g. Cannondale, Kona, etc) as that stuff easily touches close to $100. On eBay I got sweet Cannondale shorts that were much less than any LBS even after shipping and taxes.
Not many people are close enough to a customs clearing center (those are either border crossings or airports right?) to be able to do what you do, but granted, I have heard of other people doing similar things with success also.