at least largely, to purchase cheaper alcohol and tobacco, and also goods offering different rates of VAT: laundry detergent, perhaps surprisingly, is a common purchase. Similarly, there is an important number of French purchasers buying tobacco and alcohol in Spanish border towns such as Le Perthus. In Spain, these products are a third cheaper than in France. During summer, around 70,000 visitors cross the Spanish border daily to buy such products, occasioning severe traffic jams. Nearby Andorra, with a low VAT (4%), is also extremely popular with French customers residing in the area. There is a significant amount of border trade in marijuana between the Netherlands, where cannabis is essentially legal, and surrounding countries such as Belgium, Germany, and France. A more legal example of the Netherlands is the Limburg province, where citizens occasionally take trips to Germany and Belgium to buy commodities like: medicinal products, handcrafted furniture, fresh produce, alcoholic beverages or home appliances for lower prices due to the VAT. This is very easy as there are no border controls due to the Schengen Agreement. It is fully legal to buy products for your own need over the border in the EU, if VAT is paid when purchasing, except from some low-VAT areas. Residents of Switzerland and Liechtenstein who are non-EU residents can purchase many items in nearby Germany from anything from two to seven times the price they would pay for the same products in their own countries. Austria is also somewhat cheaper than Switzerland. Residents of Switzerland usually qualify for a tax refund on purchases made in all of the surrounding EU countries making cross border shopping even more attractive, particularly in Germany where there is no minimum-purchase requirement for claiming the tax back. North America Cross-border shopping between three countries in Canada, Mexico, and the United States has been robust. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has reduced barriers and tariffs, facilitating cross-border trade. Each day 2008, $2 billion of cross-border trade was conducted between Canada and the United States alone. Consumers take part in cross-border trading to broaden their product selection, gain access to a larger market place, or take advantage of currency volatility. Online commerce has taken on a more prominent role in recent years and gives consumers a convenient platform for cross-border shopping. However, additional border costs such as duties, brokerage and shipping are not always disclosed up front or even