Any Canadian PC part retailers recommendations (beside Amazon, Newegg & Canada Computer)?

[Waifu4Life]

Besides the Newegg.ca, Amazon.ca and Canada Computer, do you guys know of any other Canadian computer part retailers that offer good prices and variety? 

[kelvinhall05]

Pretty much anything on PCPP is a decent store.

[zeusthemoose]

From what I’ve heard, Memory express is good

[TetraSky]

With shipping and taxes included, I usually find Newegg to be cheaper than other stores (including Amazon) for where I live (Quebec), even if sometimes their prices are a bit higher than the competition, it's pointless if said competition charges like 30$ in shipping fee or charges you the full 15% tax on goods (Amazon... Newegg doesn't have a physical presence in the province, so it's only 5% tax.)

 

That said, Memory Express is good.

You might be able to find a local store as well. We have Microbytes here, their website is utter trash(slow AF) and their prices aren't that great in comparison to online stores like Newegg. But it's nice to have a brick and mortar store you can go and just, buy parts that you need without having to wait for shipping.

[svmlegacy]

30 minutes ago, the_importer said:

Besides the Newegg.ca, Amazon.ca and Canada Computer, do you guys know of any other Canadian computer part retailers that offer good prices and variety? 

NCI... oh, wait.

 

B&H Photo Video also ships to Canada reasonably, but are US based.

[Waifu4Life]

Just now, svmlegacy said:

NCI... oh, wait.

 

B&H Photo Video also ships to Canada reasonably, but are US based.

lol, I knew someone would try to make an NCIX joke. Ya, I want to avoid order from the US because

1- Duty fees tend to cost more than Canadian taxes in the end

2- The pandemic is slowing down packages from across the boarders

[svmlegacy]

1 minute ago, the_importer said:

lol, I knew someone would try to make an NCIX joke. Ya, I want to avoid order from the US because

1- Duty fees tend to cost more than Canadian taxes in the end

2- The pandemic is slowing down packages from across the boarders

As a fellow Canadian, I know this pain all too well

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, the_importer said:

lol, I knew someone would try to make an NCIX joke. Ya, I want to avoid order from the US because

1- Duty fees tend to cost more than Canadian taxes in the end

2- The pandemic is slowing down packages from across the boarders

If you're in Canada you don't pay US tax, you will still pay Canadian tax, and most computer parts don't have duty fees.

[TetraSky]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

and most computer parts don't have duty fees.

As long as you don't ship with UPS.

The robbers at UPS will attempt to charge you duty fees on anything and everything, even when there shouldn't be any. (in my experience anyway, YMMV)

[Waifu4Life]

19 minutes ago, dizmo said:

If you're in Canada you don't pay US tax, you will still pay Canadian tax, and most computer parts don't have duty fees.

I've been ordering online for over 20 years, I know how this works. They will charge me duty fees which they will taxes for both Canada and Provincial taxes. In the end, it will cost me more than if I were to purchase locally. This is of course not counting that Paypal or whatever credit card merchant they use will use a higher exchange rate which would cost me more than to buy it from the Canadian default MSRP. Moral of the story, never import unless it's not available in your country or VERY cheap (like it's 2nd hand or something).

 

  

15 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

As long as you don't ship with UPS.

The robbers at UPS will attempt to charge you duty fees on anything and everything, even when there shouldn't be any. (in my experience anyway, YMMV)

3rd party shipping companies will eat the cost of duty fees as well as add their own service fees on top and charge you all of this before they hand you your package. When it's ship via let's say USPS and handed to the Canadian boarder services, the reason why you don't always get duty fees is out of simple laziness since our taxes is paying their jobs (basically, like any governmental service). They tend to ignore smaller packages and only look at the declared fees of the bigger ones. Also, packages coming via Airmail tends to get a free  pass more often than ground packages. 

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

As long as you don't ship with UPS.

The robbers at UPS will attempt to charge you duty fees on anything and everything, even when there shouldn't be any. (in my experience anyway, YMMV)

That's fair, though even with UPS it's not really duty but their brokerage and other fees.

There's a simple form you can fill out and mail to the CBSA to get a remittance for improperly calculated duty. I was going through a border crossing and they labeled my mountain bike parts as motorcycle parts, and I was charged additional fees as well as PST (they're exempt). Cost me an extra $1,000 that I didn't notice until I was going through my paperwork, but they refunded it without question.

