At 05:13 PM 8/21/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> Yeah, I wasn't sure of the tax/duty situation and still am not. I guess
>> NAFTA doesn't apply to Japanese made cameras, eh? Course as far as
>> warranty goes, one usually has to specify US warranty with these jokers,
>> so International might be the default.
NAFTA applies to any camera purchased from outside the NAFTA zone by a retailer
who then re-sells it within the NAFTA zone (for example, B&H in New York, where
I buy most of my new stuff and then get it shipped to Edmonton, Canada). The
reason for this is simple -- the retailer's *already* paid the duty, and it's
then included in the price of the camera. If you, as a Canadian, buy (say) a
Japanese camera from a U.S. company and get dinged for the duty, you've been
screwed under NAFTA, and should demand compensation. I had to convince a
rather dense young woman with Purolator that she needed to check her regs
before charging me extra for duty.
>Luckily for us Canucks NAFTA does apply to Japanese cameras when they
>come from the USA. We only get dinged for the 7 0ST when using a courier.
>Just recently Canada Post has started collecting the PST in Ontario so
>that's an extra 8 0f you use them. For large valued items it saves money
>to use a courier.
Yep. And you *do* save money if you buy from some place like B&H in New York
(see their Website at
www.bhphotovideo.com
as well as their multi-page ads in various camera mags). I've just recently
purchased a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 from them, and probably saved about $800
Canadian in the process, even after exchange, GST, etc. For smaller-ticket
items, it's probably not worth it though, unless you bundle a number of them
together into one shipment. A place like B&H usually can't be beat for
immediately-available selection, though.
>As for a warranty, well, I think you're stuck with sending it back to
>the USA for service. It's interesting that Olympus offers a 2 year parts
>and labour warranty on bodies sold in Canada vs 1 year in the USA. That
>might be worth something when considering buying local vs USA.
> -mark
Don't know about this one, since I've never had a waranty problem with any Oly
equipment I've ever owned.
Garth
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