darcphil

Also- if you buy from the U.S. you are basically forfeiting the chance to return the merchandise at all. I mean, you can do it, but it's difficult and costly. I learned this the hard way: Shipping is much more expensive going the other way. And you have to make sure you have the paperwork in order, e.g. commercial import document. Also, unless you include a "Foreign shipper's declaration of foreign goods returned", you will be charged duty on the export, which you will then have to apply to recover. You will also have to apply to recover the tax and duty that you originally paid on the item (which they do say is possible, fingers crossed). Oh, and you'll probably end up eating the brokerage fees. Not to mention taking a bath on the exchange rate going one way and then the other. That part alone cost me a couple of hundred dollars. Long story short, looks ok on paper, but is actually full of problems and expenses to the point where I will never do it again (the only reason I bought this way is the item I wanted was not available from any dealer anywhere in Canada). However I do want to send a shout out to Sweetwater Sound, they've been extremely and patient and helpful, to the point of offering to take over the export duty refund application and reimburse me for that themselves. Above and beyond the call.

Duty calculation is based on stated value. I definitely buy from local retailers (first stop Long and Mcquade!), if they have what I'm looking for.

I'm in BC, and I just bought a keyboard from Sweetwater (which I returned, but that is a whole other thread). Of course all the tax was charged, and also duty. The keyboard price was $3145 USD, and the duty ended up being $251.46 CAN. The only other thing was an "ROD" fee, which I assume is a processing fee, of $10. It was shipped via fedex. Hope that helps.