Amazon.com vs Amazon.ca (USA vs CAN Prices)

[K4mloop5]

While looking for a new graphics card Ive noticed a very disturbing disparity between the sites. Namely they over charge you on the .ca site, the .com site offers rebates that .ca doesnt. Im only comparing cards sold by Amazon and not 3rd party sellers as that opens a whole other can of worms (namely how does some joe blow seller in Kalamazoo outprice London Drugs, Best Buy and Newegg.ca) And that will be addressed later.

 

Examples

Gigabyte RX460 (GV-RX460WF2OC-4GD)

.com $117.95USD and a $30 rebate https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K1JVCRE/ref=s9_acsd_zwish_hd_bw_b1C5u_c_x_w

.ca $159.99CAD and no rebate https://www.amazon.ca/Gigabyte-Radeon-Windforce-Graphics-GV-RX460WF2OC-4GD/dp/B01K1JVCRE/ref=sr_1_1

 

So the prices in this case pretty much in line 117.95USD works out to $158CAD but if you order from Amazon.ca you dont get the $30 rebate. Even though both are sold and shipped by Amazon

 

ASUS RX480 Dual Fan 4GB (DUAL-RX480-4G)

.com $189.99USD https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LECTVS4/ref=s9_acsd_simh_hd_bw_b1C5u_c_x_4_w

.ca $281.06CAD https://www.amazon.ca/Dual-Fan-Radeon-Gaming-Graphics-DUAL-RX480-O4G/dp/B01KWGSEJU

 

When we convert to CAD we get a price point of $254 almost $30 less than what Amazon is charging on the .ca site

 

ASUS ROG STRIX Radeon Rx 480 8GB OC Edition (STRIX-RX480-O8G-GAMING)

.com $239.99USD https://www.amazon.com/STRIX-Radeon-Polaris-Graphics-STRIX-RX480-O8G-GAMING/dp/B01J3TZJOA/ref=sr_1_8

.ca $346.17CAD https://www.amazon.ca/STRIX-Radeon-Polaris-Graphics-STRIX-RX480-O8G-GAMING/dp/B01J3TZJOA/ref=sr_1_1

 

Converted to CAD we get a price of $321  $25 less than whats being charged on Amazon.ca

 

The Nvidia cards seem a little closer in their price points usually only a $10 or so disparity on the EVGA and MSI cards but ASUS we see a large difference

 

MSI GTX 1060 6GB  (GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G)

.com $269.89USD https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GAMING-GTX-1060-6G/dp/B01IEKYD5U/ref=sr_1_3

.ca $368 https://www.amazon.ca/MSI-GTX-1060-GAMING-6G/dp/B01IEKYD5U/ref=sr_1_1

 

Converted to CAD we see the .com site is $8 less (360.86CAD)

 

ASUS GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX (STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING)

.com $545.84USD + $30 mail in rebate https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-GeForce-STRIX-Graphics-STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING/dp/B01K5F8MJK/ref=sr_1_4

.ca  $765.71CAD and no rebate https://www.amazon.ca/ASUS-GeForce-STRIX-Graphics-STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING/dp/B01K5F8MJK/ref=sr_1_1

 

Converted to CAD we get a price of $731.11CAD a difference of $34 not including the $30 rebate. when we convert the rebate to CAD we get an overall price disparity of almost $75

 

EVGA 1050 Ti SC Gaming 4GB (04G-P4-6253-KR)

.com $139.99USD  https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-04G-P4-6253-KR/dp/B01MF7EQJZ/ref=sr_1_1

.ca $194.99 https://www.amazon.ca/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-04G-P4-6253-KR/dp/B01MF7EQJZ/ref=sr_1_1

 

Converted to CAD we see the .ca site is charging $8 more ($187.81CAD)

 

Now we can consider a number of reasons why this is

- They bulk buy (obviously) get all the cards shipped to USA then ship to Canada for the .ca site incurring higher shipping costs and duties

We can easily debunk this however as the NAFTA agreement covers electronics and they can be shipped duty free. And it makes horrible business sense to ship to USA then to Canada since the port of Vancouver is 9724km from Taiwan and the port of Los Angeles is 11046km from Taiwan. So with Vancouver being 1400KM closer its glaringly obvious to ship to Vancouver then piece it out from there (ship the USA goods to the USA warehouse in LA)

 

-More customers in USA means lower price

Again this is easily debunked as when you bulk buy and ship to a central warehouse youre paying 1 price and it hardly matters whether you sell it to Joe in New York or Dave in Saskatoon, your base price is the same. Not to mention all the above cards qualify for free shipping and it doesnt take a NASA scientist to figure the shipping cost from LA to Saskatoon is far lower than the cost to New York (again about 1400KM closer)

