Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2010 21:06:04 GMT
I've been looking around for some time for a good website where I could order a nice bastard or hand and a half sword. Finally, I found kultofathena.com which have the best prices I've seen. The thing is, I'm from Canada. I want to know how much it would cost me in duty and such if I ordered from an American site? A place in Canada called reliks.com has some swords I want but cost $100 more than kultofathena. Is it worth it to order a sword from America into Canada? Or would the extra costs of duty and such just make it cost as much as the reliks.com swords? Also, is there anything that I can't order from American sites that carry medieval weapons? Like, flails and mace? Any tips and such for what sword companies to buy and where to buy from would be helpful.  Thank you. |
|
|
|
Post by Crimsoned on Dec 19, 2010 21:17:31 GMT
I am unsure about KOA but with Wiwingstiswordsupply.com you only pay Taxes (Canadian taxes I presume) + shipping & handling (checkout).
|
|
|
|
Post by garbarian on Dec 19, 2010 21:19:26 GMT
Greetings. I have done business with KOA, Reliks and Wiwingti Sword supply. Never had an issue with any of them. The cross border charge can be a crap shoot, occasionally they forget it altogether. I haven't found found much price difference between Can and US orders in the end, but that's just an opinion. From the US sights, as far as I know the flails are not allowed up here, some types of knives and I think, sword canes. Cheers eh  |
|
|
|
Post by etiennehamel on Dec 19, 2010 21:24:38 GMT
i'm from canada too and i bought a spear from KOA (more the parts and building it myself but anyway), i paid 20$ over what i was supposed to pay but i think it was because i bought a 7 feet ash pole with the spearhead and the buttcap so i don't think you will have the same problem if you are not buying a spear :lol:
|
|
|
|
Post by Maynar on Dec 19, 2010 21:32:43 GMT
I'm in BC and I have come to rely on KoA almost exclusively because of their excellent shipping rates to Canada (among other reasons). I recently bought a Hanwei Agincourt for $109 and the shipping was just over $30, same for a recently purchased saber at $140. This is the best price for shipping to Can that I've ever seen. Even Sword N Armory charges more for delivery by the same method (SnA is number 2 on my list, FTR).
Now Canada Post may tack on a bit for duty, or they may not. Depends how busy they are that day. Seriously. If they're swamped they just shove the stuff out for delivery without assessing duty. In nearly 3 years buying swords out of the US I have only been hit with duty 3 times. It generally clocks in around 10-12% of the invoice when they do apply it.
In any case it is generally much cheaper than ordering from Reliks or other Canadian retailers because they build in all the extra costs (duty, shipping to Canada, exchange rate, higher markup) into their retail price which makes them hella expensive compared to US vendors. For example: House of Knives here in BC sells the Chen Orchid katana for $1800.00 before tax, but US vendors can sell it as low as $840 or so. BIG difference! But as always, your mileage may vary.
Took me a lot of time and money to arrive at KoA as my vendor of choice, save yourself all that grief. Stick with them and you won't be disappointed.
|
|
Sébastien
Senior Forumite
Retired Moderator
Posts: 2,967
|
Post by Sébastien on Dec 19, 2010 21:33:45 GMT
Hello McCamper !
Beeing a Canuck myself, here's a few hints ;
-Most of the time, american sellers have much better prices than their canadian counterparts, especially when the exchange rate is like it is these days.
-I often had to pay extras when I received my shipments of blades. Sometimes it was a small amount of money for duties and/or handling charges, sometimes (very rarely) it was a large amount of money that seemed to be charged just to squeeze more bucks out of my wallet...
-...If you want to pay little or no money, I suggest that you avoid UPS at all cost (they've charged me an extra 61 $ when I received my order) and try to use USPS (they usually charge nothing or 30-40 $ max, or much less, depending on what you order).
-About what you can and can't order. You can't order flails, crossbows, automatic knives, short blades disguised into mundane object... There are others but I don't remember them. I will give you a link that explains which items can't be sent to you.
Personnaly, I have ordered a few items from Kult of Athena and never had any problem with them.
Hope this helps !
|
|
|
|
Post by Maynar on Dec 19, 2010 21:35:58 GMT
I wanted to buy a Henry V from Wiwingti and he wanted to charge me $80 to ship to Canada! Needless to say I bought from KoA instead and saved a bundle. My 2 cents.
PS: Sebastien is right, stay away from any vendor that insists on using UPS. They will bend you over for huge brokerage fees. Stick with ones who will ship USPS only. Even FedEx is pretty pricey.
|
|
|
|
Post by LittleJP on Dec 19, 2010 23:57:53 GMT
I believe customs is the HST, or PST and FST.
|
|
|
|
Post by chrisperoni on Dec 20, 2010 1:27:33 GMT
Here's some thoughts I'll toss out for ya:
-I'm in Ontario.
-I've checked on shipping from KOA, Swordnarmory, Trueswords(who in fact don't ship to Canada at all), Wiwingti, Swordnation, Reliks, and most of the other popular sites.
-Every time I've checked a Canadian seller- every time- the overall costs have made the possible purchase untenable. If the shipping is reasonabIe the item itself is much higher than US seller prices. I have always found that buying from a USA seller is considerably less expensive; this goes for swords, knives, and random junk.
-Further to this, KOA has consistently had the lowest price over any other US seller, usually in the order of $20-$40 less all disclosed/known costs considered, sometimes with much higher savings.
-Import/customs fees are random but so far even with any customs fees I have still always saved money.
Here are some firsthand comparisons- let me preface this by saying that shipping costs do fluctuate over time, by item(s) etc., I am describing my own experience.
Wiwingti is Canadian but ships from within the USA so he has to tack on extra costs to get something into his home country. For a h/t medieval single hand KOA asked $28 shipping, Wiwingti asked $80. Wiwingti also stated there was still a possibility of costs from the border crossing. I ordered from KOA- when it arrived I had to pay $11 in customs fees.
I checked Reliks but even though they only cost $33 (and in Canadian funds, most places are US funds) the sword cost is over twice as mauch as KOA. If Reliks has competitive pricing for the produt then they become a very viable option-if they have the item in stock...which is hit or miss with them. Pricing is of no consequence should the item be in 'backorder' limbo for ever.
other thoughts:
-Swordnation has good/comparable/competitive pricing.
-Swordnarmory has prohibitive shipping costs for Canadian buyers IMO.
|
|
