Sell on Amazon, Walmart or other marketplaces from Canada? Every order that ships outside Canada may carry duty you can get back.
If you import inventory into Canada, pay duty, and then sell some of it to buyers in the US or abroad through a marketplace, the duty on those units may be refundable through the CBSA's Duty Drawback Program.
Goods shipped to the US unchanged can qualify for a full refund of Canadian customs duty. CUSMA does not cap same-condition exports.
You have four years from each import to claim. Most sellers have never filed, so there are often several years of orders to recover.
Selling from the U.S. instead? See drawback for U.S. marketplace sellers.
Marketplaces make it easy to sell across the border. A Canadian brand can list on Amazon.com, Walmart.com, eBay, Etsy, or department-store marketplaces and ship to US buyers from a warehouse in Ontario or BC.
What the marketplace does not do is tell you that the Canadian duty you paid on those units can come back. That money sits in your landed cost, quietly eating margin on every international order.
How much duty is in your US orders?
The rule is simple: duty was paid when the goods entered Canada, and the goods later left Canada without being used. That is a same-condition export drawback claim under section 113 of the Customs Tariff and CBSA Memorandum D7-4-2.
It does not matter that the sale happened through a marketplace. What matters is that you can link each exported unit to a duty-paid import and prove it left the country.
| Scenario | Drawback? |
|---|---|
| Order shipped from your Canadian warehouse to a US or international buyer | Yes, potentially |
| Inventory moved from Canada to a US fulfilment centre or 3PL | Yes, potentially |
| Unsold stock returned to your overseas supplier | Yes, potentially |
| Order shipped to a buyer in Canada | No |
| Customer return resold in Canada | No |
| Unsold, undamaged stock destroyed in Canada | Yes, under the obsolete or surplus goods rules |
Repacking, relabelling and kitting for fulfilment usually keep goods in the same condition. Products you manufacture from imported parts follow the manufacturing drawback rules instead.
Many sellers assume CUSMA stops drawback on goods sent to the US. For goods exported in the same condition they were imported, the CBSA's Memorandum D7-4-3 allows full drawback.
The CUSMA “lesser of two duties” cap only applies to non-originating materials used to make goods that are then exported to the US or Mexico. Finished products you import and resell are not affected.
The US ended its duty-free de minimis exemption in August 2025, so low-value parcels to US buyers now go through US customs. That adds cost on the US side, which makes recovering the Canadian duty more important. It also tends to create clear records that the goods left Canada.
A Toronto home goods brand sells on its own site, Amazon.ca and Amazon.com. It imports $300,000 of product a year from China and pays an average of 12% duty, or $36,000 a year.
About 40% of units ship to US buyers from its Canadian 3PL.
Amazon.ca orders stay in Canada and are excluded. The refund comes only from units that left the country.
Example figures are simplified for illustration. Actual duty depends on tariff classification, origin and customs value.
Most marketplace sellers already hold everything a claim needs. It is just spread across different systems:
The work is in matching them: tying each exported SKU back to the import it came from. That is what we do.
Claims must be filed within four years of the release date of each import. The oldest imports expire first, so the clock is already running on stock you brought in years ago.
Marketplaces handle the sale, not your Canadian import duty. Nobody files drawback for you.
A few dollars of duty per unit adds up across thousands of orders and four years.
Only units that left Canada count. Filter by ship-to country.
Returned units that are resold in Canada do not qualify.
GST and HST are not refunded through drawback. Recover them as input tax credits.
Send us your broker statements and an export of your orders. We match US and international orders to your duty-paid imports, build the claim, and manage it with the CBSA. No upfront cost. We are paid a percentage of what we recover, so if there is no refund, there is no fee.
Yes, potentially. If you imported the goods into Canada, paid duty, and sold them to buyers outside Canada, the duty on those units may be refundable.
Yes. Goods exported to the US in the same condition they were imported can qualify for a full drawback of customs duty. The CUSMA cap does not apply to them.
It can. Moving duty-paid inventory out of Canada is an export, even if no sale has happened yet.
No. Goods sold and delivered within Canada are not exported.
Four years from the release date of each import.
Usually your customs broker statements and an order export showing SKU, quantity and ship-to country. Tracking data helps prove the goods left Canada.
No. Only customs duty, SIMA duty and excise taxes can be refunded through drawback.
Nothing upfront. Drawback Hero works on contingency and is paid a percentage of the refund.
This page provides general information and is not legal, tax or customs advice. Sources: CBSA Memorandum D7-4-2, Duty Drawback Program (October 2024) and Memorandum D7-4-3. Marketplace names are used for illustration only. Eligibility depends on the facts of each transaction and the rules in effect at the time.
Enter your annual duties and the share you ship abroad. Get an instant estimate, then let us handle the claim.
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