 

In actual fact it seems online retailers employ the same tactics as the big box stores (Best Buy, Walmart etc) in that Canadians have been paying the higher price since forever so they simply figure they can get away with it. You can do this comparison with Newegg and see the same disparities. In all the cards I checked (far more then I posted) not a single card was cheaper at the Canadian site. And why do small 3rd party sellers out price places like Best Buy that have huge buying power? Its simple. GREED. They do a far higher mark up and dont allow haggling like we could do at Futureshop (RIP) and beat the price down to "THE REAL PRICE"

 

Would be nice to see Linus do an episode on this and see if he can beat some truth out of Amazon et all

[TacticlTwinkie]

They may ship them all into the US, and then ship the items sold in Canada up to a Canadian warehouse. Like you said, it doesn't make business sense at first, but there may be less obvious costs. I'm just speculating here, but it may be cheaper for amazon to have it all shipped in one go to the US and put the Canadian stuff on a train than it is to charter another boat, pay any port fees (not super familiar with nafta, so these may not apply), etc. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which are right next to each other, each do more than double the traffic of Vancouver. I can imagine it would be more cost effective to have all of the items come on one giant ship, with multiple containers, and again, ship the Canadian products north. I'm curious to see the real numbers, but I don't think Amazon would ever release these.

[AshleyAshes]

38 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

Again this is easily debunked as when you bulk buy and ship to a central warehouse youre paying 1 price and it hardly matters whether you sell it to Joe in New York or Dave in Saskatoon, your base price is the same. Not to mention all the above cards qualify for free shipping and it doesnt take a NASA scientist to figure the shipping cost from LA to Saskatoon is far lower than the cost to New York (again about 1400KM closer)

This is a critical flaw in your views.  You falsely believe that Amazon is operating a single warehouse from what all products are then shipped to consumers

 

Amazon operates multiple logistics centers in multiple counties and products are shipped from distributers to these logistics centers.

 

As an example, I live in Toronto, Ontario and Amazon operates a logistics center in Mississauga where they can nearly direct connect to Canada Post's 'Gateway Postal Facility' in Mississauga, which is CP's largest facility.  For costumers in the GTA, we have the fastest access to a lot of Amazon Prime, some items can arrive simply over night, much faster than advertised.

 

Amazon does not have all items delivered from distributers to a single centralized warehouse and then ship from there, they have them delivered to multiple warehouses in multiple locations which distributers supply and that they ship out of.  This is also why when an item is not in stock in Mississauga, I have to wait longer for delivery as it must make a much longer trip from Amazon's British Columbia facility.

 

In short, Amazon is not shipping from LA to Saskatoon, so stop trying to quantify shipping costs as if there's a single point of shipment for Amazon.

[K4mloop5]

3 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

This is a critical flaw in your views.  You falsely believe that Amazon is operating a single warehouse from what all products are then shipped to consumers

 

Amazon operates multiple logistics centers in multiple counties and products are shipped from distributes to these logistics centers.

 

As an example, I live in Toronto, Ontario and Amazon operates a logistics center in Mississauga where they can nearly direct connect to Canada Post's 'Gateway Postal Facility' in Mississauga, which is CP's largest facility.  For costumers in the GTA, we have the fastest access to a lot of Amazon Prime, some items can arrive simply over night, much faster than advertised.

 

Amazon does not have all items delivered from distributes to a single centralized warehouse and then ship from there, they have them delivered to multiple warehouses in multiple locations which distributers supply and that they ship out of.  This is also why when an item is not in stock in Mississauga, I have to wait longer for delivery as it must make a much longer trip from Amazon's British Columbia facility.

 

In short, Amazin is not shipping from LA to Saskatoon, so stop trying to quantify shipping costs as if there's a single point of shipment for Amazon.

Based on what youre saying the Canadian goods come direct to Canada which goes back to my point above of Vancouver being closer than Amazons USA west coast import warehouse in LA and so should be cheaper. And its illogical not to look at it without the central west coast shipping locations. That boat from China isnt docking in Toronto or New York, theyll make entry in Vancouver, Washington or LA/Long Beach and be shipped to fulfillment centers from there. So yes if you live in Saskatoon and order from Amazon.com its shipment starts in LA even if it comes from a fulfillment center in Bismark North Dakota or wherever the closest USA center is and the same is true if live in NYC

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, K4mloop5 said:

Based on what youre saying the Canadian goods come direct to Canada which goes back to my point above of Vancouver being closer than Amazons USA west coast import warehouse in LA and so should be cheaper. And its illogical not to look at it without the central west coast shipping locations. That boat from China isnt docking in Toronto or New York, they'll make entry in Vancouver, Washington or LA/Long Beach and be shipped to fulfillment centers from there. So yes if you live in Saskatoon and order from Amazon.com its shipment starts in LA even if it comes from a fulfillment center in Bismark North Dakota or wherever the closest USA center is and the same is true if live in NYC

Well, till customs taxes your imports.

