Shipping Sagers to Canada

Hey there (eh?),

I've been trying to figure out EXACTLY what's involved with buying a laptop from a U.S vendor and shipping it to Canada. I know that UPS Express avoids the brokerage fees (which I understand to be $70-80) but doesn't include taxes. Does anyone know if it's only provincial tax (PST) that's paid upon delivery? I'm in Toronto so I assume the new Ontario HST would apply but I can't seem to find out any concrete information anywhere. Also, would GST apply?

This is driving me nuts!

Thanks in advance

 

You'll get hit with customs. Thats it. Oh and its both taxes. For you, HST (no difference anyways).

I live in Manitoba.

 

300 bucks or so tax. See if you can get them to avoid putting the price on the box, that saves money.

 

However, not putting declaring the correct price is illegal and I would be wary of any retailer that's willing to do that for you.

 

You should probably only be looking at HST. Assuming the laptop is deemed to be U.S. country-of-origin, there should be no additional duties on importing a computer under NAFTA.

There's a basic (unofficial) FAQ on importing from the U.S. here

 

Awwww christ I'm screwed.

WTB a sneaky friend in Buffalo.

 

The taxes you're going to be nailed with will vary in price, but I can tell you not to crap your pants if you are asked to pay a $200-$350 CAD import tax. That's for a system that costs roughly $2500-$3000 CAD.

 

Yeah I'm not going that balls-out.

Looking at XoticPC and DarkPC I'm estimating about $1100 CDN for a NP5125, plus 13% tax. I'll admit that it has me reconsidering the 2-year parts warranty just to save more cash. It's one of the main reasons I'm waiting on the Asus N53 .... default 2 year warranty.

Anyways, my taxes will only be about $130-150, but it's still annoying. Brokerage is annoying as well. Stupid Canada.

 

You could buy a Sager from Montreal at Reflexnotebook.ca. They price match with the American companies, (converted to CAD of course) and because you are buying from another province you will only pay GST.

I've never bought from Reflex notebook, but several people from here have and can attest to excellent communication and great customer service and quality. They are worth a look, you can give them a call and inquire as well as read more about them by searching the forums here.

 

why don't you buy from Eurocom (Ottawa)?

 

Yeah I would recommend people actually avoid Eurocom. (1) The worst customer service I've experienced (2) The worst employee/company president behavior I've ever heard of anywhere (3) The most sneaky underhanded and inappropriate conduct and sales tactics I've ever seen (4) Way overpriced. Check around the forums for some examples of just how low a company like Eurocom can go, here and here are good starts.
Some say they have had good experiences with Eurocom, and that may be, but I and many others have had serious issues with them which would make people sick, and I personally will never buy anything from Eurocom ever again. On top of that, because he is in Ontario he would also pay Provincial Tax on top of GST. So buying from Quebec or any other province would be the cheaper option.

 

Overpriced and a bunch of liars. Lots of users had terrible experiences with them

 

The lady at UPS told my cousin about not putting the price on the box when she went down to pickup my laptop. I just know I had to put down an extra 330 CAD over the 1600 USD or so I spent to get my laptop.

 

I wish there were more Canadian options. I e-mailed Reflex a couple weeks ago and the response was automated and didn't really address my concerns. Plus, they seem to insist on $130 shipping which makes NO sense to me since it should be FAR less from Saint-Laurent to Toronto.

I'm going to avoid Eurocom. After reading those horror stories I'll be going nowhere near them.

It just seems places like XoticPC and DarkPC have their sh1t together much more-so than other vendors. Staying on the ball with every possible update and quickly responding to people's concerns both on their own respective websites and on these forums gives me confidence in their builds and customer service. Kinda makes me want to start my own Canadian Sager vendor and offer their kind of service!

 

In your case, if your cousin is shipping it to you it's okay because it could be a gift. When shipping internationally you have to fill out customs forms, and you have to state the prices of items you're shipping that have been sold, otherwise you're breaking United States federal law - something that I know us at DARK don't like to do.

I don't know if I really want any more competition

 

They order it from the US directly, they don't actually have the laptops at any moment

 

You should probably call them, you might be able to work something out on the shipping. But yeah that's weird, they should at least offer some cheap ground shipping. I certainly wouldn't pay 130 for shipping especially considering the relatively short distance between Montreal and Toronto. If they refuse to give you better and cheaper shipping alternatives then its definitely better to buy from another vendor.

 

YMMV, but USPS (canadapost delivered) insured, IME is the best option for shipping laptops from US to canada (if you don't mind waiting 4-10 days) i've bought numerous lappies from the US and each time i have never paid duties or taxes or brokerage fees! hopefully i didn't jinx myself :/
~shipped to BC