Rigol DS1052E shipping to Canada (Toronto)

[jp1390]

Hi all,

Just a quick question regarding Rigol's website and shipping to Canada (Toronto). I am wondering if anyone can chime in for the best way to go about buying this scope. I have heard a lot about buying from China thru DealExcel/DealExtreme but I am hesitant in doing so. There is a pretty legit seller in New Jersey that is offering "Free Shipping" to Canada, but I don't know what to expect for customs.

The ebay seller (Aidetek) is selling for $399 USD and it comes with two probes, which is nice.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Rigol-Oscilloscope-50MHz-DS1052E-1G-SG-1M-USA-warranty-/300430036070?pt=BI_Electrical_Equipment_Tools&hash=item45f3068c66#shId

On the other hand, the Rigol site is selling for $329 USD - $30 USD (promotional quiz) = $299 USD but it looks like there is only one probe. Won't give me the option to buy another probe and it says a flat shipping rate of $15 with GoogleCheckout. The toll-free line doesn't work...
http://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/ds1000e/ds1052e/

Thoughts?

***UPDATE***

Ordered through Aidetek (eBay) for $399 CAD and received scope in 4 days via DHL (free shipping w/ $21.50 brokerage/customs fee) from Hong Kong to Toronto.

[IanB]

You could try Saelig and ask what the shipping to Canada would be. They have the DS1102E for $399. My understanding is that customs is always going to sting you on import to Canada unless you can find a Canadian distributor. Or find a friend in the US to take delivery, then drive over the border to collect it.

[jp1390]

Thanks for the reply Ian! Pretty sweet deal, and not too far away. I'm wondering if anyone can ballpark what customs might throw at me.

[IanB]

You should be able to look up the expected import duty from a government web site, and you can calculate the HST directly. Then expect to pay a bunch on top of that in customs brokerage fees collected by UPS or whoever does the import. From everything I've read, it ain't pretty.

[jp1390]

Yikes...

[amspire]

On the other hand, the Rigol site is selling for $329 USD - $30 USD (promotional quiz) = $299 USD but it looks like there is only one probe. Won't give me the option to buy another probe and it says a flat shipping rate of $15 with GoogleCheckout. The toll-free line doesn't work...
http://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/ds1000e/ds1052e/

Thoughts?

I am pretty sure you will get two 150MHz probes, but the rigolna does only mention one probe. You could check.

Doing a search on a site like Aliexpress gives an idea of the going price of the DS1052E.  Looks like it starts at about US$266 + postage.

Richard

[The_Penguin]

Hi all,

Just a quick question regarding Rigol's website and shipping to Canada (Toronto). I am wondering if anyone can chime in for the best way to go about buying this scope. I have heard a lot about buying from China thru DealExcel/DealExtreme but I am hesitant in doing so. There is a pretty legit seller in New Jersey that is offering "Free Shipping" to Canada, but I don't know what to expect for customs.

I'm considering a Rigol soon myself. I did some digging, and there's a Canadian reseller (ACA Tmetrix with supposedly offices in Mississauga, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver)
I emailed for a quote. The quote was $400.00 for the DS1102E and $90.00 shipping. $90.00!!!

Saelig quoted:
FedEx International Priority: $64.66
FedEx International Economy: $54.93
FedEx International Ground: $28.44

Once again it's cheaper shopping cross-border.
Re: duty, I've been purchasing a lot lately from the U.S. and haven't been hit with any charges. I did get a package from Hong Kong via DHL and they wanted $18.00 for (I think) GST on a $300.00 item.

Just be careful with Fedex and especially UPS. The cheaper methods often come with an obscene "brokerage fee"

[don.r]

I believe that oscilloscopes are exempt from duty. If you can get them to ship USPS you will pay PST/GST + about $8 handling/brokerage. Don't agree to UPS whatever you do...

[Yael]

UPS Will rape you in brokerage fees. Get it shipped USPS, last time I had something come up from the States I paid a $7 brokerage fee and provincial sales tax. Its not that horrible.

[rz2k]

UPS Will rape you in brokerage fees.

agreed, even here in Russia UPS do absolutely same thing, thats kinda company style.

[Yael]

UPS Will rape you in brokerage fees.

agreed, even here in Russia UPS do absolutely same thing, thats kinda company style.

Last time I made the mistake of taking UPS they tried to hit me with a $70 brokerage fee for a $3 part. I just refused to take delivery.

[keiby.zhou]

UPS Will rape you in brokerage fees.

agreed, even here in Russia UPS do absolutely same thing, thats kinda company style.

Last time I made the mistake of taking UPS they tried to hit me with a $70 brokerage fee for a $3 part. I just refused to take delivery.

$70 brokerage fee for $3 part?   I thought import tax only applies to goods with a value greater than $20... isnt it?

[don.r]

Brokerage fees are not tax, they are a "handling" fee for shepherding the item through customs. In other words, another profit center for UPS.

[keiby.zhou]

lol.. cant believe they still charge for stuff that does not require tax report at all...

does Canada Post do that as well?

