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iPhone 14 Pro Max ordering iPhone 14 Pro with SIM slot in Canada, but Apple says it may not be exported to US.(because I used US credit card. How do they enforce this?)

B

beerseagulls

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 18, 2021
852
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I asked my friend to use my credit card to order the iPhone 14 Pro Max via the Apple Canada online store. Obviously it was because I need a phone with physical SIM card slot because my company's contracted mobile carriers(1 US and 4 foreign one) do not allow eSIM, or simply don't have eSIM at this time.

The order went through just fine and the pick-up date/time was confirmed at the Apple Store(Canada) near my friend's home.

This morning, a rep from Apple Canada called my friend and asked her if she was planning to export it. Apparently they noticed that the credit card used was a Hyatt Visa card issued by Chase(US). I sent the credit card to my friend last week and she used it to place the order online. I guess I should have asked her to use her own credit card? (don't worry, I trust her more than I trust any member of my family, including my own mother :) )

Apple Canada rep said the charge went through just fine and the order was still on track to be picked up. However, they just wanted to inform her that the iPhone or any Apple device purchased from Apple Canada online store cannot be exported, even just across the Canada/US border. The rep even sent an email with the policy to my friend. (see below)

www.apple.com

Shipping & Pickup - Shopping Help

Shipping is free on all orders. Find out more about everything you need to know about delivery, pickup and managing your order.
www.apple.com

under "Shipping Restrictions" section, it says "...You may not export any products purchased at the Apple Online Store"

My plan was to pick up the iPhone and use it with her own SIM card for 2 or 3 weeks. She will also sign up for AppleCare for this phone using her own name/address/email.(which is fine by me) When I visit Canada, I'll stop by her house and get the phone from her.

How does Apple Canada enforce this policy? (if ever?)
 
well since you said you are going to canada i figured youd he okay and plus you are unboxing it there
 
Apple once told me AppleCare service is more or less the same across the globe excluding China. So I think generally you should be ok. That apple Rep is probably talking about difference in consumer protection law between Canada and US.

If you are concerned, buy AppleCare when you are back to US if possible.
beerseagulls said:
don't worry, I trust her more than I trust any member of my family, including my own mother :)
Click to expand...
Wow, this is so wholesome (trust your friend more than your mom) :O
 
Just note that you may end up having to drive back to canada if w need to use warranty services since US will carry the model without the sim tray.
 
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I don’t think it’s Apple Canada it’s Canadian Government and their export rules which Apple has to follow.
I hope there’s no hold up when she goes to pick it up.
 
Shirasaki said:
Wow, this is so wholesome (trust your friend more than your mom) :O
Click to expand...

it's okay... even my mom trust her more than me. :) my mom said that she's more trustworthy than the pope.(no offense to Catholics) she's an old family friend for 50+ years. I mean, I guess she can rob or do something bad... but if you can't trust an old friend like that, who can you trust? :)
 
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There might be an issue if you ship it to the US. Customs might flag it. I'll leave it to you to figure out a circumvention. ;)
 
AppleB said:
I don’t think it’s Apple Canada it’s Canadian Government and their export rules which Apple has to follow.
I hope there’s no hold up when she goes to pick it up.
Click to expand...

just to make it more convenient, I just put her on my credit card as an additional user with her own card. If Apple doesn't bring back the SIM card slot for iPhone 15 or 16, I may have to do this again in a year or two. :)
 
My GF is Winnipeg. I've shipped older Ipad to her. I had to pay damn duties on it. And for my work I ship to a lot of foreign places. There's all kinds of export/import rules. Especially for places like China, Brazil, etc.
 
Shadowbech said:
Just note that you may end up having to drive back to canada if w need to use warranty services since US will carry the model without the sim tray.
Click to expand...
It's this. You will not be able to get warranty service in the USA. You'd basically have to pretend to be visiting from Canada, but that likely won't work. Heck, they may not work on it at all even for payment.

So don't drop it and be ready to send it back to your friend if you need service.
 
beerseagulls said:
I asked my friend to use my credit card to order the iPhone 14 Pro Max via the Apple Canada online store. Obviously it was because I need a phone with physical SIM card slot because my company's contracted mobile carriers(1 US and 4 foreign one) do not allow eSIM, or simply don't have eSIM at this time.

The order went through just fine and the pick-up date/time was confirmed at the Apple Store(Canada) near my friend's home.

This morning, a rep from Apple Canada called my friend and asked her if she was planning to export it. Apparently they noticed that the credit card used was a Hyatt Visa card issued by Chase(US). I sent the credit card to my friend last week and she used it to place the order online. I guess I should have asked her to use her own credit card? (don't worry, I trust her more than I trust any member of my family, including my own mother :) )

Apple Canada rep said the charge went through just fine and the order was still on track to be picked up. However, they just wanted to inform her that the iPhone or any Apple device purchased from Apple Canada online store cannot be exported, even just across the Canada/US border. The rep even sent an email with the policy to my friend. (see below)

www.apple.com

Shipping & Pickup - Shopping Help

Shipping is free on all orders. Find out more about everything you need to know about delivery, pickup and managing your order.
www.apple.com

under "Shipping Restrictions" section, it says "...You may not export any products purchased at the Apple Online Store"

My plan was to pick up the iPhone and use it with her own SIM card for 2 or 3 weeks. She will also sign up for AppleCare for this phone using her own name/address/email.(which is fine by me) When I visit Canada, I'll stop by her house and get the phone from her.

