Canadian online stores?

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neo.dorsia

CAGiversary!
I moved here from the UK in August, and was wondering what are the best/cheapest online stores that are based here that people use? I have mostly just used Amazon.ca for books and dvds, but their games selection is poor. I used videogamesplus.ca when I was in England, but they seem really expensive now that I'm earning $ and not pounds. Are there any US-based stores where I won't get hit with customs charges?

Any help would be appreciated :)
 
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Good question. Theres a few, but a lot of retailers don't ship to canada via their websites. Both gamestop and ebgames' online stores dont ship to canada. Neither do many of the other major online stores such as overstock, buy.com, etc.

Some of the top of my head that do tho: bestbuy, futureshop, toysrus (altho its a half assed site), play-asia (i think), ebay. Thats besides the plethora of 'little' online stores u could probably find from a google search (though their service may be questionable).
 
You will pay tax plus about 10% duty when it comes across the border (from any country). Plus the courier (Canada Post/UPS/FedEx) usually charge a flat $20 fee for brokering if there is any duty and tax to collect. Now sure where you are in Canada, but unless it is AB the tax is likely around 13%, so add roughly 10% duty, and a $20 handling fee. Gotta love it.

If an items is manufactured in the US, with US parts there is no duty, but you still pay tax. Same applies for Mexico.

If the marked value of an item is less than $20 CAD the item is exempt from tax/duty (and thus the brokerage fee). The same applies if the item is marked as less than $50, and categorized as a gift. They can be anal about the gift thing, so make sure it looks somewhat 'gifty'.

The classic Canadian thing to do, is to contact the seller (before auction end, if applicable), and make sure they will mark the value as less than $20 CAD, or mark it as a gift with value less than $50. For expensive items, I get them to say it is broken, so if customs opens it, they won't wonder how you bought an $17.00 Xbox 360 Premium bundle.

As for online stores in Canada, there really is no good one. The best is just to wait about 3 months after a games release and pick it up at Wally-Mart, or FutureShop/BestBuy. FutureShop.ca used to have free shipping on everything, but when gas prices went up they discontinued that. Sometimes CompuSmart.ca have really good deals online, with free shipping over $50. (I bought Half-Life 2 for Xbox for $9.99 about 3 months after it was released!) I find Compusmarts games expensive when they are not on sale though.

I too am looking for 'good' canadian, online retailer, but have not found one.

Please post if you do find a good one.
 
The only canadian online store i order from is Amazon.ca. The prices are usually a bit cheaper than FS or BB and shipping is free for oder over 40$. Also, if you open a new account every time, you can use the usual 10$ off 50$ for a first order.
 
I didn't have to pay any taxes/duties on the thing I got from Play-Asia and something I had shipped from Hong Kong.

SnowSquirrel has the way to do things though =P I've bought stuff from the CAG Trading boards 3 times and each time I told them to ship it by media mail ($2 US to ship) and mark it at $15. Got it no problem in a week. You can find some good deals there, check it out.
 
[quote name='neo.dorsia']I moved here from the UK in August, and was wondering what are the best/cheapest online stores that are based here that people use? I have mostly just used Amazon.ca for books and dvds, but their games selection is poor. I used videogamesplus.ca when I was in England, but they seem really expensive now that I'm earning $ and not pounds. Are there any US-based stores where I won't get hit with customs charges?

Any help would be appreciated :)[/quote] If you have a car, you should drive to Point Roberts and get a PO Box(1 year is $55CA). I'm so fed up with the mark up on Video games, TV's, etc. even though the Canadian dollar is almost on par with the US. Even with the conversion rate, buying stuff on Amazon.com or any other game site online in the states is cheaper then buying games at Bestbuy/Future shop/EB games, etc in Canada thanks to the great $10 markup + 12% tax. Oh and you will be shocked on how fast US Post works - You can pick up mail on Saturday! From moving here from the States I must say that Canada Post is terrible - Takes 6 working days to get a letter from Montreal, where when I lived in Alaska I would get mail from New york in 4 days.
 
from experience trading with friends from the US, Canada post is cheaper shipping wise compared to the US.

I shipped a DS game for about 5$ in the US and my friend shipped one to me and it cost him 11$
 
[quote name='snowsquirrel']You will pay tax plus about 10% duty when it comes across the border (from any country). Plus the courier (Canada Post/UPS/FedEx) usually charge a flat $20 fee for brokering if there is any duty and tax to collect. Now sure where you are in Canada, but unless it is AB the tax is likely around 13%, so add roughly 10% duty, and a $20 handling fee. Gotta love it.

If an items is manufactured in the US, with US parts there is no duty, but you still pay tax. Same applies for Mexico.

If the marked value of an item is less than $20 CAD the item is exempt from tax/duty (and thus the brokerage fee). The same applies if the item is marked as less than $50, and categorized as a gift. They can be anal about the gift thing, so make sure it looks somewhat 'gifty'.

The classic Canadian thing to do, is to contact the seller (before auction end, if applicable), and make sure they will mark the value as less than $20 CAD, or mark it as a gift with value less than $50. For expensive items, I get them to say it is broken, so if customs opens it, they won't wonder how you bought an $17.00 Xbox 360 Premium bundle.

As for online stores in Canada, there really is no good one. The best is just to wait about 3 months after a games release and pick it up at Wally-Mart, or FutureShop/BestBuy. FutureShop.ca used to have free shipping on everything, but when gas prices went up they discontinued that. Sometimes CompuSmart.ca have really good deals online, with free shipping over $50. (I bought Half-Life 2 for Xbox for $9.99 about 3 months after it was released!) I find Compusmarts games expensive when they are not on sale though.

I too am looking for 'good' canadian, online retailer, but have not found one.

Please post if you do find a good one.[/quote]I have never been charged duties or tax on items shipped here from the US, HK, or Japan (keep in mind this stuff is off ebay or CAGers, some of them didn't even have the customs form on the package)
 
I generally find amazon.ca 's video game prices to be very slow to drop. Maybe for new releases they are cheaper.

As for Play-Asia, I have read some reports of people buying from Play-Asia, and having it ship out of Canada, but I doubt that this is the norm.

~S
 
[quote name='maigoyume']I have never been charged duties or tax on items shipped here from the US, HK, or Japan (keep in mind this stuff is off ebay or CAGers, some of them didn't even have the customs form on the package)[/quote]
You are charged duty on anything over $50 CA.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Being from the UK I am used to getting people to markdown stuff on customs forms, and also ridiculous customs charges (UK is 17.5% plus a brokerage charge of anthing from 4 to 13 pounds).

I have also noticed that Canada Post sucks compared with Royal Mail in the UK, and USPS.

I had an order from play-asia, and it was shipped from HK, and I paid a small customs charge on it. They can mark it down for you if you ask nicely and accept that it will only be insured up to the amount declared. Most companies won't (ebay sellers and private sellers usually will in my experience, always worth checking first though).
 
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