[cohenj]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post about which guitar to buy in the $500 - $600.00 range. I think I've narrowed it down to three.

Ibanez SZ320
Yamaha AES620
Fender Telecaster FMT HH

They are all within my budget, more or less. The Yamaha is the front runner at the moment. It had a lot of character and Grover tuners to boot. I'm not fond of the Gotohs that are on the other two. I played a few Epiphones and found them to be pretty toneless (I'd have to replace the electronics entirely) and the necks are not my thing.

Difficult decision. Can anyone tell me what I can expect if I buy a guitar via Ebay from the USA and bring it into Canada? Will there be a high duty to pay?

Regards,

Jeff

 

[Tarl]

I have zero E bay experiance but both the Yamaha and Ibanez are great guitars.

Tarl

 

[cbh747]

Cohenj,

I just bought a Strat from the States. I ended up paying about $40 Cdn in duty so it was really not a lot.

You may want to look here if you are looking around, EBay can be a crapshoot. This guy has excellent quality stuff at very fair prices and the service is excellent.
http://www.chrisguitars.com

 

[Accept2]

From my experiance ordering guitars from the US,
You'll pay the following when importing a guitar from the US:
1. GST on the declared value.
2. You may pay duty if the guitar was not made in North America, although I think duty on electric guitars crossing the border has been finally wiped out 100% now because of the Free Trade Pact.
3. Brokerage fees. These are based on vlaue. A typical guitar around $500US will have the following brokerage fees: USPS $5; UPS $40; Fedex probobly $55. So, the moral of the story is use USPS for all deliverys into Canada from the USA. Fedex will usually get the guitar to you the fastest (within 3 days), UPS is quick (within 5 days), USPS is usally a week...................

 

[Zeegler]

In addition to what Kurt said, USPS doesn't always charge brokerage fees, at least not from my experience, but UPS, and FEDEX will ALWAYS buttrape you for as much as they can get.

 

[GuitarsCanada]

Cohenj,

I just bought a Strat from the States. I ended up paying about $40 Cdn in duty so it was really not a lot.

You may want to look here if you are looking around, EBay can be a crapshoot. This guy has excellent quality stuff at very fair prices and the service is excellent.
http://www.chrisguitars.com

I have dealt with Chris as well. Huge selection but he is mostly used guitars. Although most are in very nice condition. They also clean them up and will make sure they are in playable condition when you get it.

 

[Accept2]

I almost dealt with Chris, on about 3 different occations. Each time he lost the email, so I decided to buy else where. One time I was going to send the cash, and his whole site disappeared. I emailed him to ask what was going on, but never heard back. A day or so the site was back up, but by then I had moved on to something else. I've heard if you can actually make a deal with them its great, but alot of people cant get deals done because they have the same experiances I've had. So far the best service I ever received is when I buy from Elderly. They are fantastic for service, but they use UPS, and charge alot for shipping. Of course when they ship, they overpack the guitar to survive nuclear blasts........