 

I realize you believe otherwise.

 

Quote

We can easily debunk this however as the NAFTA agreement covers electronics and they can be shipped duty free.

1) NAFTA only covers items manufactured in NAFTA countries.  For a piece of electronics to be exempt from duty fees under NAFTA, would have to be manufactured in a NAFTA country, not just imported via one.  And every single item you've listed on your OP?  Definitely not made in the USA or Mexico.  If you purchased from Amazon.com, you'd likely get hit with duty fees open it's entry into Canada, obviously depending on price of the items and such since there's specific rules for minimum cost before there's duty fees and such.

[K4mloop5]

5 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Well, till customs taxes your imports.

 

I realize you believe otherwise.

 

1) NAFTA only covers items manufactured in NAFTA countries.  For a piece of electronics to be exempt from duty fees under NAFTA, would have to be manufactured in a NAFTA country, not just imported via one.  And every single item you've listed on your OP?  Definitely not made in the USA or Mexico.  If you purchased from Amazon.com, you'd likely get hit with duty fees open it's entry into Canada, obviously depending on price of the items and such since there's specific rules for minimum cost before there's duty fees and such.

Yes but thats the wrong portion of NAFTA. Cross border purchasing is what matters. Up to $1600 is exempt so there is no import/export duty even though that card was made in Taiwan or what ever so theres no extra cost on Amazons end to ship you the card from USA. Ive never had to pay duty on anything Ive ordered from Amazon.com and they sure as heck aint paying it for me. 

 

Obviously if Amazon imports everything from China to LA then ships truck loads of goods up to Canada they will be charged import fees. But that again goes back to what I said about importing direct to Vancouver is the smart business move and should mean we get prices the same or even cheaper than on the .com site

[AshleyAshes]

8 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

Yes but thats the wrong portion of NAFTA. Cross border purchasing is what matters. Up to $1600 is exempt so there is no import/export duty even though that card was made in Taiwan or what ever so theres no extra cost on Amazons end to ship you the card from USA. Ive never had to pay duty on anything Ive ordered from Amazon.com and they sure as heck aint paying it for me. 

 

Obviously if Amazon imports everything from China to LA then ships truck loads of goods up to Canada they will be charged import fees. But that again goes back to what I said about importing direct to Vancouver is the smart business move and should mean we get prices the same or even cheaper than on the .com site

*sighs*

While it is true that not infrequently, cross-border purchases are 'missed' and not charged this does not make them exempt.

That all said, I have mad on mistake, that is referring to duty and duty only, when I should have been saying 'Duty and Taxes'.  As I meant you are not except from paying Canadian sales tax on your cross border imports.  But again, it's not infrequent that for what ever reasons, some parcels are not charged taxes upon import.  It usually depends on the documentation on the parcel itself.

 

More over, you're grossly ignoring the normally higher cost of goods in Canada as a whole.  While in a broad statistical way, Canadians enjoy a higher standard of living than Americans, we also endure a higher cost of living and cost of operations.  It costs more to operate Amazon in Canada than it does in the US.  It costs more to operate a LOT of things in Canada.

 

And finally, honestly, if you don't like it, move the The United States of America or start contacting your Member of Parliament.

[K4mloop5]

The sales tax doesnt enter into it because we're stuck paying that no matter what (Ive been missed a few times and we're also exempt up to the huge amount of $20 of a purchase thats imported but Ive never gotten it lol). Thats not a price disparity Im paying 12% (PST+GST) on purchases from both sites.

 

And any time Ive ordered something from Amazon.com that met the $35 free shipping Ive never been charged so they obviously dont care which site you use so there isnt really any point for the higher prices on the .ca site. Unless theyre just fishing for suckers.

 

I get what youre saying about wages generally being higher here etc but passing that cost along on the Canadian site only makes sense if they force us to buy from that one or exempt us from free shipping when buying from the USA site.

[AshleyAshes]

5 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

exempt us from free shipping when buying from the USA site.

Uh... Prime's free shipping from .com to Canadian shipping addresses is not given to Canadian Prime accounts...

