A buddy of mine worked at the customs office in Montreal (Ville Saint-Laurent) many years ago. He confirmed with me that the selection process about which packages get pulled out and evaluated is
ABSOLUTELY RANDOM. Which is why you sometimes have packaged at $40 getting hit, and sometimes have packages at $100-200 slipping through. The method of shipment is irrelevant, contrary to what some people would say.
That being said, the customs regulations says that anything under $20 (I believe it was $30 many years ago) is exempt from getting hit, though I'm pretty sure I was hit by customs on a ~$30 package a long time ago as well. They also seem to have raised their handling costs from something like $5-6 to $10.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/po...roits-eng.html
On the topic to BBTS, the last time I ordered anything from them was in 2009, because the last dozen or so packages from them ALWAYS got nailed by customs, because they can't label the item as a gift, and the fact that they have their store name/url (ie, bigbadtoy
STORE) plastered all over the box/tape/etc.
Back to your real question: a group buy should always save on shipping, but your savings may be negated by customs charges,
IF you get hit by them.
