Steven Campbel wrote:
And a great way to miss shooting oppurtunities, while the deals you want are in the US.
Well your choice is wait for a used deal in Canada, pick up a used deal in the US and pay your taxes or buy new. No use whining about it...them are the facts.
I have bought a few used lenses form the USA and had them shipped to Canada. I always paid the sales tax on the declared value of the item, and it is generally still cheaper than buying the same used item in Canada.
time2clmb wrote:
I'm done with private US purchases. My last item sat in customs for over a month and it was only an extender.
I sold a guitar to a gentleman in Vancouver and the darned thing sat in customs for a month also. I felt really bad for the guy and there is nothing you can do. What's odd is some things sail right through while others disappear into the mists (a shipment of music scores to BC last month are MIA).
Steven Campbel wrote:
Thanks for the feedback everyone. When I posted this I was primariliy inquiring about buying used equipment from private sellers off forums like this one. I have checked new lens prices from retailers in both countries and there isn't much difference if any. There really are too many variables and unknowns by the looks of it when it comes to a major purchase of even used equipment from the US to Canada. I guess I'm just bitter that there are many more US sellers than Canadian ones and thus more variety, better deals, more choice etc. Guess I'll have to be patient....Show more →
No need to wait. I've bought from the B&S here and had no issues. If you want to purchase a high dollar item and live near the border, you can have the item shipped to a US mailbox and then drive to pick up the purchase. When crossing into Canada, declare the item for the insurance value and pay the GST/HST. No couriers or Canada Post to deal with. I use US Address in Niagara Falls without any problems at all.
I've got bunch of stuff from e-bay- computer parts, bike parts, lenses,and a camera from B&S right here- never any problems(thanks,Rob!). Not every seller is willing to ship to Canada.I'm not sure why- there is no difference where to send it- USPS works really well so far.Most of the time i get ref. # that i can trace.Least expensive way to get it -USPS.
You pay Taxes and sometimes brokerage fee.If you get it by FEDEX or UPS- that fee is usually double. Example- few years ago i got Tokina 11-16 2.8 from Adorama, sent by UPS ,and customs fee for that was 70$ based on value.And still it was about 60$ less than bying it here.
