our local fish store in regina is very pricey here is an example eheim compact 5000 is 259.00 koralia 1050 69.00... 41.00 US and io salt 75.00 per pail. luckily at this time petsmart sells salt at 49.00 per pait 39 onsale so i buy that locally but when it comes to equiptment i have no choice but to search online. i will search canadian companies first then US. i look at shipping costs. and overall where ever is the cheapest gets my money. i have no choice i refuse to pay 259.00 for a pump i can get for 189.00 shipped. if its an emergency i have no choice ill buy it but id rather spend that 60 bucks on something else than throw it away.

one last example of lfs pricing verses say ebay given this ebay company is canadian. i recently purchased from another reefer a de mh light fixture he sent me spare bulbs he had one box had the price of 69.00/bulb. i looked on ebay.ca and found a place that sold said bulbs 3 for 68.00 when they showed up to my surprise they where in the exact same packaging.

now i know saltwater is a limited market and a tough to pay rent and other expenses if your giving the product away. and not getting profit for staff and bills. so i understand your frustrations with ppl trying to get lower prices out of you just cause they saw it cheaper online. i personally dont try to barter price with companies thier price is thier price . it is my job as the buyer to do my research and buy smart. the lfs has a reason for the cost of thier product. the reasons may be due to costs to getting it landed to thier shop.. staffing costs.. or thier yearly/monthly trip to some warm and sunny place.

it is what it is.... and if you happen to be the lucky one with the right price at the right time of my need/want or desire. your welcome. and if your costomer service shines maybe ill buy more next time.

ps. i dont mean to come off as a snot this is not my intention.. it can be frustrating in this hobby when you live in the middle of nowhere and limited options locally. lfs has saved and helped me alot and i still support when i can. just not pocket friendly at times.

I order from the US because I work 10 mins from the border and bring things back over from my mailbox in Blaine, WA in amounts that don't incur duties/taxes. That saves me 12% right off the hop. For places likes MarineDepot and Premium Aquatics, there is a sweet spot where you'll get free shipping while still not triggering duties/taxes from CBSA. So I'll get the goods both tax free and with free shipping. While I'm at it I'll pick up a tank of gas at around $1/L. It's a no brainer on my part.

I estimate that 75% of my equipment/drygoods is purchased this way. It would be higher were it not for the excellent prices of our local dealers like J&L.

"Buying local" makes you feel warm and fuzzy and I would I do so if all else was equal. Unfortunately, it's not and financial reality hits.

+1 on 50% of the price.
But why stop at US border they get their stock from China anyway! None of it MADE in US of A or Canada.
Why not go to China direct?

I got my Calc reactor and skimmer delivered to my door at half of the Canadian price, DELIVERED to my local post office 5 min away fro me.
http://www.reefshops.com/product-377.html
.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74827
The unit above would cost me MORE then double here in Canada. I got it delivered with total of $133 Can plus I get $9 usd gift cert for next purchase.
So why would i shop locally ?....

Again... I paid $100 including shipping/brokerage/duty. Most things are cheaper at BRS.., and if I had cheaper Canadian options I would take it. Any day. Even at jl it's free shipping over $100... And it would have been $135.

$35 back into other tank supplies.






I buy livestock exclusively local. But dry goods, hard to compete anywhere in town.

My last purchase from the USA was a bulk order of media and RO filters but that was at least a year ago. I generally buy enough at a time to last a few years so I haven't needed to purchase anything from outside of the country since then. At the time BRS was still the lowest price for the best of those products even with shipping and brokerage factored in.

Here is an example
2.5L Bubble Magus Dosing Container $58.99+tax+$8.94 shipping= $67.93+tax=$76
http://www.reefsupplies.ca/canada/bu...ontainer-2-5l/

Exactly the same item for $20 (select size in drop down window)
http://www.reefshops.com/liquid-storage-bucket.html
$43 total shipped looks a lot less the $76 to me. Plus i could use a $9 discount from my previous purchase.

Bubble magus NAC7 cone skimmer $248.99+tax =$278+free shipping
http://www.reefsupplies.ca/canada/bu...-cone-skimmer/

Exactly the same item for $170+$38 shipping= total $208 shipped.
http://www.reefshops.com/bubble-magu...n-skimmer.html

You have to be careful with that site. It looks like most of their stuff is 220V.