[kaiju_wars]

1 hour ago, K4mloop5 said:

Based on what youre saying the Canadian goods come direct to Canada which goes back to my point above of Vancouver being closer than Amazons USA west coast import warehouse in LA and so should be cheaper. And its illogical not to look at it without the central west coast shipping locations. That boat from China isnt docking in Toronto or New York, theyll make entry in Vancouver, Washington or LA/Long Beach and be shipped to fulfillment centers from there. So yes if you live in Saskatoon and order from Amazon.com its shipment starts in LA even if it comes from a fulfillment center in Bismark North Dakota or wherever the closest USA center is and the same is true if live in NYC

I live in North Dakota, there's nothing for Amazon in Bismarck.  (This state has a smaller population as a whole than just the metropolitan area of Dallas).  Just that UPS, FedEx, and USPS all sort through Bismarck.  Most packages I order directly from Amazon are shipped out of Tennessee.

[IronSoldier]

Still cheaper there than a lot of places elsewhere in the world so I wouldn't complain too much. Come here to the UK and well you couldn't probably even buy the stickers on the GPU  

 

First GPU listed : Gigabyte RX460 (GV-RX460WF2OC-4GD) 
It's £130.. Sounds cheap. That converts to CAD $217 or US $162- compare that to your CAD $159.99 and US $117.95 and a $30 rebate... 

 

Link for reference:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01K1JVCRE/

 

Some other places have it worse sadly. All about those import costs, warehouse labour wages and warranty that has to be provided plus the actual wage of what the typical person earns there. Withoput looking at stats i'd guess average Canadian citizen earns more than their US like-for-like. 

 

[K4mloop5]

I dont have Prime. Im talking about Amazons $35 or more qualifies for free shipping. Ive never paid shipping on anything Ive bought from Amazon directly, only 3rd party sellers. And I never use the .ca site because as I showed in my first post even with exchange rates its cheaper from the .com site

 

 

@kaiju_wars

I just looked at a map and Bismark was the closest "major" city to Saskatoon I saw so I just used it.as an example 

[kaiju_wars]

Just now, K4mloop5 said:

I dont have Prime. Im talking about Amazons $35 or more qualifies for free shipping. Ive never paid shipping on anything Ive bought from Amazon directly, only 3rd party sellers. And I never use the .ca site because as I showed in my first post even with exchange rates its cheaper from the .com site

 

 

@kaiju_wars

I just looked at a map and Bismark was the closest "major" city to Saskatoon I saw so I just used it.as an example 

Lol, I understand the confusion.  But our only "city" really is Fargo, and it has less than 200,000 people.  

That's a small town to me still... considering I grew up in Dallas.

[AshleyAshes]

6 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

I dont have Prime. Im talking about Amazons $35 or more qualifies for free shipping. Ive never paid shipping on anything Ive bought from Amazon directly, only 3rd party sellers.

Erm...

 

 

Quote

 

You receive free shipping if your order includes at least $35 of eligible items or $25 of books (in which case all other eligible items in the order also ship free). Any item with "FREE Shipping" messaging on the product detail page, that is fulfilled and shipped by Amazon, is eligible and contributes to your free shipping order minimum.

You can get unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping on eligible items with Amazon Prime. No minimum spend is required to qualify.

Canceling items, combining orders, or changing your shipping address, speed, or preference might affect your order's free shipping eligibility.

• You can ship to a U.S. delivery address in the 50 states only.
• You can ship to APO/FPO addresses only when they have a U.S. ZIP Code.
• You may find geographic shipping restrictions apply to particular products. 

 

 

Nope.

[K4mloop5]

LOL its very easy heres how to do it step by step. Takes 2 seconds and you can see for yourself.

 

1. Login to your Amazon.ca account

2. Go to Amazon.com and login using that same acoount

3. Type in a product like RX 480

4. Once the results come up on the left click SHIP TO CANADA

5. Youll see the cards list with FREE SHIPPING TO CANADA (not all will ship free but some will you need to click on individual cards to see)

 

 

[AshleyAshes]

11 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

LOL its very easy heres how to do it step by step. Takes 2 seconds and you can see for yourself.

 

1. Login to your Amazon.ca account

2. Go to Amazon.com and login using that same acoount

3. Type in a product like RX 480

4. Once the results come up on the left click SHIP TO CANADA

5. Youll see the cards list with FREE SHIPPING TO CANADA

 

 

The listings in this image you've posted say do not say 'Free Shipping To Canada' they only say 'Eligible For Shipping To Canada'.  When you click on each item, they all list paid shipping to Canada.  The exception is the Sapphire Radeon NITRO but that one doesn't ship to Canada AT ALL.

 

If you are going to post an image saying it proves 'Free shipping to Canada' could you have it contain the words 'Free shipping to Canada' or something to that effect?  'Free Shipping To Canada' and 'Shipping To Canada' are not the same thing.

