American vs. Canadian online pricing

[Language]

Ok, this has been bugging me for the last few weeks and wanted to start a thread on it. I always knew there was a discrepancy between Canadian and American pricing. You normally here about this with regards to large ticket items like vehicles, and even the opposite end of it regarding booze down in the States.

However, over the last few months of doing birthday/holiday shopping for significant others and family, I've noticed a huge gap in pricing over seemingly random items, and can't understand why the heck us Canadians have to pay so much more for random goods. I've noticed this comparing items on Amazon.ca/com and Costco.ca/com. And the worst part is, if you find an item on Amazon.com that's priced significantly cheaper than on the Canadian counterpart, a lot of the time Amazon.com won't ship the goods to Canada.

Some examples I've noticed lately:

Novaform Kitchen Mat
Amazon.com: $61.95 (actually, this one ships to Canada so would be cheaper to get it shipped to Canada than buy on Amazon.ca)
http://www.amazon.com/Anti-fatigue-N...rm+kitchen+mat
Amazon.ca: $198.59??
https://www.amazon.ca/Anti-fatigue-N...rm+kitchen+mat
There's a huge price difference on this item between Costco.com and Costco.ca as well.

Pantry Elements Jumbo Silicone Baking Cups
Amazon.com: $15.99
http://www.amazon.com/Pantry-Element...elements+jumbo
Amazon.ca: $90.07!!??
https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_no...elements+jumbo

There's way more of these types of extreme differences I've noticed in the last few months. What gives??

[Finger Cookin]

The two products you listed are both available to order on Amazon, but from different retailers in each country. Who knows how the scale, overhead, supply chain, and numerous other variables differ between these variable retailers?

[Ace]

Amazon may not be the best example, because there are multiple sellers under that platform (it's not like Amazon themselves are setting these prices).

[Looch City]

OT: get the foam kitchen mats from Costco. It's like $30-40 I believe, cheaper than any other place online/in-store. Great quality too.

[bc-chris]

when i was doing a bunch of work on my truck i bought a ton of stuff from the states and had it shipped to orville (washington) and then just went and picked it up

yes i had to pay tax and duty.... and i still saved thousands (yes... thousands) of dollars

the one time going thru the border into the states the border guard was being a complete goof and didn't believe i was just going across to pickup truck parts. i asked her if she ever checked canadian vs american prices (this was when the canadian dollar was at par with the usd). she said 'no' and i showed her the receipts for what i was bringing back and informed her that in that one trip i was saving almost $2000. she just looked at me with a blank stare and told me to go ahead

[PepsiFree]

A lot has to do with import/export laws. While we seem similar to the US, we're still a completely different country.

Though the above items are because the two lower priced ones are sold by Amazon, while Amazon is just acting as an intermediary on the two higher priced items (they are being sold by completely different companies).

It's not like the actual Amazon price is 200% different.

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

The two products you listed are both available to order on Amazon, but from different retailers in each country. Who knows how the scale, overhead, supply chain, and numerous other variables differ between these variable retailers?

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

A lot has to do with import/export laws. While we seem similar to the US, we're still a completely different country.

Though the above items are because the two lower priced ones are sold by Amazon, while Amazon is just acting as an intermediary on the two higher priced items (they are being sold by completely different companies).

It's not like the actual Amazon price is 200% different.

A lot of it just price gouging. Many manufacturers set their pricing by country and dont allow retailers to sell outside of their own country. Thats why often times you will see on US online retailer websites that they cant ship certain brands to Canada. You can bet that those brands pricing in Canada is significantly higher.

Using the geographical size of Canada as an excuse is a joke. If I can order something online by myself from the USA or Europe and save anywhere from 20 to 50% or more even with the weak dollar, then a business should be able to figure out how to do it.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

A lot has to do with import/export laws. While we seem similar to the US, we're still a completely different country.

Though the above items are because the two lower priced ones are sold by Amazon, while Amazon is just acting as an intermediary on the two higher priced items (they are being sold by completely different companies).

