7 min read

Landed cost vs sticker price for motorcycle gear

The CA$150 helmet at a US retailer is rarely CA$150 at your door. In ALLR's 2026-10-05 data, shipping, duty and brokerage made up about 26% of the landed total on US listings and 33% on UK or EU listings, against under 1% on Canadian ones. Here is how the comparison is built, with a worked example.

AE
ALLR Editorial Team· Price-tracking research
ALLR compares the same product across Canadian, US, UK and EU stores and adds shipping, estimated duty and brokerage to show what it costs delivered. Duty rates here are read from the CBSA Customs Tariff.

Nobody pays to appear in this guide. Where a link leads to a retailer or a brand store, ALLR earns no commission on anything you buy through it. How ALLR makes money

Landed cost vs sticker price: how to actually compare motorcycle gear across retailers

Most price comparison tools show you the sticker price, the number on the retailer's product page. For motorcycle gear bought across borders, that number misleads. In ALLR's 2026-10-05 data on 3,651 listings that ship to Canada, shipping, duty and brokerage made up about 26% of the landed total on US-store listings and 33% on UK or EU-store listings, against under 1% on Canadian stores. Landed cost is the number you actually pay, and it is the only number worth comparing.

What goes into landed cost

Landed cost is built in the same order for every store, so two listings of the same product can be compared line by line. None of these lines is visible on a retailer's product page until checkout, by which point you have already invested effort in the choice. Here is the order ALLR uses, with the figures from the worked example further down:

  1. 01
    Sticker price.The number on the product page, in the retailer's currency. At a UK or EU store it normally includes VAT or sales tax of 19% to 22%.
  2. 02
    VAT-strip.A buyer shipping outside the EU is not charged European VAT, so ALLR removes it before anything else. The Dutch store's €1,199.95 for the Alpinestars Supertech R10 Arius helmet includes 21% Dutch VAT, so the ex-VAT price is €991.69.
  3. 03
    Currency conversion.The ex-VAT price is converted to your currency at the day's rate. On 2026-10-21 ALLR converted that €991.69 to CA$1,569.35. Your bank or card adds its own conversion margin on top, which no comparison site can see.
  4. 04
    Shipping.The retailer's own quote to your country: free on that R10 order, CA$43.10 on a CA$131.39 helmet from FC-Moto in Germany (the HJC C10 below), and free at most Canadian stores above their free-shipping threshold.
  5. 05
    Import duty.The tariff rate for the product's customs line, applied in ALLR's estimate to the item's value alone, because Canada deducts international shipping from the value for duty: 8.5% × CA$131.39 = CA$11.17 on that FC-Moto helmet. Duty follows the country where the item was made, not the country of the store.
  6. 06
    Brokerage.The courier's fee for clearing the parcel when the store does not pre-pay duty. ALLR adds a flat CA$25.00 to every overseas listing in the examples in this guide.
  7. 07
    Sales tax (GST/HST/PST).Excluded for every store, because every store type pays it alike once the parcel arrives. Add your provincial rate to any total.

The billing currency matters separately from the country a store ships from. A US store can bill in USD and leave the duty to the courier, which collects it at the door plus a brokerage fee; a European store can bill in CAD and fold the duty into the checkout total. Both can show the same sticker, and only the second is the final price. ALLR cannot always tell which behaviour a store has today, so confirm on your own checkout page.

Why duty isn't a flat percentage

Canadian customs treats motorcycle gear as several tariff lines depending on what it is. The rates below are the general rates in the CBSA's 2026 Customs Tariff, read on 2026-10-21. The same brand selling a jacket and a helmet has very different duty math on each, and the retailer's checkout reflects this if you are lucky or leaves you to discover it at the border if you are not.