 

 

 

[K4mloop5]

As I said you have to go through and see. Heres a MSI RX480 sold and shipped by Amazon. And not every card Amazon sells will qualify. Some that are more expensive dont some do and the same is true of cheaper ones. Not to mention on the cards that dont qualify youre only looking at around $10 for shipping so its still cheaper when theres a $30 or more price difference

[AshleyAshes]

6 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

As I said you have to go through and see. Heres a MSI RX480 sold and shipped by Amazon. And not every card Amazon sells will qualify. Some that are more expensive dont some do and the same is true of cheaper ones. Not to mention on the cards that dont qualify youre only looking at around $10 for shipping so its still cheaper when theres a $30 or more price difference

Welp, let's try this.

 

Here's the item, clearly stating that there's a fee to ship to Canada.

 

 

But let's continue.  Yup, replicated your thing, 'qualifies for free shipping'.

 

 

But let's go finish the checkout.

 

 

Yup.  That's not free shipping.  While the ITEM is eligible for free shipping, that's not all addresses.  Once I select a Canadian shipping address, it charges for shipping.  If I'd chosen a US address, then it would have given me free shipping.

 

Are you done with your claims now?  What's really sad is, I think there's a chance that you've been thinking you're getting free shipping to Canada, then paying for shipping anyway, and having no idea that you paid for shipping because you didn't pay attention at checkout.

 

 

[AshleyAshes]

ITT: OP smugly declares that Canadians can get free shipping from American Amazon, uses this as basis for financial analysis of logistics and import costs between nations, then abandons thread after it's pointed out that he's been paying shipping all along but he never bothered to read his order summary's during checkout.

[yathis]

On 4/5/2017 at 11:05 AM, K4mloop5 said:

disturbing disparity between the sites. Namely they over charge you on the .ca site

this is common in every aspect, not just Amazon.ca vs .com

 

everything is cheaper in the USA because the consumer base is huge compared to Canada, 320M vs 35M so literally a 10:1 ratio

That is why Canadians who live close to the border used to always shop in the USA, until Sept 11 when they became stricter on crossing.

 

Countless .com websites dont even ship to Canada, Amazon, Walmart come to mind.

 

This is also why freight forwarders are so popular.

 

With free shipping you always got to check because its not always free. Basically dont get your hopes up too high when you find a deal, because they might not ship to Canada, or they will over charge shipping which I think is a tax dodge, or some other dodge.

[K4mloop5]

10 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

ITT: OP smugly declares that Canadians can get free shipping from American Amazon, uses this as basis for financial analysis of logistics and import costs between nations, then abandons thread after it's pointed out that he's been paying shipping all along but he never bothered to read his order summary's during checkout.

Or man has a job and doesnt collect welfare like you (or as you insinuate) and has to deal with real life. As for the other (aka free shipping) Im ordering a new phone (Amazon.com) you want me to record every second and see for yourself? Its Amazon.com and I aint paying a cent for shipping.

 

Oh and Ashley try paying some taxes us working people are sick of supporting you freeloaders. Welfare and UIC is for people down on their luck not people who want a free ride

[AshleyAshes]

4 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

Or man has a job and doesnt collect welfare like you (or as you insinuate) and has to deal with real life.

I actually work in the film industry, in VFX and stereo conversion, and often work 60-72hr work weeks. I logged 370 hours of overtime (About 46 days) in 2016 alone.  But ya know, welfare would put me on the other side of that 'Skewed Work-Life Balance' thing, so there is THAT to consider.

[K4mloop5]

Porn and grade 3 doesnt qualify as film industry lol. 

[AshleyAshes]

14 minutes ago, K4mloop5 said:

Porn and grade 3 doesnt qualify as film industry lol. 

If you're going to suggest that I only have a third grade education, can you at least properly spell 'doesn't' with an apostrophe when you do so?

[K4mloop5]

Sorry I dont use proper grammar. Didnt think it was reqy=uired cause see while you sit on your ass I made the game free softmod for XBOX and the Killer Instinct emu for XBOX and PC. And lets not split hairs you were the one that suggested a lack of posting equated lack of IQ and commitment. So I will quote my gives "reverse engineering the XMV format, the Batch22b converter, like a 1000 Dead Rising mods, XMV on the fly conversion, Babylon compiler Samsung HDD on 360. And by the way WTF have you done? MR/Mrs Film Industry? A cancelled commercial perhaps? wANT kiXXX on your XBOX?: Not working so you have issues with me perhaps? Its nothing to be afraid of, even my own mother had issues with me