Canada v.s. U.S. pricing
 

Why are U.S. prices on electronics generally cheaper than Canada? Give your thoughts.

more producer's right there.

Heh.. no... the producers are mostly in China.

There are a few big reasons... but I'll let people give their opinions first before chiming in.

Lets try and keep this civil though...

- The US has approx. 10 times the market size and much more $$$ in general, bigger market -- more buying power....

- Canada places restrictions (duties) duties on some products.

- Also, distributors pay shipping, brokerage and GST on the "purchasing" amount on top of exchange.

- Finally, the Canadian Distributor also has to incur the costs of their own warranty service...

who does canada have.... kaption and ultimate...
who do the states have?
dd, chronic, american bass. 3 is more then 2:P

U.s Bad/cnd Good

actually canadian prices and american prices are almost the same. Internet prices are cheap. Go to a local shop in the US and see, they aren't cheap.

I think one of the biggest reasons is due to market size. The states sells for whatever reasons (larger population, duty free, etc). Almost all electronics (especially computer equipment and car audio) are cheaper in the US than Canada. As far as buying online...

...there is a trade off to both. Not saying either is better, but they both have their advantages and disadvantages. You will definitely get better customer service and warranty support locally (*in most cases*), but you will save money buying online (*however lacking in the support department*).

For me personally, I buy online and take more chances since I'm in college and short on cash, and my local shops don't carry a lot of the stuff I buy (ex/ cdt or fi audio), or are outrageous in their prices (ex/ my pg xenon 5.25 comp set was under 150 new on ebay, shipped, taxes, duties, etc, and my local shop wanted 400 plus tax for the set off the sound board with no warranty).

My buddy is the car audio manager over at visions in town, and is a great guy to deal with from what I've seen and heard, but some of the other shops in town have outrageous prices, and wouldn't even bother to ask if I wanted a hand with anything, which lead me to buy the majority of my stuff online. Long story short, once I'm out of school and actually have some real cheddar, I plan on supporting my buddy and other shops that offer good customer service and solid warranty.

...Bottom line is that customers must decide what is more important to them (price vs. support) and local venders need to provide the additional services that make it worthwhile for the consumer to invest a little extra.

:cAnada:

I'll agree with arguement about market size, but that's not all of it.

Canada has import duties, varies for different stuff and depends mostly on where its coming from.

Goods made in US, thoretically are free of import duties, under the NAFTA.
But you get hit with brokerage charges and have to pay canadian and provincial sales tax. Dealers have to buy through distributors, who buy through importers who also need to make a profit.

China, japan, tiawan etc. all have high duties, just as they do in the U.S. Buying power gives U.S. better prices. Importers & distributors make better money than retail stores. Internet sales are cheaper because of low overhead & high volume. Internet retailers only make a few points margin, but it doesn't cost them anything to sell you something they don't even have to have. Usually when they say 'in-stock', it means its in stock at somebody elses' warehouse.

The exception is european stuff. Cheaper here in Canada than the U.S.
Blaupunkt is a good example. UK stuff is cheaper here than in the U.S.

I went to my local audio shop, I try to buy local, for an antenna filter. (I had a post up about am radio noise).
He doesn't stock them. He looked it up on the internet, and told me Crutchfield stocks them. They don't ship to canada, so I made my first e-bay purchase(CarXTC?). It was a pain signing up, and shipping will cost as much as the 7.99 filter, then i'll pay customs and taxes, and someday i'll get the item.