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Got my sweet TS-E 45mm from B&H today around noon.

All I got... oh wait, Purolator didn't even leave a notice. Only way I know they tried to deliver is checking the online tracking.

I was really surprised to get almost next day shipping from Purolator from B&H.

Man it was literally next day shipping! The moment I got my "shipped" notice via Purolator ground, it courier arrived to my door before 9am! Damn that was impressively fast and cheaper than the UPS worldwide saver/express. I can't see myself shopping at Henry's/Vistek.. especially for accessories.

i just ordered my new pelican case from bhphoto today.. let's see when will i get it!
btw pelican cases are so expensive here, like more than one time expensive than the states..

I just put in a big order with BH Thursday night. I wish I'd done it earlier but was too busy at work. It's stupidly insane how much more expensive the local retailers are compared to BH and Adorama. I bought 4 new Manfrotto lightstands, they were $80 more per stand at Vistek. By ordering through BH, I've saved at least $400 on one order alone!

So the price is listed as USD, so is the final cost you pay is higher than what's shown on your cart?

B&H in USD

SubTotal: $209.00
Duties & Tax : $28.49
Shipping: $9.02
Order Total: $246.51
Conversion : 242.68 CAD [exchange rate: 0.9865] Today TD rate

Vistek in CAD
$309.95 + tax

Do the math!

You got the CAD exchange rate backwards. Divide by 0.9865, so it's more like $250 CAD. And don't forget to add about 3% for CC fees if you don't have a USD CC (photoprice uses x 1.0392 today, for example).

But still cheaper than in Canada!

insanity! the new case i ordered cost over 330+tax here, after shipping+tax+duties it's still under 200 usd!

*hint hint* *nudge nudge* vistek and henry's reps who are lurking the boards.

I just checked a few items on photoprice and surprisingly (or not) B&H was now at the top of the list for all these items, cheapest price delivered to your door in Canada.

Now, where's that emergency credit card.......

If it's anything like the motorcycle industry then chances are that Canadian retailers aregetting shafted by wholesalers who sell to Canadian retailers at much higher prices than US.

For example,the Canadian retailer cost of many bike accessories is higher than the consumer price of the same product in the US. In that case the Canadian retailer is unlikely to be able to compete on price. It would not surprise me if the situation was similar with photo gear.

Maybe someone from Vistek or Henry's can chime in to shed some light on this.

I'm looking for a magic credit card where I never see the bills.

Canadian retailers, in general, pay more for their items than their American counterparts. Despite the internet age manufacturers still see them as different markets and price accordingly. Camera equipment is not the only thing affected by these vast differences in price, one can save money by purchasing most electronics, books, clothing, even food (have you ever been to TOPS?).. pretty much anything stateside now especially with the Canadian Dollar hovering around parody.

There are issues with buying thins cross-border of course; warranties are often not applicable cross-border.

While shopping stateside can save money it takes money out of our local economy and exports is stateside, as Canadian shoppers begin to shop cross-border in droves we'll begin to see ripple effects in our own economy; this can actually lead to increased costs of goods and services here in Canada in the future, as Canadian retailers will buy less and less (b/c they aren't selling) bulk discounts will dissipate so retail costs will rise.

Our best hope is that manufacturers, distributors and retailers across North America come to some sort of arrangement so prices, as well as the dollar, become closer to parody. I'm all for saving a buck, but I often wonder about the cost of doing so.

I've ordered through B&H before and I suspect I will again, but thus far have only done so for film all my camera equipment has been purchased locally and in-person because I get the advice, guidance and after purchase support I need from a brick and mortar business far easier than I ever could online.

Just my 2 cents.

It's "parity" rather than "parody"

Yeah, when you look at the price difference of merchandise between the two countries, is it?

True dat.

Just wanted to chime in on this one point. I'd actually say that most warranties are cross-border. Of the five major (SLR) manufacturers:

Canon, Sony, Olympus, and Pentax all provide US/Canada cross-border warranties. Nikon is the only one that does not.

Reference: http://www.photoprice.ca/article/warran ... rey-market

The only thing with that is some of the best deals at B&H are "grey market" and SLRS are not items with overwhelmingly huge price differences most of the time.

At any rate the changes B&H have made in order to compete with the entire North American market should serve to help the Canadian one become a bit more competitive.

Many retailers send out repairs on your behalf won't do it when the item was purchased out of the country despite the warranty coverage and then you incur all the shipping charges, how does the extended warranty work with B&H? anyone know?

I don't fully agree. For SLR bodies, yes, there is very little difference between US and Canadian prices. For lenses, it depends on which manufacturer.

For Canon, Olympus, and Sigma there can be substantial savings, even without getting into grey market. For example, the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II has a $230 after-tax/S&H/exchange price difference between B&H and the cheapest Canadian option. There are Canadian stores with list prices of $400+ more!

I'm not sure if "distributor pricing" can explain this gap of over 10%. It looks to me like systematic inefficiencies through the entire supply chain.



Agreed. Competition is never a bad thing. At the end of the day consumers vote with their money, and if the added value they perceive a brick & mortar store to provide isn't worth it to them, they'll buy online elsewhere.



If you buy from B&H with a cross-border warranty, you're responsible for sending the item to a local Canadian repair center (i.e. Canon in Mississauga). If you choose to buy Grey Market and B&H provides the warranty, you need to send the item back to them, at your cost.

just got my pelican case today, it's pretty much next day shipping...
they shipped it out on monday and i got it this morning!

pretty much saved over 150 cdn buying it from bhphoto.. sweet!

Placed my order late Sunday night and they arrived yesterday. Based on the items that Vistek or Henrys carried, I saved a minimum of $433. This excludes 6 items I could not find here so I'm sure the savings will hit the $500 mark easily.

it's a shame because as much as I'd like to spend the money locally, unfortunately $500 savings is hard to pass up.

I think it's awesome, why would you want to think it's a shame

I think I smell a potatoeye burn coming

what sort of duty/taxes were charged to those who recently made purchases?

Does Purolator charge any brokerage fees?

Tried to place a Purolator shipped order just now, and while it did allow me to select it, it said that "Taxes & Duties are unavailable", and because of that I couldn't complete the order unless I selected another shipping option ($40 more)!

I'll try again later...otherwise Mr. Posner is going to get an earful.

I got that too but it was a problem with the number of items, I called and they were aware of it. since then I thougt they had fixed it because I put more items on than the max I did before to get it to work when I had the problem.

Works for me with 7 line items, quantity of 12, this would have failed a week ago. Might just be Christmas overload on the server,

All fees are calculated by B&H in the checkout.

Quote from the OP link: