Hi, I wanted to briefly share how things went at customs and how I completed my lists.
I had prepared my Goods to Follow (GTF) list a few months before shipping. For the contents of the boxes, I grouped items by category—for example books, kitchen items, tools, art supplies, etc. Larger furniture pieces were listed individually, as well as anything with a serial number. I also listed artworks separately if they were too large to be packed into boxes.
In addition, I included items such as rolls of painted canvas and rolled drawings. None of that caused any issues.
For the declared values, I estimated where I didn’t have exact figures.
For the container shipment and the freight forwarder, I had prepared a detailed packing list organized by box (each box had a number and a brief description of its contents) as well as by individual items. Larger items like furniture were assigned the same numbers as on the GTF list. The boxes themselves were simply numbered in the order they were packed.
I did not include value estimates on this separate inventory list.
In the end, I had more boxes for household and kitchen items than originally planned, as I had underestimated the packing volume. At the same time, there were fewer individual items than listed on the GTF.
At customs, I presented the stamped GTF list, the inventory list, and the forms that had been sent to me by the Canadian agent of the shipping company. I waited about 10 minutes at the counter to submit the documents, then a short wait before being called in for a brief conversation with an officer. After that, the documents were stamped and the container was cleared.
Overall, the process was very straightforward. In hindsight, I had probably worried more than necessary—but of course, you don’t know that in advance.
