I can comment on this because I work for a company that operates in both Canada and the USA.

What people don't and should understand is that retailers unless they're huge like wal-Mart that their own shipping and distribution channels in Canada have to pay international shipping and taxes to receive products from the USA to Canada. It isn't free, and they have to make a profit somehow.

 

but shipping and taxes shouldnt triple the price of parts around here. I can understand if we have to pay more, but x3 is just unreasonable

 

MERICA!! everything is cheaper

 

btw, V Power is also NOT the OEM spark plug, OEM is NKG Laser Platinum PLFR5A-11 or also known by the stores as 6240

NKG G Power and V Power are something different

 

Cool, thanks for the info. Again I screwed up lol, even though I looked here: http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/part_fi...engineid=26110

Does CDN tire even sell them? Don't think so. So I guess I'll also be picking them up on my next trip across the border.

 

Enjoy. VVVVVV

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

 

I work for a retailer in purchasing. We're based out of Canada, have about 300 stores in Canada and 70 in US. Most of the products we sell, we buy at the same price for our CDN market as for our US market, there are a few exceptions due to a distributor involved with a few vendors. In pretty much ALL cases we charge a higher price in our CDN stores; now in our case, I'm pleasantly surprised that the price difference is small... but nevertheless it's present.

I can understand if small moms and pops stores have higher prices, because those in most cases are getting their products from a distributor. But take Future Shop and Best Buy in Canada; their cost will be almost identical for getting the goods into Canada as it would for the US side, duties can make a difference as each country has their own rates, but it can go both ways, some products have higher duty rates entering US than they do entering Canada.

Also, remember, the duties are paid on the cost of the product, not the retail... so as an example, there are a few products we might buy that cost $20-30, we'll retail the product for $80-100, the duty of 0% for entering US vs. 18% for entering Canada is only an additional difference of $3-5 in cost for Canada. If it is more expensive to bring the product into Canada, it still doesn't justify the retail difference on some of the products.

Another example, take Forzani Group (owners of Sports Check, National Sports, Sports Mart, and a few other small chains; as a whole, the company is BIG), I can guarantee you they are not getting most of their products from a 3rd party distributor (esp when it comes to Nike products), so there is no reason for the same shoes I bought at Dick's Sporting Goods in Buffalo for $79.99 to be $129.99 in Canada.

 

That's well known. But still doesn't address the issues of price difference in Canada vs. US. We are often paying a much higher price for the same product that came from China; it's not like our higher retail prices are supporting the local economy... maybe in a few cases, but not so much when you are shopping at the big chains that sell the same crap as the chains in the states.

 

Good, point, however, I somewhat agree with this:
The reason retailers still charge more in Canada is the same reason that dogs lick their ***** -- because they can. People are used to paying more and most still do so. Why would the retailers leave those profits on the table? To be nice guys? Nope, it won't change until consumers vote differently with their wallets.

 

I always wondered why some people bought their parts for the US but after reading this thread I can see why.

Good to know but I always did see a price difference in clothes and such and just tend to shop in the States more now.

 

The only parts ive bought locally are off local members and that too mainly from Geerider LOL otherwise everything out of the states !!

 

Its because of lack of competition, If you order stuff online be careful of how it is shipped up to Canada. Avoid shipping with UPS, they will screw you good with their excessive brokerage fees.

 

This will go on forever. No amount of complaining will remedy it. It costs a hell of a lot more to get **** into this country for no good reason really. As posted above, a US port will charge 3% duty on a container from China and the adjacent cdn port will charge 18%. Smaller shops can't stay in business because of this competition. People complain that no one local carries the good stuff, but nobody would buy it anyway.

Shop wherever you want/need to, but don't be pissed at the cdn retailer for their pricing. No business that wants to stay in business will inflate their margins higher than the cost of business demands.

For the most part, you needn't worry, but once in a while you will get the wrong part or something will be missing. Its nice to be able to face the guy that sold it to you and have the problem rectified right there and then. I have customers get wrong **** and broken stuff all the time. They pay a hell of a lot more hen it gets installed and shipped twice.

 

+1million on everything. me and my brother-in-law is actually planning to go for a day or two to buffalo-new york, get new tires for his touareg and many vw and infiniti parts, either we will get it installed there or bring it home. seriously the savings especially if u buy a lot of parts is worth the trip.
thanks everyone for their input on the thread too, good to learn from experiences.