Canadians the Boarder issue
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 Location: Winterpeg Manitoba Canada
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Okay, since I will be a Dealer crossing the Canadian Boarder and was moderately Nervouse about doing such and being turned back as some experienced last year, I did a bit of Research. I called our local Boarder guard here in Manitoba and asked to speak to one of the Higher up's (Supervisor/manager) to see what he thought on the issue and if there was anything we as Dealers could do to avoid any hinderances or possible dis-allowance of entry's. He told me that there SHOULD be no problems so long as you have your Sales tax information handy, all proper ID and if possible, the Dealer information confirming that you are indeed doing as you say you are. He said he had never heard of a Con goer being turned away because they lacked a business licence, and said whoever was turned away because of such was probably dealing with a newer guard who did not quite understand the situation. HOWEVER, he did say that if Sed Dealer was carrying anything remotely pornographic in Nature, then they WOULD need a business licence or some form of legal Documentation declaring that they CAN sell such materials in the US of A. The US is very very concerned about Porn crossing over the boarder and have some severely strict rules when it comes to such materials and if an individual is found crossing over the boarder into the states with anything of this nature on their person or in their luggage they will be turned away without question no matter how small the amount. He also Said that it would be within our best interests to probably call the boarder station ahead of time before you depart, the Day before or even the Day you are Leaving, to make sure that you will not be turned away. Make sure you talk to the acting supervisor and Get his or her Name so the guards know you have discussed the issue with sed individual. Now I'm not sure if ALL Acting supervisors feel the same on this issue, so give your local Boarder station a Call yourselves and talk to the acting supervisor. You can find the Number for the AMERICAN side of the boarder guard in your local Government pages in the phone book, normally found at the front of the book. Being a Dealer I Will not be carrying anything adult in nature just to be extra safe and I highly recommend that other dealers do the same to avoid possibly being turned away. So if you plan on Selling anything adult-themed at the Con it would probably be a good idea to draw it after you have crossed or even Mail your prints and stuff to a friend IN the states who can give it you when you reach the convention. Hope that this information helps my fellow Canadians and that I will get to see ALL of you at the convention. Much Luv to you all ~Lmai |
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Location: Roseville, CA, USA
I am not an artist - nor a Canadian, for that matter - so please excuse the lameness of this question; but would it be beneficial to create your original drawings, scan them, store them on a "thumb-drive" - you know, one of those little. hight-capacity flashdrive thingies with the USB connector - and then have them printed up here, when you arrive? The convention center, being host to many business gatherings, probably has a couple of Kinko's or other office printing and service providers relatively close-by for last-minute printing and presentation-materials needs?
NAFTA was passed and mostly implemented, what, about 14 years ago or so? There must be SOME benefits of it that aid artists, seeking to sell their unique wares.
A few years ago, one of our overly-officious US Customs agents practically reduced Amy Pronovost to tears, with all sorts of threats and intimations of penalties for daring to come here and take away work that American Artists could be doing, selling her oh-so-threatening illustrations of happy gryphons and foxies and armadillos and such. I would have thought that, no, she was selling something that no one else on earth could satisfy a need for - and that was Art by Amy Pronovost. No American artist can draw me an Amy Provonost Original Fox-shark, going GNAR! GNAR! GNARRR!,
or a Heather Bruton Anubis, or an Andrew Pidcock "Loupy" _anything_.
Art is - after all - NOT "Universally Interchangable", like the parts of a tractor.
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Lol It doesnt sound Lame at all sweets ^.^
I seem to remember there being a search last year for the elusive Kinko's, But I dont recall if it was close by or not...lol.
My husband had actually recomended doing just that and storing our artwork on his laptop or in his memory stick thingy (can you tell I'm super smart technology wise? lol) And getting stuff printed when we arrive. Personally I dont think It would be beneficial for us to do that since My prints are getting done for free here in Canada.
Another draw back to storing the images is it doesnt truly help out with the problem of carrying originals for the artshow. This is where Mailing the atrwork and, since your mailing originals, mailing your prints to a friend who will be attending, comes in handy.
I never heard about Amy Pronovost getting hassled at the Boarder
Thats truly awefull especially if she was reduced to tears 
. I suppose it really depends on the Guard you speak to, some can get a little too full of authority and not realise the damage they cause. Another reason why it would probably be within Artists best interests to contact the acting supervisor of the Station you will be crossing through and discussing things with them. I have the name and rank of the gentleman I talked to written down with the date I spoke to him and what I had asked him and his answeres (Lol I like to be prepared) ANd will be doing the same again a Day or so before we cross through the boarder to head to AC. Once again I will have eveything written down. This way there will be no excuses on the guards part to not letting you through.
With luck everyone will be able to cross without hassle or being turned back, especially with the amount of money being spent to get down there already.
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permalinkYes. There is a Kinko's in the vicinity of the convention center, and I do beleive there are other similar facilities in the area.
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The problems I faced last year were worse then probably anyone else. I've still yet to recover from the financial loss and hoping that this year will go better. AC usually brings me 2500$US and missing that for the past year and unable to recover has made for some miserable times.
It was added insult to injury when I was asked to pay an additional 25$US when I was at AC for some lame Pittsburg tax.
Heh, paying all that money to AC and having the US government screw over my small business to protect the likes of Old Navy and Calvin Klein is hilarious. The way I see it, my 200$US donation of a table last year to AC didn't even get me a SuperSponsor badge. Of course being a dealer at AC for the past 5 years means nothing to them. I'm shelling out another 260$us this year to try again, hoping beyond possibility it'll work out somehow.
At the border, I was yelled at for trying to enter the US and "working" by being present and doing the act of selling my items which any American could do. So for anyone crossing borders, don't tell them you're doing any kind of labor for money unless you have a temporary work visa.
You can try applying for a visa, but "retail" salesperson isn't specialized and you'll be rejected, they only give those visas to professionals in certain industries. Even if you're an artist like me, you're at AC to do the act of selling prints to furs, which is retail which any US citizen can do better than you.
I was fingerprinted and photographed and threatened that if I returned with anything textile related including my personal use fursuits, I'd be turned away from the border that day. Resulting in a two hour trip back to Toronto to drop everything off. The only other solution was to BOND everything for their full value (like 5000$US) and should anything be missing, then I'd lose the bond and be fined and burned at the stake.
So no fursuit parade, masquerade or wearing it out and about for me...
Apparently I cannot bring fursuit related items into the US such as tails, ears and paws because they're considered textiles and I'm flooding the market. Textiles aren't covered by NAFTA, but something else in which once a certain limit is reached, the US will stop any other textile imports from occurring. This is to prevent foreign countries from dumping textiles into the US and making for cheaper prices for products.
So apparently Calvin Klein, Old Navy, etc are all making ears, tails and paws and I'm dumping my products into their market and lowering their prices hurting those poor American businesses.
For anyone selling fursuit related items from outside the US, try shipping them ahead like Kage suggests. I'll be trying it this year, sure it'll cost me an extra 300$US to do so, and who knows what kind of customs fees I'll incur. Paying customs fees on items that don't sell will be a fun and fabulous way to kill my profit. Then spend another chunk of money to ship the unsold items back to Canada... hooray for free trade.
-SuperJay
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Egads!
I had never heard of someone trying to sell handmade animal costumes as being a way of taking profit from Old Navy and the like o.0
I'm sorry you had such trouble, and Lost so much money and potential profit because of that. When I called our Boarder Patrol I never even thought to ask about those individuals who would be selling things other then artwork. I will call them back again and inquire as to their restrictions on such things and see what they say. I will bring up the problems you had last year and ask if there really are rules that you need a Work Visa to sell such things or if the guards you dealt with were on a power trip ( which happens fairly often sadly, nothing against the guards of course, just some get a little too ahead of themselves)
If your selling things At the con at a Dealers Table, I dont think it would be wise to say that your not just to get through the boarder. I can see some rather hefty draw backs to that and some rather painfull reprocussions (i'm not sure that is spelled right HAH)
If I find out any information that will help you with getting through peacefully and without trouble I will let you know immediately and hopefully you can save a bit of money. The only problem with my information would probably be the Difference in crossing points, as our Crossing station goes into Michigan I believe, and I think the One you will be using goes into a different state, so there may be differences of opinions.
Try giving your Boarder crossing station a call this week and ask to speak to the ACTING supervisor, this will be the Head guard who manages all problems and deals with the guards. He will know better then the regular guards what can and cannot be allowed and what paperwork you may need. Be sure to ask for his Name and Badge Number and write the information down along with the date you spoke to him and at what time you spoke to him. This information will help you if he says things are okay but you get stopped and told otherwise by a guard. They wont be able to lie or dance around the problem since you came prepared.
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permalinkLocation: Canada
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Yeah, we (kina, horsefeather, my fiancee Zahle and myself) were just going to state that we were going across the boarder for pleasure (which it is more for pleasure than business!), and to shop (we will be spending money there) and just kinda fail to mention that we'd be selling stuff... I guess we'll try the whole call ahead thing you mentioned though - you are probably right that if we get caught lying that it would be way worse than anything that could happen if we tell the truth...
*sigh* this is probably my biggest fear of going (first time going of course) so I guess it'd be better to do it the right way. I REALLY hope it works out!
This is probably a dumb question, but can an official big-wig from Anthrocon say/send something the borders or something to tell them that we are coming? Like a list of all the dealers names and that they are indeed registered and legal and everything? To protect us from the scary guards?!!! I really know nothing about how this works but it's worth asking! XD
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Unfortunately, Anthrocon does not have that much political clout. A letter from us would be worthless, and would probably alert the Customs Service to be extra-thorough in checking into our Canadian members' baggage.
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I have to agree with kage on that. They will more then likely eyeball any canadian passing through the boarder around the date of AC if The AC higher up's sent a notice and be more then happy to rip you apart.
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It's a huge fear of My husband and I's as well. We spent a fair amount of money on everything so far for the Dealers table, Hotel and travel arrangements that we dont want to have it all wasted (not to mention flying my mom In from Alberta to look after our son while we are away)
I really, really, really Have to advise against lying to the guards as they DO Check your name out and would begin to question your having a PA sales tax licence while you happen to coincidently be heading to PA for a convention.
I would give your station a call and make some inquiries. From what I heard, Canadian dealers did not have so much trouble in past, there were isolated incidents, but not as many as last year. I'm curious what suddenly caused so much to go wrong and so many, pardon my language, but bull excuses for preventing dealers into the US.
If you find out anything new whenand if you contact your station let me know okay? I'm trying to figure out soemthing that will help us Cannucks get through without trouble so everyone can attend.
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permalinkLocation: Canada
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Funny how I find these things when I google myself! Google google! (I'm looking for people making noise about Star Wars celebration - OH SO EXCITED)
Kage's page speaks the truth. And I talked to someone who handles visas who passed this along to me. #1 is the MOST IMPORTANT STEP.
First and foremost, if you can hire/beg/borrow an american to do your selling, do it. I have the lovely Jedi nate helping me at my table at CIV. He's my paperwork fairy.
Second, better to be safe than turned back. Mail all your stuff to someone in the US.
Thirdly, as you have now hired an american to do your sellig and you are not carrying goods across the border you are going to the con to enjoy yourself and possibly dress like a large critter. Although you may want to omit the last part.
*returns to lurking*
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I also point concerned parties to this thread in our discussion boards.
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