Canon 1D series in Canada

[Khurram]

Is anyone aware of any consumer group lobbying for price harmonization? I'd certainly join one. In the meantime, perhaps complaints to Consumer Affairs and MPs will start something.
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I doubt if this would work.  What might be effective is if you buy the camera from the USA and send a copy of your invoice to Panasonic canada with a letter stating their loss of business bcoz of their pricing policies.

if enough people do that, these canadian subs are going to start realizing, that they are not going to be profitable with their pricing policies, bcoz in today's global market, you can't be competitive if consumers start utelizing the options open to them.

[Samotano]

when i look up the prices of these cameras at two largest camera stores in Canada, Vistek and Henrys, i can't help but thinking, how could they get sold? the 1D3, for instance, sells at 4,499USD at B&H, while at Vistek, it is 5,699CND plus tax (around 6,450CND or 6,160USD after tax).

i mean, if i spent a weekend taking a bus (from Montreal or Toronto) to New York, going to B&H and buy the camera, going back, paying custom duties for it if i had to... the total amount wouldn't even exceed 5,000CND.
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Just to resurrect an old topic, in the past few months I completed and received a large order from Adorama.  Over roughly $15,000USD I saved approximately $1,800USD over the Canadian merchants (read: Vistek).  This while keeping into account exchange, taxes, fees, shipping, etc. It did include a few grey market items, however the savings would have been substabtial regardless.  Good timing on the exchange rate (coincidental) helped too... Choosing Adorama allowed me to use Fedex which does not charge a $30 commision for custom brokerage (which helps when you have multiple items separately shipped).

[Peter McLennan]

Substantial, unjustifiable pricing differentials persist in many commodities, even with dollar equity.  I just purchased a high-end Photoshop book that listed in Canada for about $60.  I paid less than $40, shipped from Amazon in the USA.

On the other hand, my three-year-old 70-200 Nikon lens suffered communication problems with several Nikon bodies (D70, D200 and D300).  Nikon fixed it promptly and shipped it back to me (800kms) for free.

Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug.