Not sure about the coupon, but I orderd my N800 from Amazon and had them ship it to the closest UPS store (Ogdensburg) where they kindly received it for me. Then it was a short drive across the border, paid $5 US to pick up the box. MUCH cheaper than having it shipped across the border.

Natually, this only works if you live close to the border (which 80% of us do in Canada).

:disclaimer: no affiliation with www.theupsstore.com just a happy customer

Craig...

Thanks for the info, Craig. If I did something similar, what should my plan be at the border (I'm in Vancouver)? Declare (which I'm inclined to do)? Is there duty/tax to be paid? I'm not asking what *you* did, mind you.

exon: My friend and I claimed our 770s. Since the customs guy was friendly ("Anything ot declare?" "Yup!"), I asked what was involved. He said we'd have to pay duty as we weren't in the country long enough, and when I asked what the percentage was, he said sales tax (which in Ontario is 8%). I wish the buck was still at $1.10... (What's the sales tax in BC?)

Just to clarify, I was suggesting that you can have the product shipped from a US online store to a UPS store at a border town (e.g. Niagara, NY, etc). That way, if the price is better in the US, and they do not ship to Canada, you can still get the product, provided you are willing to drive to pick it up. Done it a few times already.

I agree though that UPS brokerage fees are ridiculous for anything coming into Canada.

I'm just gung ho. If they screw you in one way, I won't deal with them period. (Sony's lost a few grand off me over the past 2 yrs. Billing for Starwars Galaxies time even though my account was expired and deleted.)

This article http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/262161 suggests that cellphones are duty free when coming back into Canada, regardless of the length of your stay or what else is included in your "personal exemption". The Customs Tariff description document they link to seems to agree (if you're brave enough to wade through it - I wouldn't recommend it). This assumes that the box indicates it was made in the US (or Mexico I guess), and that you can convince the border agent that it's a cell phone.

I'm happy (well, willing) to pay tax but adding duty can suddenly make it not worthwhile. Recent news reports also suggest that border guards are getting a bit testy with the massive wave of shoppers heading south, so I suspect the one I ran across wouldn't be as friendly as Hedgecore's.

(Sales tax in BC is 7% but I thought they collected GST at the border (or HST). You're supposed to voluntarily send PST to the province.

I have done this several times for all sorts of stuff - including a 770. I have never been charged duty even for Chinese made tools but I have usually been charged GST and PST. Occasionally, I have been waved through if the item has been less than $100.00.

It is worth getting a tracking number and following the package until it shows up at the UPS Store.

I used to figure that I could pay for the trip and the $5.00 UPS Store fee by filling up with gas on the US side - but that is no longer much of a deal compared to Cdn. prices.

Nope, just as hard. The N800 is *double* the US price here in Australia and $200AUS more than the UK price (with taxes etc evened out). It makes it hard when the US dollar is weak against the Aussie dollar, yet the Aussie has made no real ground on any other currency.

Its made worse that nobody in retail is carrying one, so I can't even look at an N800 to see what its like in the flesh. But there are a million N95 ads everywhere

NCIX (Vancouver) have the N810 for pre-order for $469.99.

Anyone have experience with this Canadian etailer?

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...%20-%20ESERIES

Cheers

VidConf

Vidconf: I have ordered lots of stuff from NCIX, and never had any problem. In fact, my top Canadian places for ordering computer/tech stuff are:

NCIX
TigerDirect
DirectCanada