 

2 minutes ago, the_importer said:

I've been ordering online for over 20 years, I know how this works. They will charge me duty fees which they will taxes for both Canada and Provincial taxes. In the end, it will cost me more than if I were to purchase locally. This is of course not counting that bother Paypal or whatever credit card merchant they use will use a higher exchange rate which would cost me more than to buy it from the Canadian default MSRP. Moral of the story, never import unless it's not available in your country or VERY cheap (like it's 2nd hand or something).

Some parts have duty, some don't. The lists are available online to the public. If you're paying fees you don't need to, that's really on you and your ordering practices.

eBay, for example, lumps it in even when it's not required on several items.

 

[YellowJersey]

Memory Express is my go-to. I have a retail location down the street.

[Waifu4Life]

20 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Some parts have duty, some don't. The lists are available online to the public. If you're paying fees you don't need to, that's really on you and your ordering practices.

eBay, for example, lumps it in even when it's not required on several items.

 

Never heard of such a list. The only exceptions to avoid duty fees (minus the laziness luck mentioned before) is to order items $20 CAD or under or to have item at $60 CAD or less marked as a gift, something that legally speaking, no retailer is allowed to do. If there is such a list, please provide a link.

[Waifu4Life]

20 minutes ago, YellowJersey said:

Memory Express is my go-to. I have a retail location down the street.

Ya, I played around their website, looked good at first, but then 2 items (MB and CPU) were not available online, only in stores. I don't know who the web designer, but the option "available" should mean available online by default, I shouldn't have to specify online since I'm an online shopping website

[dizmo]

41 minutes ago, the_importer said:

Never heard of such a list. The only exceptions to avoid duty fees (minus the laziness luck mentioned before) is to order items $20 CAD or under or to have item at $60 CAD or less marked as a gift, something that legally speaking, no retailer is allowed to do. If there is such a list, please provide a link.

It's not an exemption, they simply don't have a tariff attached to them. 

 

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2020/menu-eng.html

[Waifu4Life]

17 minutes ago, dizmo said:

It's not an exemption, they simply don't have a tariff attached to them. 

 

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2020/menu-eng.html

Pretty sure they would class any computer parts under Section XVI. Let me ask you, have you ever successfully gotten your money back from the CBSA after being charged for a computer part? If so, how much of a pain was it and was it worth your time?

[dizmo]

On 7/12/2020 at 10:56 PM, the_importer said:

Pretty sure they would class any computer parts under Section XVI. Let me ask you, have you ever successfully gotten your money back from the CBSA after being charged for a computer part? If so, how much of a pain was it and was it worth your time?

It's not really a section, every type of part has a different HS code, and that's what determines it's tariff rate.

 

For instance, with mountain bikes a full bike could see a 20% tariff, whereas one that's not complete has no tariff. I'd often just get the seller to ship the wheels in a separate box, as the additional shipping was far cheaper than paying the tariff rate on the full bike. Rims and hubs have no tariff, whereas full wheels do, etc etc.

 

I haven't purchased computer parts in a way that requires me to fill out customs forms, or deal with the CBSA at all; I live too far north and the way I import now is handled by a third party. As for if it's worth your time, depends how much you figure you're out. The form takes maybe 3 minutes to fill out, looking up the HS code for the paperwork takes another maybe 3 minutes, then you have to mail it in and that costs a couple bucks.

Generally, if you fill in everything neatly, you provide print outs of your receipts, highlight the prices, write the HS code that it was charged under vs the HS code that you believe it should be under, highlighted and written at the top as well as written in an accompanying letter, they'll just give it to you. Make their life easier, they'll do the same to you. When I'd bring stuff across the border, I'd have maybe $10k in bike parts, and $1-2k in personal stuff, usually clothes or items that had high tariff rates (10 - 20%). I'd have print outs of all of my Paypal transactions, the HS code written at the top and the paper, divided into the different categories, prices highlighted, etc. Only once did I get charged the full amount, by a rookie. The rest of the time the officer would ask "do you mind if I just throw this all under x HS code? It's just a lot easier." It was always one with 0% duty, because I took a little time out of my life to make his life easier.