This is not accurate at all, I just used a previous order coming from the US and input all the values.

Actual Values
Sub Total $125.00
Shipping Total $12.00
Grand Total $137.00

Brokerage fee when the item arrived via Fedex $16.02 making the total cost of the item
$153.02

Same values put into this calculator

Final Price
CAD$ 184.53

Thats about 30$ different..

Not to mention I find if you can get items shipped via USPS 9/10 times if the dollar value is below 200$ you wont see brokerage fees, sure you have to wait longer but seems worth it IMO.

Yes it is all 220V.
Got my 200W voltage transformer for $10 on CraigsList. CalcReactor and Skimmer together are less then 30W both plugged in the same transformer so i am OK.
BTW this site is legit and support is OK too.

if you can give me a canadian site that sells the same products at the same prices as brs even after duty and shipping I would shop at home. The only site i have seen is reselling the product at a mark up, higher then a us delivery.

No disrespect , but not certain if it's smart or suicide for a sponsor to start this type of thread.

Supporting the Canadian economy is great! supporting your local economy even better .
but you said it yourself "above quote" its foolish to spend your money at one place when you can get it cheaper at another.
A good example is pritty much any online retailer in Quebec, they are always going to be more expensive due to the higher taxes.
Same for your store vs lets say J&L Aquatics I get the same thing for less but its still got to cross the country to get here.
This is why I always by outside Quebec

I cant remember the last piece of equipement i bought in canada , im by the sumas border so i get everything shipped to letter lock and have NEVER paid brokerage or duty or tax (bought 250$ in clothes for my wife today and same deal) .I have a problem buying something here for more (its always more here , even if its 5$ its more) and then i have to pay 12% tax because i might enjoy it . Im going to buy a RKL tomorrow and online its 30$ less than at j&l and the shipping is free , and i dont have to drive to burnaby , and i dont have to pay the 12% tax i voted down . If the prices in canada where better and i didnt have to pay so much tax i would buy local but im not going to support an economy that dosent support me.

I believe its all about fair competition. If people can get it cheaper somewhere then they should buy there. If local businesses want to stay in business then they need to remain competitive with all sources.

I much prefer to support local businesses where and when I can but I organize group orders from J and L all the time because our local SW fish stores charge 3 times as much for the same items.

The fact is that there are still savings to be had across the border in some situations. Lots of suppliers offer free shipping and the cost of gas still doesn't make it unappealing to pick up across the line.

in an odd sence of the matter at hand i kinda respect the vendor on this question. mainly from the information they can learn by our response if it can help them find a way to help and supply products at comparable costs. already mentioned was filtration media. some things are just not capable to get at lower costs and are out of control of the vendor being at the mercy of thier supplier. and thus far if they had something that i would like i may try them out. just at this time(no offence to reef supplies) thier site is new and i see nothing of intrest to me personally at this time.

I always try a local supplier first if they can match or come close to the item I'm buying, I priced out a set of KW Variant 3 coilovers for my car

From U.S. Ebay: 3,299.99 Shipping 59.99 Final Cost: CAD$ 3940.41

2 suppliers from Edmonton, 3500.00 plus shpping and GST, 3600 plus shipping and GST.

Sponsor vendor from 6speedonline:
V3 $2800.00
Shipping to Canada is usually around $125-$150 based on exactly where in Canada it needs to go to. Final Cost: CAD$ 3462.16

Price from Toronto:
The KW V3s would be $2965 + 5% tax + $40 shipping so $3153.25 including shipping and tax.

I asked one of the local suppliers if they can match the Toronto price, and he said his price is his price, so Toronto get's my business

I don't understand how a supplier can turn down an profit just to bring an item that's prepaid? Isn't making some money, better than making no money at all, and what about future business, I won't be calling that company in the future to see if they want to match prices or come close.

Steve at Red Coral match a sale price form J&L, because I prepaid it, since he did not have it stock. I try to keep the money locally, if possible.

$900 is a LOT of money, but as Cal_sti wrote...there are options.

Where do they ship out of? Correct me if i'm wrong but I believe they ship out of Japan. Be it Japan, USA...Euro, you will have to pay duties, brokerage fees and tax on that NAC7.

