Importing the HV20 to Canada through an Internet supplier

[Rocha]

I took the plunge a week ago and went for the lowest price supplier I could find. I'm very happy they also happen to be an HV20 Forum member. This is http://www.alphaelectronics.com/ out of Florida. Better known here as TenOunce. And yes all is fine with the camera so far. I have only tested it for ten minutes.

The order was put through June 28th, shipped the 29th (Thursday) and delivered Tuesday (Monday was a Holoday here). Very quick delivery.

For those of you interested in cost here is a breakdown:

Cost of the camera with shipping was C$1037.91 (almost C$100 in shipping alone)
GST tax (expected) was $49.85
PST tax (unexpected) was C$66.05
Brokerage fee (much higher than anticipated) was C$74.85

So my total cost landed is C$1228.66. That's a 15% savings on the best available net after tax price in Canada at the time of purchase. Enough of a difference to get me an additional battery, charger, HDMI cable and HDMI-to-DVI converter from Sterlingtek, 2 Hoya HMC filters from 2filters.com, with enough left to get a 2GB mini SD card.

If you watch your shipping you might save an additional 5% (UPS is only good if you are in a hurry). Canadian customers should research US postal rates to see if you can save.

And thanks to Miguel at Alpha Electronics for a very good shopping experience.

[netrate]

It is too bad you didn't live near the border states, you could have made a day trip out of it and if you stay 24 hours (I believe), you get things back duty free.
I will have to say, the GST and PST are killers though.

[Rocha]

It is too bad you didn't live near the border states, you could have made a day trip out of it and if you stay 24 hours (I believe), you get things back duty free.
I will have to say, the GST and PST are killers though.

If I had not been in such a hurry I could have had it shipped to a friend I am visiting in St-Louis later in the month. Then I would have saved another C$200. :hv20-smilie119:

[sean90291]

Hm. So tempting to buy in the U.S. with our strong dollar, but you do lose the ability to walk right back to the local Best Buy store in two weeks if you don't like the camera or it doesn't work. I'd pay an extra one or two hundred bucks for that peace of mind.

[Rocha]

Hm. So tempting to buy in the U.S. with our strong dollar, but you do lose the ability to walk right back to the local Best Buy store in two weeks if you don't like the camera or it doesn't work. I'd pay an extra one or two hundred bucks for that peace of mind.

You make a very good point. But I must say I shopped this one thouroughly. I compared first by reading a lot about them here and on other websites (camcorderinfo for instance). And I see the pluses and minuses when I do that. I visited the stores and tested the different models (I was a Sony owner - still am I guess since the kids want to take the HC85 over now) to feel the difference.

And I am one proponent of buying local. It just irritates me when I see so much margin or too many intermediaries in the market. It's my little bit for arbitraging our currency.

Now, if we were only allowed to mail order our vehicles from the US...

[cervelott]

Rocha thanks for the excellent ground work and the advice on not using UPS.

[twoneil]

Why is it that the HV20 is still $1399.99 here in Futureshop?

[tokyo_ren]

Rocha thanks for the excellent ground work and the advice on not using UPS.

You got that right!
I import outdoor goods from the US and was once sent a delivery via an epxress couriour..

I requested USPS and was later told "we use Fedex"...

I said no!... I said USPS NOT UPS... :hv20-smilie167:

Some folks aren't aware that you can ship goods trackable and insured via USPS overseas (aka the Global EMS system as its known worldwide - your local post office system interfaces with it in your country).

Make sure your seller knows this and be sure to get a quote on shipping in an e-mail before you part with your credit card details.

I learn't the hard way shipping 15lbs at over twice the cost in what turned out to be only 1 day faster than USPS/EMS!!! . :hv20-smilie119:

Here is a link to the USPS shipping rates page for both domestic (US) and international rates.
http://postcalc.usps.gov/
(you don't need Global Express Guaranteed®!!!! stick with Express Mail® International)

FYI - the HV20 boxed to ship weighs about 2kg here in Japan (that's 4.4lbs - round it up to 5lb for the estimate)

[BananaChipz]

Why is it that the HV20 is still $1399.99 here in Futureshop?


Agreed.. However, there are cheaper places to get it in Canada ... In toronto I get all my photo equipment from Aden Camera. He gives me good deals below what his posted price is.

[Milnoc]

A while back, I was looking for the latest Samsung ATSC receiver and found a US merchant willing to ship it to Canada, namely J&R. The shipping price was reasonable ($30 USD), included the customs fees, and arrived at my home overnight. All I had to pay upon delivery was the GST and PST.

Because I confirmed J&R shipped to Canada, I now use them as a price reference whenever I shop around for consumer electronics.

A couple of weeks ago, J&R had a price of $1050 USD on the HV20. Add about $40 USD for shipping, convert to the credit card's current exchange rate, and the unit would cost me about $1100-1150 CAD before taxes. This information allowed me to negotiate the price of the HV20 down to $1240 CAD locally.

Buying the HV20 locally was important because of the warranty issue. If something were to go wrong with the camera, I'd most likely would have had to ship it back to the US for servicing. Not only that, but as I've learned later from another Canadian who unfortunately ended up with a defective Samsung receiver, if you send the unit back to the States to have it repaired, the service department will repair it but may refuse to ship it back to Canada afterwards!

The warranty issue with the Samsung receiver was not a problem since the unit is cheap enough that I can absorb the loss. But risk losing close to $1200 on a defective camcorder? Forget it!

If anyone here is interested in taking a chance, J&R is now advertising a price of just under $900 USD for the HV20 with a shipping cost (for Montreal at least) of about $37 USD. With the Canadian dollar at parity, the same camcorder that cost me $1240 CAD before taxes three weeks ago can now be purchased for $300 LESS! ARRRRRGH!

Still my incessant research allowed me to save $160 of of list for the HV20. And I even discovered along the way that Steve's Music carried the Rode Videomic for $150, the same price as everywhere else on the Internet minus the shipping costs and warranty hassles.

[cervelott]

Just received my HV20 today after ordering it through alphaelectronics.com (Tenounce). Not only was Miquel an absolute gentleman to work with
the camcorder arrived within 10 days of my order and cost a grand total of
$1025.55 CDN including an extra battery, 5 tapes, shipping, and an IEEE power cord.(HV20 was $869 U.S.).
Still awaiting the GST and PST bill to arrive but that would be charged to me regardless if I purchased here in Ontario or the U.S. and it would be on at least
$1200 (I found one Canadian online retailer that wanted $1199 CDN for the camcorder).
All around a very pleasant experience. Miquel went out of his way to ship via
USPS which saved approx. $55 in shipping charges. Thanks for the tip Rocha.
I would highly recommend him. Within 30 seconds of talking to him on the phone
I could tell he was going to be great to deal with.

[seider]

its probally cheapest getting someone that you know to pick it up in the US, and just ship it to Canada, thats what im doing. I just want to find the cheapest store

[cervelott]

Follow up to my earlier post. Never ended up being taxed by the Canadian Gov't subsequent to my camcorder's arrival! Sent by USPS and that was the key. All in all a terrific experience from Tenounce. Miguel (Alphaelectronics) sent me a 4 to 6 pin IEEE cord inadvertently (I had ordered a 4 to 4 pin) and when I pointed out the error he immediately shipped me the correct one and it arrived 4 days later. Outstanding service from Alphaelectronics. As a Canadian don't hesitate to purchase from him as you will save big $$$$.