Canadian/U.S pricing?

[minnie56]

I sit here wrapping..and again these price discrepancies hit me in the face!! I have 2 boxes of 'Red Velvet Cupcake Mix' from William Sonoma. Bought one here....$18.50 (+14%) the other at Walden Galleria (couldn't get any more here after it went on Oprah's hot gift list ) anyways--- the one from Walden is $14.00...Grrrrrrrrrrrr

Getting silly!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

This can us dollar problem is everywhere. We just got back from Cancun or just south of there on the 23rd of dec and ther excange rate down there favoured the usd by about almost 30 cents. Were glad we brought both just in case. It seems nobody wants to admit the cad is worth more and some places like Micheals like to take advantage of that. One reason I don't shop at places like Micheals also including chapters. You look around you can get better deals elsewhere.

 

[maddiel]

Got them several weeks ago. No duty! And really even if they had charged me duty (which I was prepared to pay) I'm doubting ti would have amounted to $130!

Depending on who they used for shipping, you can get invoiced for the gst + "brokerage fee" after the fact. It's happened to us a couple of times.

We got a gift for our daughter for Christmas this year using points in a vendor program my husband participates in through his employer. He watches online promotional videos about products and takes quizzes and earns points that can be traded in for Visa gift cards or merchandise. He got a visa gift card in the summer - no problem. He chose an ipod charger/clock radio/stereo in the fall and about a month after we received it we got a bill from the shipper (I _think_ it was UPS) for $35!!!! That's half the retail price of the stereo! And what burns me is that there is no way to refuse/return shipment because of the charges, because you aren't told about them when you accept delivery. Arrrgh!

M.

I checked with dh who just paid the bill - it was FedEx

 

[minniemomof3]

I never order anything when UPS is being used as the shipping company. They charge ridiculous brokerage fees. I learned my lesson the hard way, I purchased an item on ebay for $50 and was charged $30 brokerage fees. Now I always request the items to be sent USPS.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

And what burns me is that there is no way to refuse/return shipment because of the charges, because you aren't told about them when you accept delivery. Arrrgh!

I'm not sure what you mean. I've always had to pay at the door for these fees. So I could have refused the charges before signing for delivery and it would be sent back.

 

[maddiel]

I'm not sure what you mean. I've always had to pay at the door for these fees. So I could have refused the charges before signing for delivery and it would be sent back.

Most times when we've been charged taxes/duty/brokerage fees it's been at delivery or pick up. At least twice (I think there was a third but I can't remember what it was.) we've been charged fees and didn't find out about it until we were invoiced significantly after delivery. In this case, we received the stereo unit in October and were invoiced in November. There was nothing with the original packaging paperwork to indicate that we would be liable for additional taxes. Fedex was the courier BTW.

Both times that I can remember clearly, the items were 'rewards' and there was no information when we chose them about who the shipper would be because shipping was included in the reward. The other item was a logo branded jacket that was a reward for my dh passing a computer certification about two years ago.

M.

 

[abirdd]

Interesting on the Michael's front...
We were shopping there in November, and DH had picked out a couple extra items for his Christmas village. Fortunately, some employees forgot to check the items near the back of the shelves for the US price stickers. DH walked right up to the CS service and politely told them he was going to buy the items, but not at a penny more than US pricing. And you know what, they did it.

So, while I wholeheartedly agree we should not be paying a surcharge - many of the store managers are also not willing to lose business and will happily sell at US pricing. Probably forgetting to mention their choices to head office

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

That doesn't seem fair to send you a bill a month after the fact. I think I would dispute it.

 

[Allegro]

Depending on who they used for shipping, you can get invoiced for the gst + "brokerage fee" after the fact. It's happened to us a couple of times.

Canada Post all the way baby! Came through regular parcel post. Really, I'm not worried and not expecting any surprise bills (normally those come with warnings at the time of purchase BTDT). It's been a while AND again - it's not going to be $130 even in the worst casse scenario.

 

[iluvwesties]

I went shopping for Disney Hallmark Ornaments today and noticed that their boxes have Canadian price only. But when I checked their catalogue, there were both US & Can prices listed (with the US price significantly lower). The ornaments were on sale for 50% off of the CAN price.

I feel that Hallmark is also ripping Canadians off.

JMHO

iluvwesties (aka Carol)

 

[paperracer]

First off there will never be duties on recorded cd's or dvd's comming from anywhere into Canada. Also both US and Canada postal services subsidize there parcel cost with there regular letter postage fees which UPS can't do so they have to charge brokerage fees. One reason for getting your bill later may be that you had a business name in your address or some information needed checking so rather than hold up your shipment waiting for needed information they just send the shipment and bill you later.

 

[cey]

I agree totally with the OP about Hallmark Canada covertly removing the US price stickers from the boxes. I have been an avid collector and a member of the Collector's Club for over 25 years and have reached my limit with Hallmark Canada! I tried to send them an email to their site but all they have is the total free number for customer service. I have absolutely no faith in this company's phone service since they were unable to correctly handle a simple membership renewal. As a result, I lost out on limited edition ornaments, due to their error. No apology either! This year, I purchased my ornaments in the US at huge reductions on December 28th and quite honestly will continue to purchase all my ornaments that way, until Hallmark gets the message.