This is a rough breakdown when using UPS ands shipping the NAC7...could be off a little.

duty $10.20
gst $13.09
coversion $5.20
brokerage $43.98
Disbursmant $6.61

So you need to add about $78, so if my calculations are correct your $208 NAC 7 will cost you about $285.

And you still have to buy a converter for the 220V.

The $30 differnce is proably in the duty. If the shipper supplied the NAFTA and the item is made in USA, you save most of the duty. You also need to look at what visa charged you..very minimal, right around $3 for the conversion.

thanks

Little bit of both maybe? hehe

We are very transparent, nothing to hide. Threads like this are what makes us vendors know what out clients want.


That's not how it works. We cant charge other provinces Quebec taxes :-)

Here is our tax breakdown

Alberta 5%
BC 12%
Manitoba 12%
NB 13%
Newfoundland and Lab. 13%
NWT 5%
Nova Scotia 15%
Ontario 13%
PIE 15.5%
Quebec 14.975% (no kidding we're pi$$ed lol)
Sask 10%
Yukkon 5%

Can you Email us what you would like to see on our store? http://www.reefsupplies.ca/canada/contact/

Thanks!

whoa!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your thoughts! We (as I'm sure other vendors reading this thread) have learned a lot. We are doing our absolute best to offer fellow canucks the best possible prices (without degrading products) and service that we can and will continue to do so.

Lots more to come from ReefSupplies.ca, please keep on checking in form time to time!

thanks a ton!

Ray

Whoa is right! As an inc. we get the taxes back as but try buying a car at 50K and having to pay $7500 tax! Insane

Great on yah!

I like the fact you want to be open to "criticism" or constructive feedback.

Good luck!

Acctualy its exactly how it works for me :biggrin: I live in Quebec city:wink:

I do know that if I use your code for -5% it does make a competitive difference.

Good luck with it all

Oh woops lol! I did't notice that.

Don't get things shipped by courier and you don't pay brokerage or duty, most times not even taxes. I buy things from the US and over seas often and just get it sent via USPS or regular air mail and have only occasionally had to pay GST but never any of the other charges you list. Maybe from a business perspective when you are buying pallets of stuff you can't avoid some of these charges but a regular consumer can. It usually takes 2-3 weeks this way but it's much cheaper. I even have over seas merchants ask me what I want them to declare the value of the merchandise is to lower the potential GST costs on my end. I really don't know how customs decides when to charge GST or not but so far I only pay it 1 in 10 purchases.

I shop around, local, USA or global. On a fixed income so any $$s I can save I'll go for the best deal. It's a global economy after all. It also depends on the product I'm buying. With respect to hobby related stuff such as my sw tank, most everything is made overseas so I don't see any reason to line the pockets of a shell company that merely brings stuff in from the same place & marks it up. The beauty of the interweb. There's little incentive for me to bother having something shipped from Quebec vs from Asia since I live closer to the west coast.

With respect to items actually made in Canada (& in the US like my VorTechs)...... I like butter & prefer that it comes from somewhere within 100 Kms of where I live, so I look for Dutchmen's Dairy butter, cheese, sour cream etc., whenever shopping for dairy products. In this case it seems foolish to save a few cents or a dollar on a 1/2 lb of butter from some national supplier that has mega plants in Montreal, Toronto or another major center in eastern Canada when there are perfectly healthy cows producing what I like in BC. I know,,, the long haul truckers out there are gonna hate me.

I reckon in a few years when Asian workers start getting paid a decent wage & increasing fuel prices make shipping goods across the ocean less lucrative, there will be a major shift in how the global economy works. I still can't figure out what NAFTA means, free trade my a$$, Europe has the right idea there, just open up the borders & have a common currency, then the brokers & money traders will be out of a job, good riddance. An American dollar for all of N & S America! Sure there would be some growing pains, but in the long run it would level the playing field & true competition would result.

Wife s from the us if you mail the package and keep the items under a 60 dollar value you can get away with no duty...

Kind you he parents shipped up clothes she left in by and. THey charged us 40 dollars for used clothing we already owned

Sent from a pineapple under the sea...

with customs it's practically whose hands touch it. I've brought stuff in from the states 2 packages (to big and heavy to make it one) both with identical contents and such. shipped from same person (and address) same day to the same address on the same day. both shipped the same way too. one had a 20$ fee on it and the other one no charge.