It's not like the actual Amazon price is 200% different.

On top of that you have:

1) Duty.

2) Distribution/licensing agreements. Canada is notorious for companies having oligopoly/monopoly style licensing agreements.

3) Added transportation overhead.

4) Less competition.

5) Added overhead in terms of real estate, fuel costs, labour costs, taxes, etc...

Canada is overall less conducive to business than the USA. The result is increased costs to the consumer.

[HotHotHeat]

Availability of products will never be the same between two different countries.

It has come a long ways though... Mostly thanks to the Internet.

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by blankall

On top of that you have:

1) Duty.

2) Distribution/licensing agreements. Canada is notorious for companies having oligopoly/monopoly style licensing agreements.

3) Added transportation overhead.

4) Less competition.

5) Added overhead in terms of real estate, fuel costs, labour costs, taxes, etc...

Canada is overall less conducive to business than the USA. The result is increased costs to the consumer.

Items 1, 3, and 5 on your list are BS excuses. Like I said in my earlier post, there are many items I can purchases from retailers outside of Canada and I still have significant savings after paying duty and shipping. If I can come out ahead when ordering just a single item, a business should be able to do so when operating on a larger scale. Items 2 and 4 are the major reasons why Canadians pay signifcanlty higher prices on countless products.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Items 1, 3, and 5 on your list are BS excuses. Like I said in my earlier post, there are many items I can purchases from retailers outside of Canada and I still have significant savings after paying duty and shipping. If I can come out ahead when ordering just a single item, a business should be able to do so when operating on a larger scale. Items 2 and 4 are the major reasons why Canadians pay signifcanlty higher prices on countless products.

I think you underestimate the cost of setting up a business in Canada.

Even if you don't have a retail front (which is insanely expensive), you have to have a warehouse or redistribution centre somewhere. In the USA, you can buy a large warehouse for the fraction of a similar space in Canada. Labour costs are also much higher here. And yes, costs like fuel will be added in.

So yes, it's cheaper for you to ship a single item across. The company would make savings on scale, but then have to deal with the plethora of costs associated with our abysmal and highly taxed economy.

[chemgear]

Thanks Justin.

[Aegypticus]

I've mentioned this before, but what about purely digital products? I like the example of video games. Ever since the dollar tanked, new games have gone back up to 80 bucks in Canada vs 60 in the States. I know that's not terribly out of line with the exchange rate, but I don't think what's fair by the exchange rate is really a good way for these companies to look at it. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe the market will bear it because these games are hyped up so much, but I just refuse to buy anything at $80. It's too damn much money.

Fallout 4 is still $80 more than 4 months after release. At this point I don't think I'll ever buy it based on some twisted principle. They're never getting my money.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by blankall

On top of that you have:

1) Duty.

2) Distribution/licensing agreements. Canada is notorious for companies having oligopoly/monopoly style licensing agreements.

3) Added transportation overhead.

4) Less competition.

5) Added overhead in terms of real estate, fuel costs, labour costs, taxes, etc...

Canada is overall less conducive to business than the USA. The result is increased costs to the consumer.

I will say there is nothing worse than attempting to deal with sales tax in the US if you are an internet business. Most complicated system you could possibly come up with.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

when i was doing a bunch of work on my truck i bought a ton of stuff from the states and had it shipped to orville (washington) and then just went and picked it up

yes i had to pay tax and duty.... and i still saved thousands (yes... thousands) of dollars

the one time going thru the border into the states the border guard was being a complete goof and didn't believe i was just going across to pickup truck parts. i asked her if she ever checked canadian vs american prices (this was when the canadian dollar was at par with the usd). she said 'no' and i showed her the receipts for what i was bringing back and informed her that in that one trip i was saving almost $2000. she just looked at me with a blank stare and told me to go ahead

I love goof border guards. I travel quite a bit between the two countries, but sometimes you just come across guards who cannot compute a Canadian living in the USA. Well why don't you have a US Passport sir? Where's your greencard sir? OMG you silly people.

