Canadian buying in the US?

[wagg34]

Hey. I am hopefully going to be a Mac-switcher soon *cheers*. I live near Toronto in Canada and am likely going to buy an iMac (20 inch, either 2.0 or 2.4ghz...not sure yet) shortly after Christmas. As has been pointed out many times, Apple prices in Canada are much more expensive than in the US, despite the on-par dollar. The 20 inch, 2.4ghz iMac is $100 here, and taking into account the higher sales tax, it ends up being $192 more.

I'm only an hour or two away from the border though, so I wanted to know if there would be any negative consequences to going to Buffalo, NY (or anywhere in the US, for that matter) to buy my new computer. Most specifically, I am interested in the warranty - would I be covered in Canada?. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[MarlboroLite]

Well you should calculate how much you are going to spend on gas for the trip plus expect to pay a duty and sales taxes for the product upon entering Canada. Isn't it on anything over something like $300? I assume that on a $1,200+ machine you are going to have to pay when you get back into Canada. If the savings you would get by buying in the US are wiped out by the taxes + gas you would be spending by crossing the border then it's not a good idea to buy in the US. Unlike a laptop, it is very difficult to hide a brand new iMac in the box when you get back to Canada....

As far as warranty, you are covered, AppleCare is global.

 

[f1]

you'll get hit with duties and taxes at the border anyways so just buy it in Canada. Keep frequenting your Best Buy fliers that come in your mail, sometimes they adjust the prices on the macs they sell to reflect the American Dollar.

 

[drake]

Don't think there's duty on computers. Is sales tax though, and they'll collect GST and PST.

 

[notjustjay]

Plus you'll pay the NY state tax too.

For a savings of only $100 I'm not sure I would bother with the time and effort. For a few hundred, I might, as in the difference between a new MacBook Pro on the Canadian site ($2199 Cdn + 14% tax) versus a refurb from the US store ($1699 USD).

 

[MistaBungle]

Here's some helpful tips if you are going to the Walden Galleria Mac Store;

They don't honour Canadian student cards.
They don't accept Canadian money.

The only thing would be bringing it back that would be tough. If you want to pay duty, no problem. But if you want to hide it, it could be tough.

I've gone over numerous times to buy my iPod, iPhone and other various items. Luckily those are tiny enough to keep on my person.

 

[notjustjay]

The only thing would be bringing it back that would be tough. If you want to pay duty, no problem. But if you want to hide it, it could be tough.

I've gone over numerous times to buy my iPod, iPhone and other various items. Luckily those are tiny enough to keep on my person.

I would not suggest hiding them. Is there duty to be paid? I didn't think there was, only GST/PST.

If you hide something and get caught, they have the authority to seize not only the item but the vehicle you used to attempt to "smuggle" things across the border.

 

[juanster]

yes, for an iPod, iPhone even a macbook/pro i would say go for it, you ll just have to get rid of teh packaging and say you crossed the border with it, and imac?? lol i dunno what you could possibly say...after all payments, gas and double taxes you ll probably end up paying the same you ll just be more tired..

 

[CanadaRAM]

In addition, the Canadian dollar has been below par for several days now, plus you will lose 4% - 4.5% on the spread on exchange (the commission your bank and charge card company take) so you are probably looking at paying $105 for every US dollar. There's $100 lost on a $2000 machine right there.