Canada sucks for musicians. Here's proof.

[shawshank72]

When I read the thread title "Canada sucks for musicians", I thought we would be talking about the crushing 18 hour drives between most major metropolitan areas, not griping about a lousy $150.

Thats another can of worms.

 

[corndog]

So how much does a guy from the great white north get dinged if he buys an amp used on TB classifies? Is there a duty you have to pay? Is it huge?

Depends on where it is made.

We do not pay duties on goods made in the US or Mexico. We will have to pay taxes though.

It also depends on how to it is shipped. If shipped with UPS or others, they have their own charges tacked on.

The best way to ship is via USPS and CanadaPost.

 

[shawshank72]

So how much does a guy from the great white north get dinged if he buys an amp used on TB classifies? Is there a duty you have to pay? Is it huge?

Example.
$449.99 usd amp head.
589.10 cad
Duty fees of $111.28
$700.38 cad
According to an ebay listed item.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Example.
$449.99 usd amp head.
589.10 cad
Duty fees of $111.28
$700.38 cad

K - so duty on a used piece is around 18% on claimed value? Still sounds like buying a used piece here on TB is a better deal.

 

[lsabina]

Too bad duty free stores on both sides of the border don't carry gear. You can only stock up on so much beer and liquor!

 

[Moosehead1966]

So how much does a guy from the great white north get dinged if he buys an amp used on TB classifies? Is there a duty you have to pay? Is it huge?

I have purchased most of my gear Through TB. I live 5 minutes from Michigan border. I send US Postal money order and use US shipping destination to receive the goods. I tell sellers not to send until they have cashed the money-order. No risk to them. It's worked well every time. Look at my TB feedback. Your question: I pay 13% Canadian tax on converted amount at the Canadian border. Small purchases like a pedal, they generally wave me through and smile. Granted I haven't bought a lot since our dollar has tanked. I'll bide my time.

Marc

 

[onosson]

So how much does a guy from the great white north get dinged if he buys an amp used on TB classifies? Is there a duty you have to pay? Is it huge?

You would definitely pay duties. You have to declare a value on imports from the U.S., and in my limited experience they do a bit of research on the going rate to see that you aren't radically off from the true value of what you are bringing in.

Edit: Another post indicated no duty on U.S.-made items; my previous imports (a MarkBass head and Nord keyboard) are manufactured overseas, so I hadn't experienced that.

 

[DerekW]

I have purchased most of my gear Through TB. I live 5 minutes from Michigan border. I send US Postal money order and use US shipping destination to receive the goods. I tell sellers not to send until they have cashed the money-order. No risk to them. It's worked well every time. Look at my TB feedback. Your question: I pay 13% Canadian tax on converted amount at the Canadian border. Small purchases like a pedal, they generally wave me through and smile. Granted I haven't bought a lot since our dollar has tanked. I'll bide my time.

Marc

Exactly how I operate. There's at least 3 places in Port Huron Michifan that will receive goods for you for a small fee. Like $5 for small things, up to maybe $15 for larger.
I stop in on my way to my gf's, spend the weekend and bring most stuff back tax free.
Sometimes I ship them to my gf, but only cheaper, smaller stuff, cuz, ya know...
However, like you, the exchange still has reduced my purchases to smaller items at this time.
But it's nice for stuff like MF's SDOTD, picked up 4 - 20' guitar cords for $15US and free shipping to her place. Can't beat that with a stick.

 

[Moosehead1966]

Not to be a wise guy but items manufactured in the U.S. do not result in 'duty' being paid.. You just pay Canadian tax of 13%.

Marc

 

[zontar]

Not to be a wise guy but items manufactured in the U.S. do not result in 'duty' being paid.. You just pay Canadian tax of 13%.

Marc

That % depends on the province...
Whether you pay GST (Federal) PST (Provincial) or HST (Harmonized together)
GST would be standard, but PST or HST will vary from province to province, and Alberta has neither.

 

[ThePresident777]

Have you read the entire thread?

I have not eaten the vegetables.

 

[10cc]

Canada home of Josh Broughton! No complaint from me.

 

[champbassist]

Here is a fun tidbit - factoring in the purchasing power parity - albeit not entirely fair considering the shipping costs all the way out to India. We pay Rs. 39k for a Rumble 200W which is nearly US$ 600. Factor in the PPP, and that would be the equivalent of spending US$2100 inside the US. By the same measure, Canadian $609 is equivalent to US$507. 555 Euros, in, say Germany, is equivalent to spending US$718.

There's a reason I feel so poor when I browse TB

 

[ZenG]

I get that prices are higher in Europe and Australia, goods manufactured in North America are either flown or shipped at a big cost. The majority of Canadians live within two hours of the CDN/US border, with NAFTA we have duties waived on North American made goods going over any of the three border. Prices have always been higher in Canada, even when the dollars are on par (which wasn't to long ago). I wonder what the cost of that mim jazz would be if we didn't have NAFTA.

