[Helen Oster]

Just out of curiosity, if you're Canadian, where do you buy your gear? BH and Adorama and pray not to get nailed by customs?

Apologies for not spotting this earlier; we offer an alternative shipping option for our Canadian customers. We have a new-ish shipping option, which enables customers to pay all taxes’ & duties up front rather than at the front door.

Our partner in this venture is Bilsi, who sends a truck to us collect all the orders destined for Canada.
The estimated arrival time for this is overnight to Toronto then add one day to most of Ontario and Quebec, two days for the Maritimes and Manitoba; three days for Saskatchewan and Alberta and four days to BC.

This is really exciting for Canadian consumers because with tax & duty included with the shipping it works out much cheaper than the previous UPS Expedited option.



According to photoprice.ca :

photoprice.ca: Adorama Now Ships Tax & Duty Included to Canada

a quick check shows that shipping costs are, on average, 50% less! Most items ship for less than $20, which is competitive with Canadian retail store shipping.

• Adorama Calculates the Tax & Duty & Brokerage, and charges you at time of sale. That means the final price you pay to Adorama is the final price to you. No more surprises, and no worrying about the tax bill from your courier when your shipment arrives.
Don't forget that many photographic items are covered by US/Canada or Worldwide Manufacturer Warranties, so many items you purchase from the US often come with warranty coverage in Canada.

This is the photoprice.ca article on warranties for Canadian consumers:

photoprice.ca: Warranties: US? Canada? Grey Market?

If you are new to buying from the US, you can also read the photoprice.ca article about Tax, Duty, and Brokerage Fees when buying from the US.

photoprice.ca: Cross-Border Tax, Duty, and Brokerage Fees Demystified
What is included in the final Adorama price? ALL taxes, duties, and brokerage fees are included in the final number when you select "Canada Shipping".
• Tax: Your local sales tax (GST + PST, or HST depending on province). If you are not in an HST province, only GST is charged (no PST). No taxes are due at delivery.
• Duty: Most camera equipment is duty free. If what you are buying is not, duties are included as well.
• Brokerage Fees: There are NO extra brokerage fees. Everything is already included in the shipping fee!


If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me directly: Helen@adorama.com


[Thank you to photoprice.ca for saying it all so concisely and clearly!]

[Fauxton]

Not sure where to post this... sorry if it's the wrong spot.

Just out of curiosity, if you're Canadian, where do you buy your gear? BH and Adorama and pray not to get nailed by customs?
I've been getting most of my stuff from Henry's and although they have great service, they always screw something up with my orders, they'll fix it just fine with no complains but I am getting fed up of waiting months to get my gear. Also, their prices are far from competitive.

So who's your pusher for your LBA?

I've bought my bodies and a few lenses from the Camera Store in Calgary. Generally if find them cheaper than most - not the cheapest but then I don't mind a slight premium for the services and reputation. On occasion I will order or buy through the local Henry's. They will price match but then I still must pay more tax as my province is 15% HST and in Alberta is just the GST. So I pay another 10% for the privilege of shopping locally.
If one is buying a K3 and 50-135 combo then the extra 10% can be $250+ before you know it.

[ROBEFFY]

I have had great success with a local camera store called Photo Metro, in North Bay, Ontario.
The K3 with 18-135 lens was $1449, 1 week delivery. Pentax authorized, full warranty.

[fgaudet]

in North Bay, Ontario.

I'm in North Bay every other week, never noticed the store, in which area is it?

[Doundounba]

I bought my K-01 from B&H. My Tamron 90 Macro came (used) from Adorama, and my Sirui tripod came from one of those two as well (can't recall which one). As mentioned upthread, both B&H and Adorama have deals with shipping companies that allow you to pay everything upfront and know you won't get hit by surprise fees when you receive your items. You just need to make sure to pick the right shipping option when doing your checkout. But as the Canadian dollar has dropped lately, buying from the US isn't as attractive as it was before, so now Canadian retailers actually have a good chance to be competitive. I've purchased a used lens from Henry's and been happy with them, as well as various bags from local Montreal shops (Lozeau and Royal Photo). I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Prodigital2000 via eBay. Photoprice.ca is a good resource, but it's worth also checking a few other places they might not follow, like electronics stores that carry camera equipment and sometimes have very good sale prices.

