There's no way to avoid duty & tax if you purchased directly from the boutique or dept. stores. SA has to list the value of the item, plus the package will be sent through the company - Fedex or UPS will automatically charge the duty & tax on behalf of Cdn Custom.
If you go on to the Canada Border Services Agency (
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/) - under publications - Customs Tariff, you will find out how much duty will be charged based on where the product is made in & what kind of material the product is made of.
i.e. Chanel bags are all made in France or Italy, thus duty will be charged for sure.
Wallets will be 8.5% & bags will be 11% based on the value of the item
After the duty, you will have to pay additional GST&PST or HST.
The only way to avoid duty & tax is only if you get to travel to the US for over 7 days.
i.e. My family of 4 spent 10 days in the US & we in total have $3000 exemption ($750x4). & I purchased a $3000 Chanel bag & no duty & tax was charged. However, we drove back (not flying), thus the custom officers are less picky than those from the airport. Usually, $750 exemption is only for purchased made by each person.
Another way to avoid duty & taxes is having a non-Canadian friend to visit you & bring the bag for you. I tried once but it's too troublesome as it went through so many people & took so long to get my package.
If you are not buying directly from boutique or dept. stores, then you can try asking to lower the value. But I won't suggest that as you'll lose the insurance coverage in case the package is missing. Also, open box by Cdn custom is very common too! Even with USPS.
Sometimes, if you can get the one you love here in Canada, you better off to buy local. Unless they don't carry the one you really want, then nor matter what price you may gonna get to pay the one you love! Good Luck!