How does Apple Canada enforce this policy? (if ever?)
Click to expand...
I say this is a non-issue. When you visit Canada, pick up the phone as usual. Apple just saying it to scare you.
 
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They really don’t want you to have the SIM slot! :D

Think about how many visitors travel to NY or FL to bring it back to Europe, Middle East, or Latin America. Apple doesn’t stop any of those shoppers for warranty issues.

Apple is worried about credit card fraud first and warranty support second. If a lot of people buy grey market, it messes with Apple’s demand and demographics data.
 
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MacDaddyPanda said:
My GF is Winnipeg. I've shipped older Ipad to her. I had to pay damn duties on it. And for my work I ship to a lot of foreign places. There's all kinds of export/import rules. Especially for places like China, Brazil, etc.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of a similar experience:

(copy & paste from my older post)

I had to get a new iPhone in Japan a couple of years ago. There was no problem buying the phone from the local Apple Store... however, I couldn't find any store that carried the Otterbox Defender case that I wanted. So I ended up ordering it from Otterbox's Asian website which was headquartered in Hong Kong. It ended up being about the same price as the Otterbox USA website. FedEx shipping was free and they even gave me a discount on the website. The ordering process was as easy as ordering from the Otterbox USA website. I entered my hotel address in Japan. They shipped it out via FedEx that same day. It arrived in Japan in 2 business days. I got a call from FedEx Japan and they wanted my info in order to clear customs. I had to submit my passport number, name, address and other personal stuff via FAX! Fortunately, the hotel concierge helped me with all that. After FedEx received it, it took another full day for the case to clear customs. I finally received it at the hotel.
 
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JPack said:
They really don’t want you to have the SIM slot! :D

Think about how many visitors travel to NY or FL to bring it back to Europe, Middle East, or Latin America. Apple doesn’t stop any of those shoppers for warranty issues.

Apple is worried about credit card fraud first and warranty support second. If a lot of people buy grey market, it messes with Apple’s demand and demographics data.
Click to expand...

don't a lot of them stop by the Apple Store in Delaware to get tax-free shopping as well? :)
 
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I said this before: Buy it from Best Buy in Canada. Bestbuy.ca:
 
Last edited:
beerseagulls said:
I asked my friend to use my credit card to order the iPhone 14 Pro Max via the Apple Canada online store. Obviously it was because I need a phone with physical SIM card slot because my company's contracted mobile carriers(1 US and 4 foreign one) do not allow eSIM, or simply don't have eSIM at this time.

The order went through just fine and the pick-up date/time was confirmed at the Apple Store(Canada) near my friend's home.

This morning, a rep from Apple Canada called my friend and asked her if she was planning to export it. Apparently they noticed that the credit card used was a Hyatt Visa card issued by Chase(US). I sent the credit card to my friend last week and she used it to place the order online. I guess I should have asked her to use her own credit card? (don't worry, I trust her more than I trust any member of my family, including my own mother :) )

Apple Canada rep said the charge went through just fine and the order was still on track to be picked up. However, they just wanted to inform her that the iPhone or any Apple device purchased from Apple Canada online store cannot be exported, even just across the Canada/US border. The rep even sent an email with the policy to my friend. (see below)

www.apple.com

Shipping & Pickup - Shopping Help

Shipping is free on all orders. Find out more about everything you need to know about delivery, pickup and managing your order.
www.apple.com

under "Shipping Restrictions" section, it says "...You may not export any products purchased at the Apple Online Store"

My plan was to pick up the iPhone and use it with her own SIM card for 2 or 3 weeks. She will also sign up for AppleCare for this phone using her own name/address/email.(which is fine by me) When I visit Canada, I'll stop by her house and get the phone from her.

How does Apple Canada enforce this policy? (if ever?)
Click to expand...
Imo this is basically Apple Store's ToS that they cannot ship outside their designated country (eg. one cannot order an iPhone from US store and ship it to outside the US). Since it's a self pick up, there's no issue there. And since it will be brought to the US by a person as a personal item, I don't see any issues.
 
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Well well well - the word is out guys and gals!


Up till last week you could buy an iPhone 13 series outright from Bestbuy in Canada, but now that page is gone? I could have missed it. So if someone is motivated to call them up and ask - then we will know if Apple is closing the doors to this type of thing with its retailers…
 
hovscorpion12 said:
I say this is a non-issue. When you visit Canada, pick up the phone as usual. Apple just saying it to scare you.
Click to expand...

Apple isn’t trying to scare people. It’s import export rules. The Apple rep was just making the customer aware of export rules. Apple has to follow specific guidelines for whatever country they do business in.
 
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my Canadian-American friend is the one who's going to pick it up for me. the order went through just fine with a scheduled date/time for pickup. However, she just tested positive for COVID and would be staying home for the next week or so. :(

from my own experience, US Apple Stores didn't really care when I picked up my orders. I remember showing up 2 weeks after my scheduled pick-up date and they just handed me the phone without saying anything.(although that was 2 years ago)

Do Apple Stores in Canada let you pickup orders a few days late?

Thnaks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
beerseagulls said:
my Canadian-American friend is the one who's going to pick it up for me. the order went through just fine with a scheduled date/time for pickup. However, she just tested positive for COVID and would be staying home for the next week or so. :(

from my own experience, US Apple Stores didn't really care when I picked up my orders. I remember showing up 2 weeks after my scheduled pick-up date and they just handed me the phone without saying anything.(although that was 2 years ago)

Do Apple Stores in Canada let you pickup orders a few days late?

Thnaks!
Click to expand...
It used to be 14-21 days but now apple changed it to 7 days to hold it.
 
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