I have a lot of $3 packages on the way shipped from HK(from separate sellers on Ebay, they used HK post or something like that on their end I think)

[don.r]

lol.. cant believe they still charge for stuff that does not require tax report at all...

does Canada Post do that as well?

I have a lot of $3 packages on the way shipped from HK(from separate sellers on Ebay, they used HK post or something like that on their end I think)

For small items going through Canada Post I have never paid fees or taxes or duties.

[keiby.zhou]

good to hear that   I have 15+ separate packages on the way

[jp1390]

Thank you for all the replies!

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

[IanB]

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

Sounds good to me. The poor dying USPS needs something to keep it afloat. Competing with the likes of UPS and FedEx seems like the perfect strategy.

[wkb]

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

Sounds good to me. The poor dying USPS needs something to keep it afloat. Competing with the likes of UPS and FedEx seems like the perfect strategy.

Amen to that! 

I have over the years been sent quite some stuff via USPS to the Netherlands.  Typically about as fast a Fedex or Oops (eh, UPS :-) when you count the fact that they try to deliver 2 times during daytime (won't work in most cases, $DAYJOB is in the way) and then you have to pickup you shipment in some odd part of the country.  USPS shipments are delivered by my local friendly postman/lady.  And if I am not at home I can pick them up after a 500m walk in our local post office depot, until 8pm.

And we haven't mentioned the cost yet...

[don.r]

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

Sounds good to me. The poor dying USPS needs something to keep it afloat. Competing with the likes of UPS and FedEx seems like the perfect strategy.

Amen to that! 

I have over the years been sent quite some stuff via USPS to the Netherlands.  Typically about as fast a Fedex or Oops (eh, UPS :-) when you count the fact that they try to deliver 2 times during daytime (won't work in most cases, $DAYJOB is in the way) and then you have to pickup you shipment in some odd part of the country.  USPS shipments are delivered by my local friendly postman/lady.  And if I am not at home I can pick them up after a 500m walk in our local post office depot, until 8pm.

And we haven't mentioned the cost yet...

They are roughly equivalent for larger packages like a scope not including fees. For small packages its the mail system hands down. Its really the fees and the postal convenience like you say that makes USPS to Canada a winner.

[12AX7]

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

You may be required to pay the GST/HST on the declared value converted to CDN dollars. In addition, depending on the type of postal service (worldwide priority express mail, standard or whatever) you may be required to pay a $5 or $8 handling fee as well.

So if I were to buy that $400 USD scope from the States and get it shipped here in Quebec I would get charged ($406 CAD * 5% GST) + ($406 CAD * 9.5% QST) + ($5 or $8), approx $60.

(The QST calculation is a bit more involved but that's beyond the point).

This is nothing compared to what UPS/FedEx charges.

Also the parcel may be stalled a few days while its being processed by customs.  This is nothing to worry about.  If you're lucky it'll just sail by without getting spotted and you'll wind up owing nothing.  But my recent experience seems to indicate this is now more the exception than the norm.

Get a tracking number from USPS and track it on usps.com, when the parcel arrives in Canada you can continue tracking it on canadapost.ca.

[jp1390]

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

You may be required to pay the GST/HST on the declared value converted to CDN dollars. In addition, depending on the type of postal service (worldwide priority express mail, standard or whatever) you may be required to pay a $5 or $8 handling fee as well.

So if I were to buy that $400 USD scope from the States and get it shipped here in Quebec I would get charged ($406 CAD * 5% GST) + ($406 CAD * 9.5% QST) + ($5 or $8), approx $60.

(The QST calculation is a bit more involved but that's beyond the point).

This is nothing compared to what UPS/FedEx charges.

Also the parcel may be stalled a few days while its being processed by customs.  This is nothing to worry about.  If you're lucky it'll just sail by without getting spotted and you'll wind up owing nothing.  But my recent experience seems to indicate this is now more the exception than the norm.

Get a tracking number from USPS and track it on usps.com, when the parcel arrives in Canada you can continue tracking it on canadapost.ca.

Thanks!

[The_Penguin]

Thank you for all the replies!

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

Since you're in Toronto, you might check with ACA TMetrix just in case they actually  have stock in Miss.

As far as Fedex/UPS go, it's the standard ground service what carries the ridiculous brokerage fee.
Higher classes of service like International Priority etc don't have that.  I routinely get shipments from Monoprice, Digikey without problem.  But when in doubt USPS is he way to go.

[The_Penguin]

Just got a box from Sparkfun shipped via Fedex international priority.
Paid GST, and a $10.00 "ROD" fee.

[jp1390]

Thank you for all the replies!

So, putting the pieces together... Order from the States and make sure it's shipped by USPS?

Since you're in Toronto, you might check with ACA TMetrix just in case they actually  have stock in Miss.

As far as Fedex/UPS go, it's the standard ground service what carries the ridiculous brokerage fee.
Higher classes of service like International Priority etc don't have that.  I routinely get shipments from Monoprice, Digikey without problem.  But when in doubt USPS is he way to go.

I'll give that a try and report back.

Thanks!