[torndownunit]

If you buy a guitar that is made in Japan or Korea from the US you will get nailed with duty. If you buy a guitar made in the US from the US you will not pay duty. If you use UPS or Fedex you will ALWAYS get nailed with heavy brokerage fees that have no set amount. If you use USPS you will only pay a $5 brokerage fee on ANY item.

The only gray area seems to be taxes. I have bought a few used guitars from the States and had them shipped USPS and not paid a dime of tax on them. One example is a made in USA Gibson Melody Maker. Sometimes things just get through tax free for some reason. When they you you can really clean up. I got the Melody Maker for $299 + $35 shipping US. No duty, no taxes, no brokerage fees. I have bought other items though and been nailed big time for taxes.

It takes awhile to learn all this stuff 'the hard way', as I am sure others can attest.

There is one other important point though. While UPS is a rip off, they are also very quick to settle insurance issues if an item is damaged. I have heard from people who ship from the US that USPS is really bad with dealing with claims. They have said it's almost impossible to collect from them. That is why some retailers/sellers insisit on using UPS for international transaction. I have never had an item damaged by USPS/Canada Post so I can't verify that.

 

[torndownunit]

Sorry, I have to take issue with that. I am in year two of trying to collect on a $2000. amp that UPS lost while it was on the truck 10 blocks from being delivered. They have "misplaced" my claim twice and I have had nothing but a runaround from them.
Fed Ex is no better. A friend had a $5000 guitar completely mangled in transit from the manufacturer (McNaught). And after 18 months gave him $500 dollars.
cheers
Pete

My input on this only comes from the US sellers I have bought items from. I personally have been lucky. I have ordred a lot of stuff online, and never had any horror stories. But the sellers I have dealt with have told me they have had way more problems getting insurance money from USPS than from UPS. So I am speaking in general terms.

 

[torndownunit]

Do you have the option of staying over there for any length of time when you pick it up? If you are in the country for at least a weekend you have a certain amount you can bring back. It's more after a week. It would never be as high as $4000 though .

Where is the amp made? That will decide if you have to pay duty and taxes, or just taxes.

If I was over there for the weekend, I wouldn't even claim anything guitar related coming back, but that is just me. I'd stick a guitar in the car on the way over so the amp doesn't look out of place on the way back. I'd take my chances. It's not odd to be driving around with guitar gear.

 

[torndownunit]

The best deal I got was a 2003 Gibson Melody maker for $299 US. I didn' t get nailed for taxes or duty (US made) at the border, though I should have got nailed for taxes. So it was about $340 US with shipping. Those guitars are $750 at Long and Mcquade I believe.

The place I bought it from is a respected online used dealer, does full setups on anything he sells, and offers a 7 day return period.

You really just need to go by each sale. I personally look around Craiglist and local used sources before buying stuff from the States. But there (a) are some deals you just can't beat and (b) some stuff you just can't find.

The thing that is annoying is the used deals I find in the States are pretty common used gear prices there. They are realistic. The prices stores in Toronto charge are ridiculous and since I am near Toronto, those prices bleed over to here. I know the gear is more abundant in the States, but still the markups are ridiculous here.

 

[torndownunit]

There was a blurb on CBC News this week about how we're currently getting screwed on exchange rates. We're still paying prices based on old exchange rates. So I expect we'll see more importing until Canadian dealers get their act together.

Nothing demonstrates like that Fender Products. The pricing on the MIM and MIA Fender guitars doesn't make any sense here when you compare it to US pricing.

 

[torndownunit]

I have to agree with ofender. The other HUGE factor is used prices in the States. Especially when you are talking about US made guitars that you can import under NAFTA. Because the gear is cheaper in the first place, and there is WAY more of it around the used gear prices are so much less in the States that it's not even comparible. I recently ordered an Fender American Series Ash Tele in sunburst from from a seller in the States I buy a fair amount of gear from for $700. That guitar is $1045 (on sale at Musicians Friend marked down from $1400) new in the States, and I don't even know what it costs here new. The ONLY way for me to ever own a guitar like that is to find a deal like that.

I assume it's not the local retailers fault, but the Canadian prices just do not make sense when you compare them to US prices in a lot of cases. There seems to be a major markup beyond the duty and taxes. And the prices on used gear can be insane. I am assuming it's mainly because the stuff is hard to find so they can get away with charging more.

One other point Ofender, you are likely over-estimating the shipping. UPS shipping on guitars is actually fairly cheap, and you know stores like Long and Mcquade and Steve's would be getting business rates due to the amount they import. I'd venture to say the shipping is actually half of what you are estimating.

 

[torndownunit]

One guitar I bought from the States was a 2003, but it still had all the plastic on it and looked like it had never been played. It was still priced as used and priced to sell though.