[GlorytheWiz825]

Hmmm, I'm sure I'm not the only person who has felt annoyed at the discrimination of trying to buy headphones outside the USA. For example, I just saw a thread where the HD580s were going for $125 USD on Amazon.com. I was very excited but not without pessimism. I proceeded to order and check out and what do you know...Amazon.com doesn't ship those headphones to Canada. Same with other headphones like the KSC75, $13 dollars on Amazon and costs over $25 from Canadian vendors. Another example would be the Grado line, where a SR60 will cost over $100 dollars in Canada and a GS1000 costs almost $2000 in the United Kingdom.

So what does this all mean? Us non-US residents must put up with inflated prices to enjoy the same headphones as our American counterparts. *sighs* I guess such is the world economy in its current state. I'll stop complaining. Guess I'm just bitter I couldn't jump on the $125 HD580 deal from Amazon. :/

 

[mirumu]

I've never had a problem with this myself. The auction sites and other importer/exporters tend to level the playing field a bit. I agree Amazon's policy is a bit of a pain though.

 

[Davesrose]

My guess is that since Amazon just links with a lot of distributers, it makes things easier to just keep things in the US....unfortunately. I dunno....this seems like a big enough community. Maybe we can set up some sort of buying program. Where you let a US Head-fier know that you'll be in the States for them to buy something for you, or can pay them the cost of shipping.......just an idea!

 

[Konig]

There are like 1000 things i wanna get on ebay but i can never get a paypal confirmed address in the states bcoz i dont have a green card.

 

[kyleisgreat]

It's a little weird but I accept it. I mean here in canada we get most electronic equipment at the same price as the states, and this stuff is kind of like specialty electronic equipment. The market is not that large, retailers can't buy that much, smaller shipments means more shipping more cost. Just remember you're involved in a not very popular,expensive hobby.

The thing about amazon not shipping to canada is lame though.

 

[edisonwu]

It is just what Amazon does, not mean to all suppliers or dealers. Every parties has their own policy. If not happy with this one, get another. I've never had a problem with this.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Don't you have any friends or relatives in the States who can receive items that you've ordered on your behalf? They could then forward them to you, or you could pick them up when you visit.

I've always sent everything that I order online to my address in Florida. I've got a credit card with a Florida billing address, so it's really dead simple. My friends there just stack everything up in a pile for me. They're so used to it that they don't even bother to open my packages anymore. Whenever I visit (which is quite often), it's like Christmas all over again. Sometimes I forget what I've ordered. But everything in the States (and I mean everything) is cheaper than it would be in Cayman!

The small stuff goes in my luggage or carry on bag for the return flight to Cayman. The big stuff goes in the trunk of my rental car and I drop it off at a freight forwarder, which is located right on my way to the airport in Miami. The really big stuff (speakers, amps, furniture, exercise equipment, riding lawn mower) gets delivered directly to my freight forwarder and I don't see it until it arrives in Cayman.

I guess it's just part of life when you live overseas. Canadians haven't had to deal with it becasue they have so much land mass and are accustomed to being able to get almost anything that they want within their own country.

 

[Carl]

Yes most everywhere except the US, Japan, and Germany gets shafted with headphone prices (US$80+ for a KSC75? Yes please!). One just needs to learn to be a little crafty, to think outside the box.

In the scheme of things, Canadian prices really aren't too bad. Some countries have it much worse. And you guys have Alessandro.

 

[EFN]

Amazon aside, there's a lot of other places that does international shipping. Extensive eBaying is one, but of course have to be extra cautios to prevent getting scammed.

In asia-pacific region, we have Audiocubes and Bluetin which is fairly competitive in prices.

 

[nothing101]

i think ebay is good enough except for stax but theres pricejapan for stax.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlorytheWiz825 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm, I'm sure I'm not the only person who has felt annoyed at the discrimination of trying to buy headphones outside the USA. For example, I just saw a thread where the HD580s were going for $125 USD on Amazon.com. I was very excited but not without pessimism. I proceeded to order and check out and what do you know...Amazon.com doesn't ship those headphones to Canada. Same with other headphones like the KSC75, $13 dollars on Amazon and costs over $25 from Canadian vendors. Another example would be the Grado line, where a SR60 will cost over $100 dollars in Canada and a GS1000 costs almost $2000 in the United Kingdom. So what does this all mean? Us non-US residents must put up with inflated prices to enjoy the same headphones as our American counterparts. *sighs* I guess such is the world economy in its current state. I'll stop complaining. Guess I'm just bitter I couldn't jump on the $125 HD580 deal from Amazon. :/

I share those feelings, brother. I can't myself jump on the HD-580 deal, not to mention the also recent E-MU 1212M & FlexoPET deals.

 

[krmathis]

I have similar experience with Westone.
Placed an order in the US for the Westone ES2 for $650, but they canceled my order and pointed me towards their European distributor. Their European distributor charge $935 for the same product!

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Like Wmcmanus said, I guess the best strategy for us is to befriend US head-fiers and ask them to receive and forward the packages to us. Paying the extra shipping and import duties is still cheaper than ordering from local retailers. Okay, who wants to be my US package forwarding buddy?

 

[mirumu]

Someone should start something like PriceJapan called something like "PriceUSA". Could work much the same adding 5% or some minimum fee on the actual cost and charge for the shipping. Could be a good little money maker on the side.

 

[Dexdexter]

I've seen PortaPros here in Belgium for 65 Euro. And If that's not insult enough, the same shop offers SportaPros for 80 Euro!

I ended up getting my folks in the States to send me some of those KSC75s from Amazon, so I'm a happy bunny.