Anyone else curious about buying a new Yamaha AVR in canada?

BobBehr · 10-26-2003, 08:39 PM

I live in Michigan about 3 hours from Windsor,Ont.
I am rather disappointed that the U.S.A RXV 1400/2400
doesn't have Pro-Logic IIx.But as many of you know the
Canadian version does.So...if I want to buy what do I
need to be aware of, such as currency rates, duties,
warranties,etc. And what if I want to also purchase
Canadian products ,such as Mirage Omnis,do I still have to
pay taxes or duties? Thanks, Bob

Wayne Ernst · 10-26-2003, 09:37 PM

You'll get nabbed with paying the following:

GST, PST = these are taxes and amount to approximately 15%.
Plus, when it comes to crossing the border to get back home, you'll get stuck paying duties. That is unless you hide the products when you cross the border - which probably isn't such a good idea.

Here's some links:

Currency Calculator:
Canadian Tax Information

Stephen Hopkins · 10-27-2003, 12:00 AM

If you do declare it and pay the duty don't you get atleast some of the tax back at the border?

Mike Boniferro · 10-27-2003, 12:54 AM

..... do American's still get charged duty? with all of the free trade agreements, only the taxes have to be paid by Canadians buying US products so I would assume it works both ways.
And you get one of the Canadian taxes back at the border, but you'd probably have to pay your state's sales tax

PaulKoss · 10-27-2003, 09:52 AM

For a Canadian bringing stuff up from the US, there is no duty on most audio equipment - receivers, speakers, cd players. This is because of NAFTA. Maybe the reverse is true for our American friends.

Also Americans who buy here can get back the Provincial Sales Tax (PST - 8%) and Goods and Services Tax (GST - 7%) by filing a claim with the Canadian and Ontario governments. Draw back is you might have to submit the receipt so see if the vendor is willing to give you some sort of extra receipt if you need warrantly work.

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Phil Levy · 10-27-2003, 12:10 PM

With the exchange rate as it is, and the ridiculous MSRPs in Canada, you'll end up paying probably 50-100% more for the receiver, regardless of tax. For some brands it isn't that bad, for H/K it's absolutely awful ($1200 USD for an HK525 up here), and for Yamaha it is pretty bad though not as bad as H/K.

PaulKoss · 10-27-2003, 01:52 PM

"With the exchange rate as it is, and the ridiculous MSRPs in Canada..."

Yes that's right. Canadian vendors have to maintain a service network for a much smaller volume of business so prices are not at all comparable for a lot of equipment. There is also the cost of testing for and meeting different regulatory requirements, etc..

Phil Levy · 10-27-2003, 01:59 PM

As far as I can tell, there's also much less competition in the distributor arena too, so prices get inflated at that stage. Again, to rag on H/Ks high prices, AFAIK there is only one Canadian H/K distributor.

Jonny K · 10-27-2003, 03:02 PM

Wow. I'm always annoyed that it's too expensive for me to buy from the US and ship to Canada. I'm suprised to see Americans have the same trouble.

What's really sad is that it's cheaper for me to buy in Canada at a higher price than it is to buy from the US and ship it here, while paying duties and brokerage fees.

Jonny K.

Jeff_Fitz · 10-27-2003, 08:44 PM

In case anyone is interested, there is a site with specs for many receiver models that in many cases lists both US and Canadian MSRP's and calculates what the effective exchange rate is.

It's pretty interesting, as there is a wide variation in the exchange rates used by many manufacturers' Canadian distributors.

Check it out at
ValueCanuck.com