I live in Canada
Yeah, Canada is kind of a crappy market for used test equipment. If you live near the border (most of us do), there will be receiving companies in the US-side border town that will receive packages for you for a nominal fee. It's time consuming to cross the border and back and the customs people will sometimes give you a hard time, but the shipping will be way cheaper, no brokerage, and usually you won't pay GST/HST if the item is < $200. I don't normally bother unless it's a smoking deal or something I really want and can't afford new, but if your budget is slim or you prefer to spend time than money, it's a worthwhile option. I use a company called Hagen's of Blaine. I've also used a company called TSB Shipping in Point Roberts. Costs < $10 for pretty much any package if you pick it up within a week.
and the item is shipping from Florida. The shipping is about $60 + about $15 for duties and taxes, maybe some other "surprise" fees when delivered at the door (couriers often pad on extra "handling" or "brokerage" fees). Seems a bit high to me, but maybe the weight is making it so expensive. So we are guaranteeing about $120-130 minimum cost, for a used, no warranty product.
Yep. I pretty much will only buy things if they ship by USPS. Canada Post on this side doesn't normally charge me GST (they do sometimes) and there are no hidden fees, but many sellers won't ship that way for some reason, so I don't buy. UPS and FedEx are both exorbitant in their brokerage fees (it's like $19.45 on a $40 item at UPS, for example), or you can use their 'express' service where it's included.
Final option is to self-broker. I've never done this, but apparently it is possible to 'intercept' your package at the UPS/FedEx entry point and take it to Canada Customs yourself to clear it, then return it to UPS for final delivery. Or something, I'm not clear on this, but might save you if you want to import stuff.
Really though, patience. It's not a great place to try to hunt for 'good' deals, but cheap scopes and decent multimeters and other common stuff comes up often enough that if you wait, you'll find something in-country for a reasonable-ish price. Probably more than $50, but you should be able to do under $100 delivered.
And yes, of course paying 3-4x as much money gets you a much better scope. It's 3-4x as much. If you can afford that at all, even at a stretch, do that instead, it's a much better option. But for the high school student living on a 10h a week minimum wage job, there are
options.
e.g. Someone scored this, quite nice actually, 4CH, 150MHz Tek 2445 scope for $120 delivered:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Tektronix-2445-150-MHz-Oscilloscope-e-w-Manual-/190868924967?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item2c70acaa27 . But this is not common, you need to be
patient and committed.