Proportable Ordering from Canada

I would just like to ask, has anyone here made an order from Proportable from Canada. I have been speaking to Justin (Thank you for all of yoru help) and I just want to speak to anyone who may have ordered from Proportable in the past having their laptop shipped to Canada. Mainly I just want to know about charges you had at the border and how long it took etc. If you could either reply or PM me, that would be great. I am looking forward to ordering my W3 this week, and just want to make sure I won't be in for any surprises ordering across the border! Thank you.

 

I know I told you this ... but just for others incase they want to ask...... call up your customs office.. they are who can tell you exactly what the duties will be.

- Just to point out.... your country will charge you a tax for not buying from them.... thats basically what it is.

- You are charged on the declared or insured value of the item. To get around taxes, you'd have to lower the insurance value, or not insure it... In that case, you might not end up with a tax, but at the same time, if you don't insure it, you are taking one heck of a chance with a $2,100 computer...... I've seen it done with $300 pocket pcs..... but even there you're taking a chance..

- I know to the UK, it's like 25% tax.

- Canada, I think, but don't know ( as this changes with).. computers might be like 15% tax.....


But customs can tell you all that stuff and what's involed.... Any time you order from another country, expect your country to tax you... thats always good.... However like here in the US..... we don't pay tax to import stuff from canada or mexico... That is what NAFTA was for.. it was to boost the ecconomies of mexico and canada becasue US customers would buy more from them if they weren't taxed.. However, if you buy from us, you are hurting the Canadian ecconomy....... Looking at the US ecconomy, most people have to wonder what he heck we're doing wrong..... maybe too many people are buying from overseas....... oh wait.. thats exactly what's happening, lol.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I think its 15% customs, so its almost the same as the 15% tax here..

well, if your in Ontario anyways..

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by coriolis

 

Yeah.. and isn't it something you get as a bill in the mail like a month after you get the package? Or is it something you have to pay before they actually let you have it? Either way, some people don't understand.. but it's like this... if to canada for instance, there were no taxes that canada collected.... everyone would buy from the US and canada's ecconomy would go.. (plop)...

I forget who told the joke... but ever hear the joke.. Canada is like a loft overlooking a really cool apartment....

Funny, eh?

(I like anytime I can say two letters and it piss off every canadian)

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Two warnings I'd give you:

1. I've been burned in a major way by duty in the past. As a result, I have made it kind of a policy to avoid having anything shipped to me, especially anything expensive, from the U.S. If you can find a Canadian retailer, I would suggest going that route. The Canada gov't website claims they charge a specific amount for duty based on the price of the purchase, but I have found it is NEVER this much and is always more. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm sure it has to do with conversion rates, etc.

2. If it's being shipped UPS, be sure you are there when they deliver it. If not, you will most likely have to travel some insane distance in order to pick up your package, and UPS will charge you some sort of fee as well.

I purchased a watch in the U.S. for my husband's birthday last year and had it shipped to him in Canada (I was back home in the U.S. for a month or so at the time and he was still up here). The watch cost $57.95 U.S. It cost me $40.00 U.S. to ship it. Duty was somewhere in the $25CDN range once we went to pick it up, and UPS for some bizarre reason charged us about $50CDN just to receive it. I was shocked. Another time, two boxes of contacts which cost me about $40US ended up costing me an additional $20CDN for duty. Just be careful.

 

I just wanted to add that if you decide to go through with the purchase and it's possible to have the package shipped USPS rather than UPS or FedEX or something, that's probably a good idea. I know Canada Post has to be the crappiest postal system on earth, but at least you can just pick the package up at your local post office rather than having to find some way to get out to BFE to pick it up if you don't have the good fortune of being able to be at home every minute of every potential delivery day to receive your package from the delivery guys.

Oh and PROPortable, I'd have to say that joke is the other way around.

 

I remember my friend winning an auction for a 5.1 Surround SOuond system by Creative, he won it for $49 USD, with $30 shipping, it came to about $95 CDN..

and then customs charged him almost $24, he was pissed.

This was almost 2 years ago though..

 

As Sencha mentioned, try to avoid using UPS, if possible.

A guitar I bought off eBay was shipped to me from the US by UPS (I live in BC, Canada). I had the guitar declared with a value of $400USD (it was actually $800USD) to reduce the amount of taxes. When it arrived at my door, I had to pony up $140CAD to receive it - ~$70 for taxes, ~$20 for duty, and a whopping ~$50 for brokerage fees. By the way, shipping was around $40USD but I imagine that a laptop will be lighter so shipping should cost less.

There was little warning from UPS about the cost of the brokerage fee; there is a slight mention of it on their website, but it reads like it's pretty insignificant.

Anyway, for something that's nearly three times the cost of my guitar (and six times the declared value!), having it shipped across the border might result in an unpleasant surprise when it shows at your door.

I don't mean to detract Canadian customers from ProPortable or any other US based e-tailer; I'm only raising my concerns about shipping expensive goods across the border. However, I'll be living in the US in August so postponing my purchase until then might very well be worth the wait.

 

Guys -- I've been telling all our Canadian customers most of your guys prefer USPS over FedEx and UPS....... Personally, I've heard the horror stories with UPS and FedEx and brokerage fees and stuff like that......... they are very very high... I'm glad someone is finally getting it down in a forum though.......... most of our Canadian customers are first time importer and they want to know all the details and it's impossible to tell them 100% exactly what will happen to them... just because I've heard different situations myself.