 

[minnie56]

Well, hopefully if we all get ticked enough, there will be change!

I just returned Tues from New York City. Bought shoes there (Geoxx) that I had priced at the Mall here the day prior to going. Here..$168 plus taxes, there $68..plus whatever the NYC tax is. Cannot recall...
BIG difference. DD bought some clothes at Abercrombie and Fitch...one top...again, priced here the day prior at $58.95 ..there..$19.99. It goes on, but you get the idea.

Getting reallllly tiresome!

 

[Tantor]

Also at Claire's today DD bought some leggings that were labelled $8.50 CAD and $7.50 US.
I asked the clerk why they weren't charging the US price. She had no idea. DD really wanted them though (her money not mine!)

 

[Tiger926]

I agree totally with the OP about Hallmark Canada covertly removing the US price stickers from the boxes. I have been an avid collector and a member of the Collector's Club for over 25 years and have reached my limit with Hallmark Canada! I tried to send them an email to their site but all they have is the total free number for customer service. I have absolutely no faith in this company's phone service since they were unable to correctly handle a simple membership renewal. As a result, I lost out on limited edition ornaments, due to their error. No apology either! This year, I purchased my ornaments in the US at huge reductions on December 28th and quite honestly will continue to purchase all my ornaments that way, until Hallmark gets the message.

This is why the ornaments were delayed at our store. We collect Hallmark ornaments and usually buy our first ones in Aug/Sept as soon as they hit the stores. I noticed that they were late, but the store wouldn't explain why. I figured that they were adjusting prices, and even mentioned that that probably were going to send boxes with just Canadian prices and they just kind of looked strangely at me - eventually ornaments came in, and I noticed right away that they arrived with just Canadian price tags on them. We only purchased 1 ornament this year after Christmas at 50% off, because we just couldn't justify the huge markups. We totally know that the cost of doing business in Canada is much more expensive than in the U.S., and that exchange only makes up a small portion of Canadian prices, but removing the tickets and not lowering prices at all, really ticked us off. It didn't seem to faze other shoppers though, as most of the ornaments were sold out before Christmas.

We don't expect products to be at par at all, as that is not reasonable, but mark ups of 40-50% are totally uncalled for. We live in a border city and are experiencing big problems with this.

Tiger

 

[Tiger926]

Also at Claire's today DD bought some leggings that were labelled $8.50 CAD and $7.50 US.
I asked the clerk why they weren't charging the US price. She had no idea. DD really wanted them though (her money not mine!)

We live in a border city, so I live and breathe this daily. My hubby is also a banker - there are many factors that go into pricing out products. Exchange is just one factor. The fact is that the cost of doing business in Canada is much higher than in the U.S., so prices should not be at par. They can be lowered though from their highs of 40-50% markups as the part of the pricing that is due to exchange has now dropped significantly.

Many stores in our city are charging U.S. prices on books, mags and cards as we live in a border city and almost everyone is shopping in U.S., but in all fairness, those of us who understand what factors are used to arrive at Canadian prices know that this is just to appease customers as nothing can truly be at par since the cost of doing business is higher in Canada, end of story. They don't need to be 40 or 50% higher, but 10-15% higher is reasonable; therefore, a $1.00 difference on those leggings is totally reasonable. Remember too, we have 32 million people in Canada, whereas they have 300 million - lots more products are sold each day in the U.S.; therefore, they can keep their prices lower due to the sheer volume of products that they sell.

Tiger

 

[minnie56]

So---Whilst in NYC my DD bought a Sony Camera, memory card (4GB) and 2 year extended warranty directly from the Sony Store. I was assured all warranties would extend 'worldwide' so that meant we'd be fine. As we paid, the Cashier told us that was not the case? We decided to take our chances..I figured I could take for repairs if necessary across the border in Buffalo. Got back to the Hotel and checked online for a Sony Store - Dealer in the vicinities that I am familiar with only to find none in the area so it seemed should anything go wrong..it could be costly for us as shipping to a location would be necessary. So, we returned the Camera to the Sony Store on 5th Ave. Total cost was $479 USD. Good deal...

She still wanted the camera though..so, today we went to the Mall. And purchased it again. Same EVERYTHING...total? $713 CAD/ 2 Year extended warranty alone was almost double the price of it in NYC.

I asked the salesman "Why such a discrepancy" and he said "I don't know, we wonder why too"??? If she didn't want it NOW, it would not have been purchased I can assure you!

In a case such as this, where needed warranty was an issue, we had no choice really. None that was uncomplicated anyways.

BTW, The Sony Store in the U.S gave her a $35 USD gift card for 'her trouble' ..of course here, Nope, cannot use! Only by mail order and then to a U.S address which I can do but jeeeeeez do they ever even try to not be so difficult?

Sign me--shopping in the U.S happily after!