I imagine it boils down to the luck of the draw in many cases for the smaller, lower cost items. If you consider the volume of goods coming in & going out of the country, customs can't possibly screen every single item. I'm sure much of it is xrayed to help them decide what gets scrutinized more closely.

I've been ordering various items in small batches from Asia via eBay for a DIY LED lighting build since January & have yet to pay any duty or brokerage. I made sure the items I purchased had free or minimal shipping costs, so no surprises. All the orders were under the $50 mark with 2 exceptions & even they were under $100. Funny thing though, although most items entered through Van, one order went all the way to Mississauga for customs processing before making it's way to Vernon. Go figure.

These bots are getting dumber... or is it just me? :lol:

They ship from mainland China, i placed 3 orders from them already.
All i paid was item cost and shipping and that's it.
Plus they give me $9 gift cert every time.
My 220V converter was $10 and i can plug many things in it before i reach 200W limit

Speaking of crossing the border... i heard that it will soon be $200 duty free instead of $50 per person for less then 24hrs in USA.
Does anybody know when this will be implemented ?
Thx.

It's been un-official for years. We've been bringing back stuff over the border for 2 or 3 years and usually the limit is around $200 per person for under 24 hrs.

I.E. If I buy a $550 home theatre equipment and bring it back, as long as there was 3 people in the car, no taxes, no duty. Just a thank you, have a nice day.

As of June 1, travellers coming back after 24 hours away will be able to bring in $200 worth of goods free of duty or taxes, an increase from just $50.

People gone more than 48 hours will be allowed $800 in duty-free goods, double the present $400 allowance.

There is no longer any specified seven-day limit on duty-free purchases.

Thank you for that, can you post a link where you getting this info from please?
That's good news, too bad shop owners will not benefit from this.

I can't find the original site I got that from but here is one.

http://www.crossbordershopping.ca/bl...s-set-increase

I think the underlying reason that reefers are so hell-bent on pricing is that this is a HOBBY.

Hobbies consume disposable income and draw the ire (and wrath) of significant others. The less we spend on this sort of 'non-necessary' thing, the less guilty (on some subconscious level) we feel about it.

I've owned a hobby-related (non-reef) business in the past and I saw exactly the same thing.

Of course there's more to the story. The US is a HUGE market (more than 10x ours) and the pricing the vendors receive in Canada is NOT the same the US vendors get. I bought a Honda generator for $900 out of the US and they could still afford to ship it (within the US) for free. The same generator here in Calgary was over $1300. The Calgary vendor is not pocketing an extra $400 over the US vendor; he's paying more for the goods. How much more ? Is it $400 more ? I don't know.

So...add all this up and it's pretty easy to see the allure of shopping state-side. People need to be aware of the costs of getting product up here -which can be significant- and inform themselves on warranty issues.

Caveat Emptor !

Each border crossing has its own "declared overage" level dependant on a number of factors including staffing levels, traffic and other operational considerations. In other words, if you declare within a certain amount above the amount you are able to bring back duty free, the CBSA inspector will still waive you through. This is due to the fact that it simply isn't viable to collect small amounts of taxes when you've got a serious backlog of people waiting to cross the border. Policy wise, it encourages people to make honest declarations. There is actually no hard and fast number - only a guideline - because the individual CBSA inspector you deal with retains the discretion to impose duties/taxes or conduct a secondary search for any other reason under the Customs Act such as non-declaration of goods or immigration concerns.

For Peace Arch/Douglas and Pac Hwy/Truck the amount is usually around $200 per person. So even if you only hop across to pick up a package, you aren't legally entitled to any amount duty free (since you have to be away for a minimum of 24 hrs), but you'll still get through if you declare under $200. If there's a staffing shortage and a huge border wait, you may be able to get away with up to $300 or more of declared overage. Smaller crossings like Pt. Roberts generally have much lower declared overage amounts.

I was just about to make a large purchase of various things from BRS, but after reading this thread, I'm going to buy my Hanna checkers from Reef Supplies instead. With the Canreef discount, they're $6 more per unit, but there's no customs and all that other hassle, and plus I'll feel better buying from Canada. I'm still buying my bulk chemicals through BRS, however. You can't beat those prices.

So suicide? Nah. Smart? Maybe. He makes a good point.