It seems to be always the case that the same power tool will sell for less in the USA (taking into account the exchange rate) than in Canada.
Furthermore, there seem to be lots and lots of promotions for tools in the USA (freebies, bonus stuff included, rebates, mail-in coupons for bonus tools, etc) and nothing in Canada.
I feel envious when I browse the Amazon.com power tool section...
Is Canada that small of a market that dealer cost is higher? Or are the markups higher here on about the same dealer cost? Or...?
Well, tonight I can post an e-mail I received from someone at Jet Canada. They have two contractor saws available. One is a Canada only model, the other ones is the same as the US model. The Canada only model has better specs (more powerful motor, cast iron wings), and is cheaper by about $200 than the US model. The reason is that Jet Canada has to buy the US one from Jet US. They pass the additional costs down to us. I don't know if this busines model is true for all manufacturers.
One that REALLY p*sses me off is trying to purchase a plunge base for my PC
690 router. To buy that part down in the States is about $90 US. But if you go to HD or any other vendor in Canada, it's about $250. Nobody has been able to explain to my why that is. However, the Delta tools I've bought recently (and the ones I've been looking at) are "Series 2000" machines, and have a lifetime warranty on them. The US models have a shorter warranty.
I believe you can get the tax refunded when you prove to customs that you are taking the product back home with you. Of course then you have the issues on this (south) side of the border...
Here's the e-mail I got from a dialogue I had with someone at Jet Equipment:
The JCS-10 is less expensive to buy than the JWTS-10 because JET Canada is buying the JCS-10 direct from the factory and the JWTS-10 is purchased by JET Canada from the factory through JET USA. This extra step in the distribution network carries a cost which is reflected in the final market price.
We feel that the 2HP motor, solid cast extensions, carbide tipped blade and stronger fence offered on the JCS-10 (here we are comparing the stock JCS-10 fence to the stock JWTS-10JF fence, not the Xacta fence) make it a much better buy over-all than the JWTS-10.
The only advantage left to the JWTS-10, over the JCS-10, may be that the
1-1/2HP motor allows it to run reasonably well on a standard 115V circuit as long as you don't over do the feed rate. This plug and go ability appeals to people who do not want to wire in a specific circuit just to run a saw. But for proper performance you should run both of the saws at 230V which in most cases means wiring in a special circuit anyway. So in our opinion this sort of cancels out the plug and go "advantage".
One option you may want to consider is to purchase the item online in US and have it shipped to Canada. Recently, I purchased a brand new Dewalt 18v 4 piece kit ($850 Canadian + tax at HD) from eBay. With shipping, cost to my door was $550 Canadian! And I received a bonus cordless screwdriver in the kit! I don't think every item is like that, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense to buy in Canada.
Too bad. I found the total opposite. PC, Delta and Laguna. But if your only browsing prices, they are far off the mark of what they sell for. Mainly because of price matching policies of other stores. I have proweled stores North and South. And I must say, you are way off. I have also met people who drive in from Buffalo and Detroit to buy. I can't imagine what you saw. And also they can get the sales tax rebated because they took it out of the country.
I have no interest in this but you really missed on your research.
On 13 Aug 2003 11:49:10 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@netscape.net (Daniel) scribbled
The opposite was true until the Canadian dollar rose from ~$US0.63 a year ago to $US0.72 now. A rising Canadian dollar means that things are becoming relatively cheaper in the US.
Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address
That has it's advantages and disadvantages. Many US companies will not ship to Canada. Some will only ship by UPS or some other large scale courier and you get dinged for high duty and handling charges before they'll give it to you. And then there's the heavier power tools and shipping costs are likely to be a nightmare. The biggest disadvantage is that States side warranties are quite often not transferable to Canadian side even if the company is international. I just experienced this with the Panasonic $800 Hard drive/DVD recorder purchased from the US. The unit is not available in Canada and Canada Panasonic will not honour the warranty here, so if there's a problem, I'll have to ship it back to the US for service or pay out of pocket to have it repaired here. If I get past the first year without any problem the warranty will have expired so I'll be paying here anyway, but I'm not at that point yet.
Ron, Your comments don't make any sense. I just hope that not all americans think this way. Remember that we 30 million Canadians should not put too much of a dent in your economy affecting your 300 million americans. Our lumber exports for the US can be compared to tooth picks, I wouldn't worry about it.
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