As to small accessories like step-rings, the local mark-up is just so high that I order directly from China via eBay, making sure to pick someone with 99+% positive feedback. I also ordered my Youngnuo flash and wireless trigger directly from the manufacturer via their official eBay store.

EDIT: Also +1 for Kijiji and this site's Marketplace. Those two are where the great majority of my lens purchases have been made.

[maltfalc]

kijiji, thrift stores, pentax forums marketplace and ebay for cheap chinese accessories.

[fgaudet]

Thanks all, I've bought stuff from pretty every place mentioned above and so far, B&H is by far my favourite for new equipment. The CND$ is pretty low right now and you don't get as much of a deal but I usually get my gear within 5 days, even though it ships from NY... This is at least 7 days quicker than Henry's who ships from Toronto. Bought my Kr from Henry's, my K5 from kijiji, my K7 from the market place and the K3 from Henry's. Most of my used lens comes from ebay and the new ones from everywhere.

[RGlasel]

I price check McBain's and Don's on a regular basis, and if they have what I want, their price in Canadian dollars is usually as good as B&H in U.S. dollars. Don's has a bricks and mortar (well mortar anyway) store in Saskatoon, so I don't know what their online store is like, but I bought a Metz flash from McBain's last year at a very competitive price and other than waiting a week for it to arrive by parcel post, it was a good experience. My first experience with McBain's was to buy a P3N from the store on 107th Avenue. The salesman talked me out of a Canon, and I haven't look back since.

[ROBEFFY]

I'm in North Bay every other week, never noticed the store, in which area is it?

Hi,
Photo Metro is on Lakeshore Drive, the old Hwy 17. They are opposite a Mitsubishi dealer, and between the MacDonalds and the mall.

Nice guys, been in business for a zillion years, since the mid 50's I believe.

[Tako Kichi]

Nice guys, been in business for a zillion years, since the mid 50's I believe.

Jeez! I knew I was getting old but never realized I was now a zillion years old!

[fgaudet]

They are opposite a Mitsubishi dealer

And I drove a Mitsubishi for a couple years, going in for service a few times, getting bored in the waiting room while there was a camera store right up front!!!

[ROBEFFY]

And I drove a Mitsubishi for a couple years, going in for service a few times, getting bored in the waiting room while there was a camera store right up front!!!

LOL, right there! Its an Interesting store and a real treat to talk to the 4 brothers that run it. They have a great display of older cameras too.

The other day they told showed me a Graflex camera with a cassette loader for the film. It had something like a dry plate or dry break, that you closed before removing the film cassette. It holds 12 shots, about the size of a medium format film.

[bdery]

Henry's is a pretty good source, sort of like the Canadian B&H. They're pretty keen on special orders, too. Good for studio equipment, in particular.

In Quebec, there are Lozeau and Gosselin, two pretty big brick-and-mortar stores (one in Montréal, the other in Québec city). Good advice but they don't carry a lot of Pentax stuff.

Online, my favourite source is clearly prodigital2000. I bought a K20D, K30, K-3 and 60-250 from them, they were always the cheapest, and often cheaper than the best US price. They are an eBay store linked to a camera store in Ontario. You can also request quotes in CAD when they list an item in USD, you'll get even better deals this way (I paid 1150$ all included for the K-3 back in November).

amazon is nice for some odds and ends. The Canadian site is getting better all the time.

[Tako Kichi]

amazon is nice for some odds and ends. The Canadian site is getting better all the time.

I just wish Amazon would allow PayPal for purchases as that's the only payment method I'll use online anymore after getting hit by a CC fraud scam many years ago.

[bdery]

I just wish Amazon would allow PayPal for purchases as that's the only payment method I'll use online anymore after getting hit by a CC fraud scam many years ago.

Amazon remains one of the most secure website for online payments. And Canadian laws state that you're not accuontable for scams to your credit card, above the first 50$.

It can still be one heck of a hassle, of course, to straighten things up. But if it's just illegal purchases with your card, it's simpler to sort out. I got my card cloned at a gas station in florida a few years back, I simply called the CC company and told them which purchases weren't mine, they removed them and that was it.