[kklee]

After reading Tangent's thread about the DMM market, I decided that I needed to upgrade from my old Fluke 77 to a Fluke 189.

So I researched prices and found something interesting. Just like Shure's dealer policies, you can only get a Fluke DMM for a decent price if you're American. Every authorized vendor in Canada sells it for Canadian list, $618CA. Even worse is that I found a Canadian company that sells it for $359US to Americans and $618CA to Canadians

I don't have a problem with paying a little extra to support the Canadian supply channels, but that kind of price differential is just ridiculous.

I ended buying a new one on ebay for a decent price (including the typical extra expensive shipping to Canada).

 

[Voodoochile]

I had to use my Fluke savings to pay for prescriptions and healthcare.

Seriously, though, that is severely skewed. Why not just fess up and say "we don't really want to sell outside the USA". That's a huge bump.

 

[Alf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kklee So I researched prices and found something interesting. Just like Shure's dealer policies, you can only get a Fluke DMM for a decent price if you're American. Every authorized vendor in Canada sells it for Canadian list, $618CA. Even worse is that I found a Canadian company that sells it for $359US to Americans and $618CA to Canadians

$618CA? That is a bargain. Fluke 189 sells for £376 here in the UK. It is around $800CA.

 

[MASantos]

I inquired witha fluke dealer here in Portugal and the price was more than double as well. I got a used one from ebay. I used it already a couple of times and it works well.

 

[Bob_McBob]

At least they don't forbid US dealers from selling to Canadians like Grado

 

[Xakepa]

189 is way overrated IMO. There's nothing so special about it to justify $400 pricetag.

 

[mb3k]

Ebay it from a respected seller.
It will turn out to be much cheaper seeing you're in Canada.

 

[peterpan188]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mb3k Ebay it from a respected seller. It will turn out to be much cheaper seeing you're in Canada.

Second that. I got mine from EBay for $250, just as new. Got recent calibration and the plastic on the screen wasn't even off. My seller got ~100 feedback, but good communication made everything easy.

Regard,
Peter

 

[error401]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mb3k Ebay it from a respected seller. It will turn out to be much cheaper seeing you're in Canada.

Just beware of brokerage fees and import duties. FedEx and UPS charge rather exorbitantly for the 'convenience' of brokering your package. It's an extra ~$40 for an item of that price, plus a percentage of any duty charged (probably just GST). Just remember that when bidding you can expect to pay an extra $60 or so above the bid price and shipping.

Or use USPS and get an uninsured shipment, but I don't think I'd risk that for something of that value. Final option if you're near the border is to ship to a receiver in the US and bring it across by hand. I've done this several times and it's worked out well (declare what you're bringing back, obviously), just remember to have your eBay invoice printed out or they won't let you back into the country.

 

[kklee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by error401 Just beware of brokerage fees and import duties. FedEx and UPS charge rather exorbitantly for the 'convenience' of brokering your package. It's an extra ~$40 for an item of that price, plus a percentage of any duty charged (probably just GST). Just remember that when bidding you can expect to pay an extra $60 or so above the bid price and shipping. Or use USPS and get an uninsured shipment, but I don't think I'd risk that for something of that value. Final option if you're near the border is to ship to a receiver in the US and bring it across by hand. I've done this several times and it's worked out well (declare what you're bringing back, obviously), just remember to have your eBay invoice printed out or they won't let you back into the country.

I always go with sellers that use insured USPS. Even with the taxes and the 'extra' charges most vendors charge for shipping to Canada, it's a better deal than paying the Canadian price.

I've also used a drop address just across the border, but I'm always paranoid having anything expensive shipped there since there's a risk of it being picked up by the wrong person.

 

[bperboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kklee I've also used a drop address just across the border, but I'm always paranoid having anything expensive shipped there since there's a risk of it being picked up by the wrong person.

Haha, it sounds so clandestine!

 

[Voodoochile]

So, all price woes aside, have you received the meter, and if so, how do you like it so far?

 

[flecom]

I have a 189 at work and its a great meter... i personally own a 73 and it works great too... i would say the 99% of the time the 73 does everything i need it to do...

 

[kklee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voodoochile So, all price woes aside, have you received the meter, and if so, how do you like it so far?

I probably won't see it until next week at the earliest since it can take up to ten days for packages to make their way over the border. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it though.

 

[amb]

I have a Fluke 187 which is identical to the 189 except that it lacks the data logging feature. The list price is only $10 cheaper but ebay prices are often $50 less or more, which made the 187 quite attractive because I never use the logging stuff anyway.