Canadians Buying Scarlet! or epic....

[Jeremy_Sawatzky]

im worried that im guna have trouble shipping my scarlet fixed to canada and im also worried about the kinds of fees im going to have to pay for a $6000+ purchase thats moving across the border. This is the first time il be doing such a large purchase and shipping it across the border. Anybody that has experinence with this sort of thing and knows what i can expect, plz speak up!

[Matthew Blight]

I live in Canada too and I don't foresee any issues in bringing a Scarlet across the border - it's just like any other purchase that you have shipped to you from the states. Due to the product and the declared value, you **MAY** have to pay some form of duties, but it all depends on how it's shipped. Also, with the Canadian Dollar closing in on parity right now, chances are a Scarlet Fixed will not run you $6K, but probably closer to $5K.

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Please Jeremy, don't make canucks look illiterate, learn to spell experinence...

[Ryan S]

Hi Jeremy,

Most professional video and photo equipment is exempt from duty under NAFTA. When I got my R1 body and fist round of accessories, it was about 30K worth of gear. When Fedex showed up, I paid them 1300 for gst and duty, of which about 1100 was GST, and I got that back when I did my quarterly GST return. Fedex took care of all the brokerage and stuff for a flat fee of $10.

I believe Red only ships with Fedex. If you order any accessories for your camera from other companies in the US, make sure you use only Fedex. UPS will charge the same GST and duty, but their brokerage fees are criminal.

PM me if you have any more questions about bringing in your gear, I'll help if I can!

[Jean Déraps]

NAFTA only concerns good produced in Canada, the US and Mexico. Goods originating outside of North America may have duties imposed depending on the type of goods being imported (yes, even some professional video and photo equipment) and where they come from. For instance, we have to pay duty on the RED Bricks, since they are made in Malta....go figure. If you need some bedtime reading, feel free to consult the customs tariffs guide, which is so complicated and arcane, that even the people at the Canadian Border Services Agency don't quite understand it:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-com.../menu-eng.html

Ryan, you actually paid more than $10 brokerage fees on your FEDEX shipment...it's just that those fees were hidden (or as the shippers like to say "included") in the hundreds of dollars you paid to have it shipped. But you are right that UPS gouges their customers even more than FEDEX (both are bad though), especially on low value imports.

[Andrew Luczenczyn]

Ill be getting a Scarlet hopefully. The strong dollar has definitely brought down prices, but the duty guides are so freaking messed up, who knows what they will end up being, dependent of where the accessories are manufactured.

FedEx over UPS any day. Got charged $100 of duties and broker charges on a $200 software program. Scammers.

[Jeremy Torrie]

When I received my R1 last year I only had to cover the GST (which was significant with all the add ons).

Fedex only. UPS terrible, particularly the customer service on the ground here.

[Grant Goss]

Fedex is the way to go. Brought up Redrocket card and breakout box.

[Jeremy_Sawatzky]

thanks for all the help guys, uve definitly saved me alot of worry. Im looking to purchase the Libec LS-55 tripod from BnH Photo for my scarlet config and its about 700 bucks. The dollar is so good right now and with the new HST tax right around the corner it seems like the best time to buy. Do you guys think this is a good idea? or should i search around and try to find the tripod somewhere here?

[Jeremy Torrie]

If you can source anything in Alberta -i.e. have someone buy for you and have them ship it...you save PST.