How To Buy Canadian and Avoid High Shipping/Taxes/Customs Fees?

For reference, I'm in Colorado, Metro Denver.

I recently purchased a gently used Vox Phantom clone (the five-sided offset body style they sell at Phantomworks).

This is actually my second Phantomworks bass; I also have a gently used Teardrop. I love both of these basses and they really scratch my, and my audience's, aesthetic itch. They are also bonafide players with great tone.

The Teardrop came in a Phantomworks "teardrop" case. The whole package, great vintage vibe.

The Phantom came sans case. It just so happens to fit perfectly in the case that came with the Teardrop. It would be very satisfying to have both Voxers in matching or very similar cases. Alas, Phantomworks no longer offers bass cases for sale separately. And I can't even get them to reply and tell me where they obtain their cases. And they are pricey.

As it turns out, the Profile music accessory company in Canada, the land of amazing instrument case work, makes a case that is almost identical in shape and dimensions to what I have and need. It is available from several Canadian retailers in a couple of provinces. Converting CAD to USD puts them at around $65.00! Wow, it's almost impossible to buy a nice hardshell in the USA for that, and this is a unique shape as well.

But when I factor in tax, shipping, and customs, the final price goes up about 3 times as high. I can't justify that, and I'd just as soon let a USA retailer charge me, and probably for less. I don't mind a final price tag in the $100-$120 USD range.

Any tricks or tips on a workaround? Otherwise I am in the used Reverb/CL/Music-Go-Round/eBay weeds indefinitely, hoping something appropriate magically pops up. And the new teardrop cases available to me in the USA are both very expensive and not as good a fit for this bass.

Thanks in advance for reading and thoughtful helpful replies.

 

The case in question:

PROFILE PRS300-TB Teardrop Bass Guitar Case


Profile Teardrop bass guitar case :: Bass Cases :: Cases & Gigbags :: Canada’s Music Store - Canadian Source for Instruments Online - All You Need Music

All You Need Music has the lower price, but Fleet does price matching. Anyone near Morristown, New York just across the St. Lawrence River from Ottawa or Brockville Ontario ever drive or ferry over there on occasion? Or vice-versa?

Yeah, I have an idea in my head and I'm desperate for a solution. Again.

 

Life's a bitch sometimes.

I used to read these kinds of threads with only a passing interest, but it seems to be a thorn in a lot of sides, and I was just curious if any clever creative type ever endeavored a way to at least reduce the pain in the wallet. I know there are a lot of shipping tricks here domestically.

 

Thanks, I'll check into that.

 

So, after paying $85.00 CAD for the case and $70.00 CAD for UPS shipping from Ottawa, Canada to Highlands Ranch (Denver), Colorado, for a grand total of $155.00 CAD = $118.60 USD, there were no other fees, customs, tariffs et. al. End of story. I would have paid that if I drove 10 minutes to my local Guitar Center.

So, based on this experience, I don't get all the Canada/USA shipping angst. Perhaps if the package weighed more? But I still don't think it would have been cost prohibitive.

Anyway, for you Canadians in the Ottawa area, or if you're just south across the St. Lawrence or anywhere in that area, Tim at Fleet Prosound & Lighting was incredibly polite and helpful (even for a Canadian), perhaps because I am not an ugly American and returned the sentiment.

Highly recommended. Fleet Pro Sound: Canada's Best Independent A/V and Music Store

 

Good points, except that $70.00 CAD to ship UPS from Ottawa to Denver is not exorbitant at all ($53.61 USD).

I guess, for me, shipping Canada to USA was far less than I thought, actually about like shipping the same distance within the CONUS. Your point about climate is well-taken.