When I started Kind Loom, I knew I wanted to bring beautiful bedding from India to Canadian homes. What I did not know was everything that sat between “I found a supplier” and “the boxes are in my Calgary garage.” Importing is not hard, but it is a sequence of specific steps, and skipping one costs you time and money at the border. Here is the path I actually walked, in order.

1. Get a Business Number and an import-export account

Before you can import commercially, the Canada Revenue Agency needs to know who you are. You will need a Business Number (BN), and then an import-export program account — the RM account — added to it. This RM number is what CBSA uses to identify your shipments. You can register the BN and the RM account through the CRA. It is free and can be done online.

2. Register in CARM

CARM (the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system) is now the official way importers manage their accounts and pay duty and taxes to CBSA. You need to register your business in the CARM Client Portal, link it to your BN, and set up how you will pay. Even if you use a broker, you register your own business and then delegate access to them in the portal. Do this early — it is the step people leave to the last minute and then panic over.

3. Find and vet your supplier

This is where the business is really made or broken. For Kind Loom I spent months talking to suppliers before committing. A few things I learned to insist on:

• Order samples before any bulk order — colours, weight, and stitching in person tell you more than any photo.
• Ask for references and, ideally, proof they have exported before (export documentation is its own skill).
• Confirm they can meet Canadian labelling requirements for your product category — textiles, for example, have fibre-content and dealer-identity labelling rules.
• Start small. My first order was deliberately modest so a mistake would be survivable.

4. Agree on Incoterms

Incoterms define exactly where the supplier’s responsibility ends and yours begins. The common ones for a small importer:

• EXW (Ex Works) — you handle everything from the factory door. Most control, most work.
• FOB (Free On Board) — the supplier gets goods onto the vessel at the origin port; you own the ocean freight and everything after. This is my preferred starting point because the costs are clean and predictable.
• DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — the supplier handles everything to your door. Easiest, but you lose visibility and often pay a premium buried in the price.

Know your Incoterm before you talk freight, because it changes what you are actually quoting.

5. Arrange freight

A freight forwarder is worth their weight in gold when you are new. They book the ocean or air shipment, coordinate origin handling, and can arrange customs clearance too. For a smaller order you will likely ship LCL (less than container load) by sea, or by air if it is light and urgent. Get the forwarder involved before goods are ready so nothing sits at the origin port racking up storage.

6. Classify your goods (HS code) and check duty

Every product has an HS classification in the Customs Tariff, and that code determines your duty rate. Bedding, apparel, and homeware all classify differently, and the rate can swing a lot. Get this right — misclassification leads to reassessments and penalties. If you are unsure, a customs broker or the CBSA can help, and you can request an advance ruling for certainty. India used to benefit from Canada’s General Preferential Tariff on some goods, but eligibility and rates change, so confirm the current rate for your exact classification rather than assuming a discount.

7. Customs clearance and brokerage

When your shipment arrives, it has to be cleared through CBSA. You can self-clear, but most small importers use a customs broker who prepares the entry, calculates duty and GST, and submits it. They charge for this (entry prep plus disbursement fees), and in CARM you grant them access to act on your behalf. A good broker catches classification and valuation issues before they become problems.

8. GST on import

Canada charges 5% GST at the border on most commercial imports, calculated on the customs value plus any duty. If you are GST-registered, you can generally recover this as an input tax credit — but you still have to pay it up front, so budget for the cash-flow hit. Keep every import document; you will need them to claim the credit.

9. Receiving the goods

Once cleared, the goods move to their final delivery — port to warehouse to, in my case, a very full garage. Inspect everything against your order immediately. Photograph any damage or shortage right away; claims have deadlines. Then reconcile all your costs into a landed-cost figure so you actually know what each unit cost you.

That is the whole loop. The first order feels like a lot because every step is new. By the second or third, it becomes a checklist — and Canadian-made-from-India bedding shows up on doorsteps because you did the boring parts properly.

This is based on my own experience — not financial, tax, or legal advice. Rules, rates, and fees change, so confirm current details with official sources like the CRA and CBSA before you decide.