Posted on: 25-12-06 01:02:52
Not sure if there is anyone like me here who has moved to Canada after living in US for some years.
The thing that bugs me here is the boring shopping experience. There are like 3 freeking departmental stores here....Sears, Bay, Zellers.
The manufacturers coupons that are a regular in the Saturday/Sunday newspapers in US are non-existant here.
I subscribe to Toronto Star and in 1 month, got the Value mailer(or whatever that coupon company is called) like once and it said the next issue will be after 2 months !! And by the way, it had hardly any pages of coupons.
Also, with sales tax being charged even on Internet purchases, web/online shopping here has no incentives. In US there are scores of websites(like deals2buy.com, fatwallet.com, spoofee.com) dedicated to figure out how to get the best deals on the web(or even in stores), but I have just not found anything here.
I guess even though US border is like 90 miles away from Toronto, there are big differences in these two countries. The economies of scale really have a noticeable difference, commodities in Canada are so expensive, the same things costs atleast 30% less in US.
That's my rant for the long weekend 
i am a newbie here and i searched but could not find any where..
can any one tell me how much i will have to pay for customs if ordered a laptop from US worth 2000 US $ from a US shop
do i have to pay for customs if i ordered other things from US based Websites
Yes, you will have pay duty and taxes. How much, I am not sure. You may be able to call these people and find out http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/postal/menu-e.html
Canada is a smaller market than US, so things are different here!
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I bought some stuff from US last time, it was hold up with Canada Customs for more than two weeks and they charged taxes + handling fees. The worst part was that i had no idea where the packet was for these two weeks.
But, when i had a friend USPS me a really big box which had lots of my personal stuff (including a laptop) and a couple of cameras. There was no taxes or holding up and i received it in a week. The box looked like had been opened up and been checked and then closed.
Hope it helps!
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4z4z
I bought some stuff from US last time, it was hold up with Canada Customs for more than two weeks and they charged taxes + handling fees. The worst part was that i had no idea where the packet was for these two weeks.
But, when i had a friend USPS me a really big box which had lots of my personal stuff (including a laptop) and a couple of cameras. There was no taxes or holding up and i received it in a week. The box looked like had been opened up and been checked and then closed.
Hope it helps!
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4z4z
Quote:
Originally posted by drgopoos
i am a newbie here and i searched but could not find any where..
can any one tell me how much i will have to pay for customs if ordered a laptop from US worth 2000 US $ from a US shop
do i have to pay for customs if i ordered other things from US based Websites
Your best bet would be to drive to US, stay for a could of days and bring the laptop with you. Now don't ask the obvious Q - do I have to declare it
For coiupons try this site - http://www.save.ca" rel="nofollow">LINK
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Reiki Grand Master
I have seen frequent posts where people have mentioned that shipping via USPS does not incur custom charges whereas similar items via FedEx/UPS have been caught.
I agree with the complaint on shopping here. Paying GST on internet purhchases sucks. And items cost far more than in the States. It seems like the govt here wants to squeeze every penny possible.
I use newegg as my guideline when trying to see how much I should pay for electronics, and it's almost impossible to get items for close to their prices.
However, we're here and we have to deal with it the best we can.
