Question about border fees when ordering from the states

[MetalCarnage]

Hey, i will formally ask this question in a new thread as it is a little off topic of a previous thread i made that was about the 396

Anyways, i am in the market now for buying a new BCD396T, mainly because the dollar is damn strong lately (its currently 1.0985). So anyways, i am thinking of ordering one from scannerworld.com (out of state of NY). They have given me a quote of 549.99 (includes S&H) on a new BCD396T. I worked this out at an exchange rate of 1.10 and it works out to about $605 CDN. This is obviously much cheaper then the $799 before tax ($918.85 after tax) i would be paying here if i were to buy it at the cheapest place i found which was Durham Radio. My question is for you guys who have had experience ordering from the states (i have not had any) is around how much should i expect to pay in Border Fees. I looked around and found some pricing on the UPS site but it was kinda vague so if you guys could let me know what extra fees i can see happening by ordering through the states that would be great, thanks

 

[goggles]

When it arrives, you will have to pay GST and PST that brings your unit up to $695.75 but it gets worse, courier companies also have a border clearence charge, beware UPS has highest clearence charge going, FedEx is more reasonable, you may request to the courier company to do the clearence yourself and this will cost nothing to you exept your time, its not uncommon for UPS to charge $50 to $100 for individual consumers, yes their site is vague and most times you wont get an answer till the package arrives, phone UPS and tell them you want to do the clearence yourself, this means when package arrives you go to courier station, pick up shipping document and go to Canada Customs to pay GST and PST, but the chances of UPS letting you do this is slim, try to see if FedEx can do the shipping, border clearence by some courier companies can turn out to be complete rippoffs and can bring the price up to what you can purchase localy.

 

[imcleish]

if you ship UPS, choose there brokerage fee included option, approx 40.00, mentioned in another thread. personally I ship to my brother living in the US and have my things brough up duty free.

Canada post/customs charges 5.00-10.00 for brokerage if shipped USPS for their fee, plus the duty (gst).

Either way, the savings of buying US out weigh the costs of buying local.

My opinion,
Ian

 

[MetalCarnage]

K, pulled a big DUH...they said they ship EMS but i forgot that its an acronym, lol, anyways, they ship EMS Air Express which is Canada Post. S & H fees through scannerworld was $40, so i doubt that includes the extra fees, but ya, i wish i had someone who lived there that i could ship too, but i dont, lol, so i guess i am stuck with this option, but hopefully it wont come out to much more then $700 after GST/PST and all that jazz

Albany is about 400km's from Fort Erie, which is where i will be in two weeks, debating if i should just bite the bullet and drive to albany and pick it up and drive back, lol, 7 hours is a lot of driving to save a couple hundred bucks, hmmmmm

 

[mciupa]

Albany is about 400km's from Fort Erie, which is where i will be in two weeks, debating if i should just bite the bullet and drive to albany and pick it up and drive back, lol, 7 hours is a lot of driving to save a couple hundred bucks, hmmmmm

If you have the time.. why not ?
But consider that round trip 800 kms (or 500 mi.) and let's say you get an avg. 20 mpg. That's 25 gal. of fuel at around $3 per gal. There goes another $75 bucks , plus the coffee to keep you awake ! (I think I'm taking the fun and adventure out of this for you, but what the hey , you need a story for the future to tell your grandkids, right ?)

I'm watching how this works out for you as I'm thinking of ordering something in July and
will have to make the same decisions you are considering.

 

[MetalCarnage]

If you have the time.. why not ?
But consider that round trip 800 kms (or 500 mi.) and let's say you get an avg. 20 mpg. That's 25 gal. of fuel at around $3 per gal. There goes another $75 bucks , plus the coffee to keep you awake ! (I think I'm taking the fun and adventure out of this for you, but what the hey , you need a story for the future to tell your grandkids, right ?)

I'm watching how this works out for you as I'm thinking of ordering something in July and
will have to make the same decisions you are considering.

What is all these gallons u speak of, i dont know what gallons are, they only sell gas in litres here....i get 830km's to a tank of gas on my grand prix gt (i get about 33mpg due to car modifications), i filled the tank fully from empty to full the other day for about $58 so i would say your estimate is a little high, and i dont drink coffee, so i save cash there too, lol. i could do it in about 7 hours round trip, which is much less then i ahve done before, i drove from Thunder Bay to Fort Erie straight one day, which is about 1500kms, now that was a DAMN long drive, i was so tired at the end...

 

[EJB]

Metal: Its an easy trip.
I did it 4 yrs ago hung over in a heat wave with my now wife going to pick up our child when the in-laws there dropped the ball.
Did it in 16 Hrs.

 

[MetalCarnage]

Metal: Its an easy trip.
I did it 4 yrs ago hung over in a heat wave with my now wife going to pick up our child when the in-laws there dropped the ball.
Did it in 16 Hrs.

Meh, beg to differ on the easy trip, the difference in my case is i woke up at 5am and didnt START the trip until about 8pm at night, did it in 15 hours, arrived in hamilton at about noon the next day, meaning i hadnt slept in 31 hours, and when u are driving, 31 hours feels like awake for 60hours