Are you still buying in the USA? Why?

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by Reef Supplies

$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.

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.

[mike31154]

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.