The worst is coming to the USA from Mexico or Europe. Holy moly, it's like their computers have a meltdown trying to explain I'm Canadian but I live in the USA.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by blankall

On top of that you have:

1) Duty.

2) Distribution/licensing agreements. Canada is notorious for companies having oligopoly/monopoly style licensing agreements.

3) Added transportation overhead.

4) Less competition.

5) Added overhead in terms of real estate, fuel costs, labour costs, taxes, etc...

Canada is overall less conducive to business than the USA. The result is increased costs to the consumer.

Some of these are possible for the most part its just that Canada is a small market compared to the US or UK/Europe so its not worth going through all of the overhead registrations and business agreements to distribute your product in Canada if you're smaller business.

Duty differences are pretty small (although they are some tariffs i.e. Steel imports that make it hard to import those products to Canada). For the most part you'd just set-up a distribution agreement with someone in Canada and not bother with real estate or distribution staff - you'd add a few sales people maybe.

So you end up with some products that you can find online that aren't really intended to be sold in Canada so these companies charge crazy prices online since they have no competition. With Amazon its no guarantee you're even getting the same product that is being sold in the US. It could be some cheap fraudulent Chinese product.

Amazon is a wild west with these fraudulent companies (whether selling fraudulent products or selling products where they aren't intended to be sold) so unless you want to be chasing these 3rd party selling companies constantly, you pretty much just have to deal with it. You can get one shut down on Amazon and they'll be back in two days under different company name.

[Flamenspiel]

Lately it has gone the other way, Americans are buying up camera lenses. cars and other high ticket items in Canada.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Aegypticus

I've mentioned this before, but what about purely digital products? I like the example of video games. Ever since the dollar tanked, new games have gone back up to 80 bucks in Canada vs 60 in the States. I know that's not terribly out of line with the exchange rate, but I don't think what's fair by the exchange rate is really a good way for these companies to look at it. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe the market will bear it because these games are hyped up so much, but I just refuse to buy anything at $80. It's too damn much money.

Fallout 4 is still $80 more than 4 months after release. At this point I don't think I'll ever buy it based on some twisted principle. They're never getting my money.

Generally their costs are in US dollars. So let's just say the all-in cost to produce a single copy of a video game is $50 US. It's selling for $60 US and $60 Canadian. At par, that's all good. When the CDN dollar tanks though, they're now looking at getting $45, or selling the game for a loss.

When the cost to produce something is measured against the US dollar, you ABSOLUTELY have to raise the price in Canada if our dollar tanks, even if it's digital.

That isn't gouging. That's maintaining an acceptable margin. Businesses don't owe it to Canadians to lose money because our dollar sucks. If you thought the game was worth $60 three years ago... well, then it's worth $80 now, because our money is worth less.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Generally their costs are in US dollars. So let's just say the all-in cost to produce a single copy of a video game is $50 US. It's selling for $60 US and $60 Canadian. At par, that's all good. When the CDN dollar tanks though, they're now looking at getting $45, or selling the game for a loss.

When the cost to produce something is measured against the US dollar, you ABSOLUTELY have to raise the price in Canada if our dollar tanks, even if it's digital.

That isn't gouging. That's maintaining an acceptable margin. Businesses don't owe it to Canadians to lose money because our dollar sucks. If you thought the game was worth $60 three years ago... well, then it's worth $80 now, because our money is worth less.

Not to mention with a digital copy of a video game, if there was a difference in absolute value, an American could just spoof their IP address and buy from the Canadian site.

[rd_aaron]

Has anyone had success with or can recommend a package forwarding company? The idea is you buy something on Amazon.com at a lower cost than Amazon.ca, you ship it to one of these package forwarding companies in the US (because they don't ship to Canada), and then the package forwarding company ships it to you for a fee. I have to imagine this works out to the buyers benefit a lot of the time considering the difference in costs on Amazon.com vs .ca.