Thanks guys.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I would like to apologize for my earlier post, and should probably eat my words as I'm now very interested in getting my hands on a V6, but have found that finding one in Canada is currently not possible. Justin, you may have more business coming your way in the future!

I wanted to add that I have been so frustrated with UPS and FedEX up here in CAnada in the past that I actually will not buy anything that will be shipped with either. Unless I can get something through the USPS --> Canada Post route, I avoid it altogether. It doesn't hurt that my post office is literally just around the corner from my house (one of the joys of big city life I suppose), making retrieving packages a breeze if I'm not home to receive them.

I find it annoying that with NAFTA and everything else, there are still these problems when buying items online across the border. It seems rather ridiculous.

I think Justin was absolutely right earlier that the only way to know what to expect is to call Canada customs and tell them exactly what the value of the item is, where it is coming from and where it is going to, and if possible get a quote on paper. Duty rates seem to be curiously fluid and I've never been able to make sense of them.

Thanks for all the interesting info in this thread. And rnassar, if you do end up getting your V6 from PROPortable, please post here and update us on how the whole duty thing went, not to mention how you like your new toy!

 

Sencha,

Thanks for the kind words. One thing we also found was with UPS and FedEx, if the customer refuses to pay the customs tax, your customs goes after UPS and FedEx, and then they just charge our account.... Now..... business wise, we can't do that either.. One customer did that to us on a pocket pc last year and we paid twice what we made on the unit and the customer was a total jerk about the whole thing and personally, I found it insane that they could even do that.... I mean, we have nothing to do with Canada, and they are taxing YOU for buying it here, not US for selling it to you.......

But really.. NAFTA... it's all so we can import from you for free.... because that puts our money into your businesses and makes your ecconomy better........ it doesn't work the other way around.

I'll be glad to here from you. I think Ramy is getting a W3 if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I ordered a Pentax 4.1 MP digital camera from a store in the US, I had a close friend who had relatives in Buffalo so i got it sent there, then for a weekend, we drove across the border, stayed a while at ther house and drove back. Only costed me about $130, this was about 8 months ago, you can always do this.

Just don't tell the border people you bought anything [ ]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by coriolis

 

I have a number of questions, but I will email you Justin.

 

Thanks for understanding... I mean if we told a customer who's never ordered internationally before that there is no tax, no nothing.. they would buy from us and there is nothing they can do about the tax canada or whoever puts on them. We lose a lot of sales becasue we tell customers this is what happens...... then we hear they go and say they are buying from someone else because they said there is no tax on their products.... then they call and apoligize (sometimes.)

We'll ship, but we have to do with through USPS and through wire transfers so things like that don't happen to us again... but it's all good... we owe a lot to our Canadian customers.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

a number of questions... phew... I didn't know I could count that high, lol... No, I got your email and just finished responding..

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Justin, where in the US are you (PROPortable) based out of? Do you have a storefront anywhere, or do you do all your business strictly over the phone and via the net?

I live in Canada, but I'll be in Detroit near the end of April...do you think the Sonoma based M5a barebones will be in stock by then? If so, how far in advance would you say I'd have to place an order on a customized M5 barebone system to be assured it'll arrive within a 3 day period?

Also, how much extra would you charge to convert a customized M5a purchased new through you into a completely white model using the "kits" you currently have? (If you still have any by the time I place my order that is) Do you send all the original exterior parts with the system for that price? (Does it make a difference in price If you keep the charcoal shell?) Does the white body conversion impact the warranty in anyway?

Last but not least, If someone were to buy one of the white body conversion kits from you and install it themselves, would it have any impact on the systems warranty? I know these systems don't come with an ASUS international warranty, but If they did, would the exterior conversion alone affect the warranty or not?

Thanks [8D]

 

We're in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We do cater to local businesses, but the ecconomy of this area doesn't facilitate the need for a storefront here. We have an office/warehouse we were do our business out of.

We could talk about over email... we'd need to have everything in place to get it there at such a specific time... the biggest thing is the sonoma M5a would have to be here.. and I don't think it'll be here very long at that point... might not be here till May..

Still have some - they are $350 for the complete shell... it's about 8-9 pieces....

Yes.... you have to remove the motherboard and there is no way for us or anyone else to trust it's being done the correct way an in the right environment.... you're not just changing covers, you're changing the pieces that the internals are actually attached to... things can break, static could ruin it... thats something we just couldn't warrant.... for the obvious reasons.


Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

So If you do the entire conversion on a brand new M5a barebone customized to my desired specs...the whole thing will be totally covered through your (PROPortable) warranty for 2 years?

To clearify, the $350 includes the kit itself and you putting everything together (labour) and also includes the original black/charcoal pieces you take off in the process shipped along with it as well?
Thanks
[8D]

 

Yeah, thats part of the reason it's not a seperate option..... you choose you want that color when you're configuring the computer.... if you didn't get the warranty, it would have to grey out the warranty option at the bottom.

You can have some of the original pieces, but all I'd send you would be the keyboard. These units are meant to be put together once.. period... they don't come apart with just a couple of screws.... so they are usually junked afterwards.... and even so, there isn't enough room in the box to ship another complete chassis. The keyboard though is something some people like to switch out.. from black to white.. or whatever.

But yes, $350 and you get the system put together in white. Everything minus the battery. The battery is black and not silver (like it would be a on a white system.. but the black still works and still looks good with it...... but if you got a 9 cell battery, I'd suggest getting it in silver.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]