Canadian general (MFN) duty rates by category, CBSA Customs Tariff 2026. Goods that qualify for a preference, such as EU origin under CETA or US or Mexican origin under CUSMA, can enter free with proof of origin. Tax (GST/HST) is separate.
GearTariff lineGeneral rate
Motorcycle helmets6506.10.908.5%
Leather jackets and other leather apparel4203.1013%
Textile jackets (man-made fibre wind-jackets)6201.40 (men's), 6202.40 (women's)17% to 18%
Ankle-covering leather boots6403.9118%
Leather gloves specially designed for sports4203.21Free
Other leather gloves4203.297% to 15.5%

ALLR assigns the tariff line for every product it tracks, applies the matching rate to each listing, and updates exchange rates twice a day. You see the total at the top of every product page. To run a single purchase yourself, use the import duty calculator.

Worked example: one helmet, three stores

The HJC C10 Solid helmet is a good test because its sticker prices point the wrong way. On 2026-10-21 the US store's sticker (US$119.99) and the German store's (€98.80 including 19% German VAT) both look lower than the Canadian store's CA$149.95. Landed to a Canadian address, the order flips:

HJC C10 Solid helmet, landed cost to a Canadian buyer. ALLR estimates, prices checked 2026-10-21; duty is charged on the item alone, not shipping; GST/HST excluded; figures rounded.
LineFortNine (Canada)J&P Cycles (US)FC-Moto (Germany)
Sticker (retailer's currency)CA$149.95US$119.99€98.80
Item after VAT-strip and conversion, in CADCA$149.95CA$169.19CA$131.39
ShippingFreeCA$11.27CA$43.10
Import duty (8.5%)CA$0CA$14.38CA$11.17
BrokerageCA$0CA$25.00CA$25.00
Total landedCA$149.95CA$219.84CA$210.66
Listed delivery time1 to 4 days1 to 5 days7 to 10 days

The US order lands CA$69.89 (47%) above the Canadian store, and the German order CA$60.71 (40%) above it. Shipping, duty and brokerage add CA$50.65 to the US order and CA$79.27 to the German one, which is more than the sticker advantage was ever worth on a helmet at this price. The same arithmetic runs the other way on expensive items: on 2026-10-21 the Alpinestars Supertech R10 Arius cost CA$1,435.99 at FortNine, CA$1,799.95 at Alpinestars Canada and CA$1,727.74 landed from Champion Helmets in the Netherlands, so the overseas order was 4% below Alpinestars Canada and 20% above FortNine. Which Canadian store you compare against decides the answer. The full tables, and the boot case where Germany wins by 14%, are in the Europe-to-Canada guide.

What it adds, by kind of store

For a Canadian buyer, the mean share of the landed total that each kind of store adds is below (ALLR data, 2026-10-05, 3,651 listings; duty and brokerage are ALLR estimates; GST/HST excluded). The full method and the product-by-product results are in local, US or overseas?.

Mean share of the landed total by store type, ALLR data, 2026-10-05 (measured before the 2026-10-30 correction that stopped charging Canadian duty on shipping, so the duty shares are slightly overstated).
StoreShippingDutyBrokerageTotal added
Canadian0.4%0%0%0.4%
US7.2%13.5%5.2%25.9%
UK/EU15.5%12.1%5.2%32.8%

Those shares explain the headline result of that study: of 199 popular products, a Canadian store had the lowest landed price on 61%, a UK or EU store on 35% and a US store on 4%. US stores rarely win for a Canadian buyer because they offer no VAT-strip advantage and carry about the same duty share as overseas stores. UK and EU stores win when the VAT-strip on a high price outweighs the freight, which is why they hold 43% of the boot comparisons.

For US buyers

ALLR's US view builds the total the same way with US duty in place of CBSA duty. The duty estimates in the 2026-10-21 listings behind this guide were 10% on a motorcycle helmet, 16% on leather apparel and 18.5% on boots, and the US view adds no separate brokerage line, so a courier fee can still arrive at the door. US duty rules changed repeatedly in 2025 and 2026; the Europe-to-US guide explains the current picture and carries its own warning to confirm the rate before you order.

