A question re Canadians and Headphones

[estreeter]

Hi All,

I read a lot of posts from Canadians who are saddled with high prices and a weaker currency than the USD. Here in Oz, we also suffer from high prices, but I hope to rectify that during my December holiday in Singapore and Malaysia.

I realise that most Canadians would be unlikely to cross the border simply to buy a pair of relatively cheap headphones, but for anything over a few hundred dollars surely it would be worth your while to 'make a weekend of it' : fly to NYC or Boston on Friday night and come back Sunday. See a show/ball game/whatever, do the tourist thing, and come back with all the audio you need at much cheaper prices. Not cheap, I'm sure, but compared to the time and expense of flying to Singapore from Brisbane, I dont see why more Canadians arent doing this. I know that queues at US airports can be insanely large, but don't they have a 'US and Canadian citizens' queue, or am I overstating the relationship ? I'm not even sure if Canada-US flights are classed as 'International' ...

Apologies if I've oversimplified the scenario above, and I know things like cabs and hotels rapidly add up, but it would be the experience as a whole that would make buying an amp and a pair of headphones seem like the icing on the cake. Happy to hear otherwise.

estreeter

 

[Ntropic]

Heh. Definitely oversimplifying things.

First off, you'd have to pay duties on things that you declare. I think you need to stay in the US for a whole week before you can get a couple hundred dollars worth of customs exemption. On the other hand, if you don't declare it, a pair of W5000s and a brand new desktop amplifier sure don't look like the things most people bring into the country with them on their trips. Then there's a matter of space. If you're like me, you want the original boxes, especially if they're fancy ones. I don't know about you, but luggage for one person doesn't usually have much extra space.

Then there's the matter of lodging and travel costs. Are you going down to the States for a week or two as a holiday? Sure, bring back something nice, if it fits. Business trip? Again, not enough customs exemption.

Then there's always Head-Fi and online stores. B&H ships most things internationally, and I think most people here in the trade forums don't mind too much shipping things between the US and Canada, as long as the buyer pays the shipping. eBay has a pretty limited selection, and not a lot of buyers list on the Canadian site (why ;__; ).

Buying things locally, however, tends to get you gouged. Nobody sells things for street price. NCIX can do street price... but only if you have PP, and even then, selection is limited (but growing. Last I saw, there's SKUs for HD6xx and HD800).


Unrelated question: What's roughly the going price of a A900Ti?

 

[roy_jones]

I think the trick is to buy used if the seller is willing to help you with the customs declaration.

 

[cyberspyder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy_jones /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the trick is to buy used if the seller is willing to help you with the customs declaration.

Shhhh....it's illegal, but many times often the only way between no fees at the border and $100 plus duties.

 

[vagarach]

It would probably be cheaper to simply order over the internet and pay duties, given that flights are usually about $3-500 round trip.

Unless you're personally picking up an Orpheus system, or something similarly rare and expensive, it just ain't worth it, not including the damn inconvenience and sheer unpleasantness of international flights.

However, that said, people who live near the border, such as Windsor/Detroit or Niagara can get a NEXUS pass and easily cross the border to shop.

 

[punkaroo]

Holy oversimplification, Batman!

Taking a flight/drive to New York state, or even Michigan is going to cost a lot more than the difference between US and Canuck prices on audio gear.

Shipping to Canada, and then paying duties is a real bitch. I used to call Canadian customs all the time to ask what duties there'd be on certain items.

There's always used! Or these forums

(Having said all that, I'm going to NYC in October and plan on making a trip to J&R. Not sure if I'm going to buy anything though...at least, I'll try not to!)

 

[cyberspyder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vagarach /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would probably be cheaper to simply order over the internet and pay duties, given that flights are usually about $3-500 round trip. Unless you're personally picking up an Orpheus system, or something similarly rare and expensive, it just ain't worth it, not including the damn inconvenience and sheer unpleasantness of international flights. However, that said, people who live near the border, such as Windsor/Detroit or Niagara can get a NEXUS pass and easily cross the border to shop.

My friend does that all the time, with custom knives and such. He rents a PO box and drives over the border maybe twice a month to pick up orders.

 

[estreeter]

Wow - it looks like Canadian Customs are working hand-in-hand with your local distributors to ensure that you get royally screwed ! Welcome to the Commonwealth, where the wealth-y conspire to keep the *common* man from joining them !

Thanks for clarifying this. The AD900 goes for around $320 AUD - dont know anyone who sells the TI variant.

 

[applaudio]

The Canadian dollar has been consistently in the high 80s or higher for around four and a half years now. During that time, it has also hovered around parity for quite a while, surpassing the US dollar on multiple occasions, and once reaching over $1.10 US. It took a dive earlier this year as the stock markets responded in their usual panic-stricken way to the gloomy economic forecast, but it came back and is comfortably in the low nineties right now.

Now, during its major thrust upward in 2007, when the loonie (that's the nickname for the Canadian dollar, BTW) rose a staggering 40% or so in a matter of months, there was an aggravatingly long lag time before retailers started to adjust their prices to the suddenly high value of our currency. As a result, people started to shop south of the border to pick up relative bargains in the States, rather than suffer the disgustingly high prices here at home. In some cases it was worth it, in other cases it wasn't... but Canadians in general benefited from the cross-border shopping that some of us participated in, as it forced retailers here to adjust their prices to avoid losing too much business.

So, for a short time it may have been worth it to make a visit south of the border to go shopping, but that was more of a glitch than anything, and I would certainly not go to the US now.

Personally, I'm fine with buying from the Head-Fi FS forums... don't see a need to make any trips anywhere in Canada or the US just to get a good price on something I could simply buy online for a (usually) better price anyway.

 

[applaudio]

Oh, I forgot to mention... Canadians are now required to have Passports to cross the border, as of June 1st this year... that kind of put the brakes on whatever casual cross-border shopping might have been happening.