I used to be a serious mountain biker, and built my own bikes. It was cheaper for me to buy parts from the US, pay shipping and duties (if needed) and state and provincial taxes, than it was to buy from mail order in Canada.

Macleans magazine published a comparison on exact products sold in both the US and Canada a few years ago, it was a real eye opener. some items where as much as 50% more in Canada.

I live an hour away from VSN, and have checked them out, will keep an eye on them. Also will be checking out Kinal.

And to those who state we have free healthcare and drugs, nothing is free my friend..........nothing. we just don't take a credit card to the doctors.

Canadians typically have their tax-free day in Late June, so every dollar we earn up to that date goes to income/sales/property taxes of some sort. we have some of the highest taxes in the world, truth.

"Maclean's published a comparison....."...yes...others have done this too. One was done at a time when the dollars were at par not so long ago ( in fact the Canadian buck was slightly higher).
However we were still paying a lot more for many goods.

The makers of these products chalked it up as "Regional Pricing"....in other words if you live in a certain region (in this case Canada) you will pay more because...well...they like it that way.

Regional Pricing has nothing to do with fairness. It's all about squeezing whatever they can out of you.

 

[ZenG]

A reasonable person would correctly presume that an exchange rate would still factor since as I pointed out a CAD dollar is not a US dollar. Dollar-for-dollar *only* works if you calculate the exchange.

As for your Ibanez example Ibanez being Japanese might originally be priced in Yen, not USD, so possibly you're not doing the conversion correctly. It's also disingenuous to compare an online retailer's asking price to a brick & mortar chain. What does one of Canada's major online sellers charge for that bass vs. Sweetwater? Or even Sweetwater vs. a local brick & mortar shop in the States?

Being a Japanese product (I think), it may also incur different shipping or duties to Canada than to the States or a major seller like Sweetwater might enjoy preferred discounts or Ibanez might not force price equivalency on its dealers.

In any case, if you go to any major retailer including L&M and show them what you can otherwise pay *in equivalent currency* for the same item delivered to you, they'll match it or come as close as possible, at least so close that you won't bother with online/shipping/etc.

When the US and CAD currencies were at par of course your local retailer wasn't going to lower their prices, especially since they probably paid for the merchandize when the dollars were imbalanced. Why not ask them instead of presuming the worst? Give them a chance to price match.

Try it and see. Common sense is also common in Canada, yes? Logic?

You can't be serious. The Sweetwater price is in U.S. dollars......not Yen.

 

[DerekW]

Let's not forget that Canada is 10% of the population, 10% of the market, and therefore, at most, only 10% of the Us/Can total sales.
Add extra shipping across borders, etc.
and we should not be surprised.
Volume means everything on pricing and profit margins, from manufacturer to retailer.

 

[thehangingmist]

28.6% customs duty here in India on every musical instrument shipped in
which is levied on the cost of the instrument + cost of shipping

and fedex, ups, dhl etc charge their own bit of "handling" fee for clearing the customs on your behalf and billing you for it.. woohoo!! on top of the shipping fee that is! yayy ( sarcasm alert :$ )

 

[champbassist]

28.6% customs duty here in India on every musical instrument shipped in
which is levied on the cost of the instrument + cost of shipping

and fedex, ups, dhl etc charge their own bit of "handling" fee for clearing the customs on your behalf and billing you for it.. woohoo!! on top of the shipping fee that is! yayy ( sarcasm alert :$ )

So now we've two people cribbing about the situation in India I think an 'India sucks for musicians' thread is in order

 

[thehangingmist]

So now we've two people cribbing about the situation in India I think an 'India sucks for musicians' thread is in order

not sure if am cribbing, just trying to make the canadian feel better about the gear situation heh LOL

i understand that the musical instruments we play, that are imported from "abroad" are luxuries of sorts and should be taxed at some level.. but i also hope that the tax money would be used as efficiently as they take da monnies outta da pockets heh

the effect of the low demand and high taxes is horrible though, i have not been to a store to local check out gear in forever but to be honest even most guitar centers across 'murica did not offer uber amazing bassgear but i could always find bass speciality stores in all the major cities

 

[StayLow]

You can't be serious. The Sweetwater price is in U.S. dollars......not Yen.

If Ibanez is Japanese and comes from Japan, there may be a discrepancy in price paid in USD by Sweetwater vs. the price paid in CAD by L&M in part because there is sometimes a discrepancy in exchange rates between various currencies and the yen or any other currency.

Most or all of the difference though is likely attributable to some or all of the several other factors I listed.