Where the estimate can be wrong

  1. 01
    Preferential origin.The rates above are general rates. If you know an item was made in the EU, the UK, the US or Mexico and the store can supply proof of origin, the real duty can be zero and ALLR's estimate overstates it. A US store reselling an Asian-made jacket cannot certify US origin.
  2. 02
    Stores that quote duty-paid prices.Some stores pre-collect duty at checkout and some leave it to the courier. ALLR's data carries no separate duty or brokerage line for some UK stores' listings, for example SportsBikeShop's CA$562.92 total for the Alpinestars Bogota' Pro Drystar jacket on 2026-10-21, while it adds both to other overseas stores. Check what your checkout summary says before you pay twice.
  3. 03
    Extra duties on particular items.ALLR does not model every surtax. Since 8 September 2026 Canada charges an extra 15%, 25% or 50% on a listed set of goods made in the United States (man-made-fibre jackets, some textile suits, intercoms and similar); helmets, leather apparel, boots and woven gloves are not on the schedules. The detail is in local, US or overseas?.
  4. 04
    Shipping and exchange rates.Shipping is the retailer's quote, heavy items can land above it at checkout, and exchange rates move between the day you compare and the day you pay.
  5. 05
    One colourway or size.A store's lowest price may belong to a single colourway or a sold-down size run. Check the size you need is in stock at the store whose price you are chasing.

Common questions

What is landed cost?

Landed cost is the full price of an item delivered to your door: the sticker price, less any VAT the store strips for export, converted to your currency, plus shipping, import duty and brokerage. Sales tax such as GST/HST is separate and, in ALLR's comparisons, excluded for every store so that stores can be compared on the part that differs.

Why is a US store often not cheaper for a Canadian buyer?

Duty follows where the goods were made, not where the store is, and most gear is made in Asia. In ALLR's 2026-10-05 data shipping, duty and brokerage added about 26% to the landed total of US-store listings, so a Canadian store was cheapest landed on 61% of products and a US store on 4%. In the worked example above, a CA$149.95 helmet at FortNine beat a US$119.99 sticker at J&P Cycles by CA$69.89 once landed. See local, US or overseas?.

Is duty charged on the shipping as well as the item?

For Canada, no. The Customs Act (s. 48(5)(b)(i)) deducts the cost of transporting the goods to Canada from the value for duty, so ALLR applies the rate to the item alone (for example 8.5% × CA$131.39 = CA$11.17 on the FC-Moto helmet), and GST/HST is likewise charged on that value plus the duty, not on the freight. The same holds for the US (19 USC 1401a(b)(4)(A)). The EU and UK work the other way: their customs value includes transport up to the border, so duty there is charged on item plus shipping. The final bill depends on how the courier or CBSA values the shipment, so treat it as an estimate.

Why does ALLR add a CA$25 brokerage fee?

Brokerage is the courier's fee for clearing a parcel through customs on your behalf when the store has not pre-paid duty. ALLR adds a flat CA$25.00 to the overseas listings in this guide's examples. Stores that ship duty-paid, or couriers that bundle clearing into the shipping fee, can make the real figure lower or zero.

Does ALLR's landed price include GST or HST?

No. Tax is excluded for every store so that store types can be compared on the part that differs; add your provincial rate to any total.

Is the landed total an exact quote?

No. Shipping is the retailer's quote, duty and brokerage are ALLR estimates, and exchange rates move, so the final figure is fixed only at checkout or when the parcel clears customs. Specific items can also carry extra duties ALLR does not model. The methodology page explains the inputs.

Do I pay duty on a small parcel?

Often not on very small ones. CBSA's courier rules waive duty and tax up to CA$40 for goods from the US or Mexico (duty-free but taxable from CA$40 to CA$150) and up to CA$20 from any other country, per the CBSA low-value shipment page. A helmet, jacket or pair of boots is almost always well above those lines; they matter mainly for items such as a visor or a pair of liners.

See it in action

Browse a category and watch the landed total change as you switch the country: helmets, leather jackets, boots, gloves. Or open any product: the price row at the top is the landed total, not the sticker.

For the cross-border buying flow end to end, see Buying motorcycle gear from Europe to Canada and Buying motorcycle gear from Europe to the United States, which walk through real products step by step. To see who is usually cheapest in practice, read Buying motorcycle gear in Canada: local, US or overseas?. For the full buying sequence, start at the buyer's guide hub.

Sources

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