Calling all Canadians!

[ambi]

What about the "standard" 15 percent duty plus all of that handling bullshit?

Thats significant.

 

[jslator]

I did use UPS and do seem to remember the word brokerage fees being used.

Use regular post. By the time stuff clears customs and everything, it's almost as fast as UPS. They treat your stuff as good or better than UPS. And they don't try to screw you with bullshit "brokerage fees".

 

[jslator]

I think there is a place in Vancouver that can get FMR gear

Do you have Mother's Music in Vancouver? They're part of the Gordon Price/Drum Shop chain. RNC's are regular stock for them here in Edmonton. I haven't seen an RNP there yet though.

 

[jslator]

What about the "standard" 15 percent duty plus all of that handling bullshit?

There is no standard 15% duty. Don't confuse duty with GST. You can't avoid GST. They'll charge you that before you're allowed to pick up your package. Depending on your province, that might be as high as 15% or 16%. Here in Alberta, we have no PST, so it's only 7%. You get stuck with that whether you buy from the U.S. or Canada though. That's not an extra cost of buying from the U.S.

 

[ambi]

Well that's good to know.

I guess Mercenary Audio is a good option then.

Now to find some Marshal MXL603s.

 

[bleyrad]

I paid about $40 duty, $30 handling fees (USD), and $30 GST when I got my MXL603's shipped from Musician's Friend.

as far as i know, most cheap mics are not made in the americas anyway.

 

[jslator]

I paid about $40 duty, $30 handling fees (USD), and $30 GST when I got my MXL603's shipped from Musician's Friend.

I hate to break it to you, but you got ripped off. I believe that the MXL mic's are made in the Peoples Republic of China. The Peoples Republic of China is subject to the General Preferential Tariff (see: http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/general/publications/tariff2003/2003loc-e.pdf). Under the Canadian Custom's Tariff, microphones are in tariff classification 8518.10.00 (see: http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/general/publications/tariff2003/t2003-1/chap85ne.pdf), and for that classification, goods originating from any nation subject to the General Preferential Tariff have zero duty. There was therefore no duty applicable to those mic's, so you shouldn't have been charged any.

By "handling fees" I assume you mean "shipping fees". $30 seems high. American Musical Supply only charged me $15 shipping for my Groove Tubes AM40 tube mic (which was packed in an enormous box).

There's no avoiding GST, though I assume you mean you paid $30 combined PST and GST. $30 would mean you spent $428 Cdn on the mics. That seems pretty high for a pair of 603's (I assume you bought a pair; maybe you bought a bunch).

Also, are you sure it was Musician's Friend? I've argued with them on at least two occaisions in the past about their absolute refusal to ship to Canada. They're the only big online retailer that I'm aware of that won't.

 

[bleyrad]

By "handling fees" I assume you mean "shipping fees". $30 seems high. American Musical Supply only charged me $15 shipping for my Groove Tubes AM40 tube mic (which was packed in an enormous box).

Nope, I mean handling fees. Shipping was about $20 on top of everything listed. Basically, the shipping company (I think it was UPS... heh. never again...) had to fill out all the forms for customs, and charged me $30 to do it.

There's no avoiding GST, though I assume you mean you paid $30 combined PST and GST. $30 would mean you spent $428 Cdn on the mics. That seems pretty high for a pair of 603's (I assume you bought a pair; maybe you bought a bunch).

PST in BC is 7.5%. That's 14.5% total taxes. I payed 79.99 USD each for the mics, which equates to around 200 CDN total. 200x0.145=$29 in taxes.

Also, are you sure it was Musician's Friend? I've argued with them on at least two occaisions in the past about their absolute refusal to ship to Canada. They're the only big online retailer that I'm aware of that won't.

My bad... it was music123.com

 

[jslator]

Nope, I mean handling fees. Shipping was about $20 on top of everything listed. Basically, the shipping company (I think it was UPS... heh. never again...) had to fill out all the forms for customs, and charged me $30 to do it.

That's typical of UPS. Definately shop around to find a retailer that'll use regular post (or anything other than UPS). Some only use UPS, so you have to be careful.

PST in BC is 7.5%. That's 14.5% total taxes. I payed 79.99 USD each for the mics, which equates to around 200 CDN total. 200x0.145=$29 in taxes.

That's what you get for living in B.C. instead of Alberta.