amazon.com vs amazon.ca
Jan. 29th, 2009 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslFirst, here are the 4 books I decided to buy, and their prices on amazon.com vs amazon.ca .
US: Flake - The Computational Beauty of Nature, new US$34.54
CA: Flake - The Computational Beauty of Nature, new CDN$33.71
US: Wasserman - All of Nonparametric Statistics, new US$67.96
CA: Wasserman - All of Nonparametric Statistics, new CDN$70.27
US: Kullback - Information Theory and Statistics (Dover), new US$14.78
CA: Kullback - Information Theory and Statistics (Dover), new CDN$16.02
US: Badii - Complexity: Hierarchical Structures and Scaling in Physics, US$39.00 new (managed to find a used one for US$29.99 but it can't be shipped Internationally)
CA: Badii - Complexity: Hierarchical Structures and Scaling in Physics, used CDN$78.95
Note that Canadian prices are better, except for the last one. As we will see, taxes, shipping costs and import fees will complicate this.
While my user account transfers between amazon.com vs amazon.ca (i.e. I didn't need to enter my addresses and credit cards again), my cart does not: I have a US cart (at amazon.com) and a Canadian cart (at amazon.ca).
Methodology
* I selected Free Shipping whenever possible.
* each time around, I selected a shipping address, credit card, etc, and stopped right before "Place Order". The prices quoted by Amazon before that point are not complete.
The results:
buy-from-US, ship to US address
Items: $156.28
Shipping & Handling: $9.96
Super Saver Discount: -$5.97
Reward Applied: -$0.00
TOTAL $160.27 (CDN$ 193.92)
buy-from-US, ship to Canadian address
bought-from-US, shipping to Canada:
Items: $156.28
Shipping & Handling: $29.45
Reward Applied: -$0.00
Total Before Tax: $185.73
Estimated Tax:* $0.00
Import Fees Deposit $15.20
Order Total: $200.93 (CDN$ 243.12)
buy-from-most-convenient, ship to Canadian address
3 books from Canada
GL CA: Items: CDN$ 49.73 + CDN$ 70.27 =
GL CA: GST: CDN$ 2.49 + CDN$ 0
GL CA: Shipping & Handling: CDN$ 0 + CDN$ 6.49
GL CA total: CDN$52.22 + CDN$76.76
GL CA TOTAL = CDN$ 128.98 (but they don't add it for you, until after you've ordered!)
1 book from the US
GL US: Items: US$39.00
GL US: Shipping & Handling: US$12.49
GL US Total = $51.49 (CDN$62.27)
No import fees. I think because the seller takes care of that (maybe part of "Handling"?).
my total: CDN$ 128.98 + CDN$62.27 = CDN$ 191.25
If I ship the Badii book to a friend in the US, I can save doubly (on the item and on shipping): instead of $51.49, it would only cost me $33.98.
I was surprised that amazon.com wouldn't refer to me amazon.ca (seeing where I was shipping to). Also surprised that amazon.ca wouldn't tell me to buy the Badii book from amazon.com (but not as much).
amazon.com vs amazon.ca look alike in almost every way. But they are not.
This whole research was surprisingly painful. (Took me ~2 hours)
US: Flake - The Computational Beauty of Nature, new US$34.54
CA: Flake - The Computational Beauty of Nature, new CDN$33.71
US: Wasserman - All of Nonparametric Statistics, new US$67.96
CA: Wasserman - All of Nonparametric Statistics, new CDN$70.27
US: Kullback - Information Theory and Statistics (Dover), new US$14.78
CA: Kullback - Information Theory and Statistics (Dover), new CDN$16.02
US: Badii - Complexity: Hierarchical Structures and Scaling in Physics, US$39.00 new (managed to find a used one for US$29.99 but it can't be shipped Internationally)
CA: Badii - Complexity: Hierarchical Structures and Scaling in Physics, used CDN$78.95
Note that Canadian prices are better, except for the last one. As we will see, taxes, shipping costs and import fees will complicate this.
While my user account transfers between amazon.com vs amazon.ca (i.e. I didn't need to enter my addresses and credit cards again), my cart does not: I have a US cart (at amazon.com) and a Canadian cart (at amazon.ca).
Methodology
* I selected Free Shipping whenever possible.
* each time around, I selected a shipping address, credit card, etc, and stopped right before "Place Order". The prices quoted by Amazon before that point are not complete.
The results:
buy-from-US, ship to US address
Items: $156.28
Shipping & Handling: $9.96
Super Saver Discount: -$5.97
Reward Applied: -$0.00
TOTAL $160.27 (CDN$ 193.92)
buy-from-US, ship to Canadian address
bought-from-US, shipping to Canada:
Items: $156.28
Shipping & Handling: $29.45
Reward Applied: -$0.00
Total Before Tax: $185.73
Estimated Tax:* $0.00
Import Fees Deposit $15.20
Order Total: $200.93 (CDN$ 243.12)
buy-from-most-convenient, ship to Canadian address
3 books from Canada
GL CA: Items: CDN$ 49.73 + CDN$ 70.27 =
GL CA: GST: CDN$ 2.49 + CDN$ 0
GL CA: Shipping & Handling: CDN$ 0 + CDN$ 6.49
GL CA total: CDN$52.22 + CDN$76.76
GL CA TOTAL = CDN$ 128.98 (but they don't add it for you, until after you've ordered!)
1 book from the US
GL US: Items: US$39.00
GL US: Shipping & Handling: US$12.49
GL US Total = $51.49 (CDN$62.27)
No import fees. I think because the seller takes care of that (maybe part of "Handling"?).
my total: CDN$ 128.98 + CDN$62.27 = CDN$ 191.25
If I ship the Badii book to a friend in the US, I can save doubly (on the item and on shipping): instead of $51.49, it would only cost me $33.98.
I was surprised that amazon.com wouldn't refer to me amazon.ca (seeing where I was shipping to). Also surprised that amazon.ca wouldn't tell me to buy the Badii book from amazon.com (but not as much).
amazon.com vs amazon.ca look alike in almost every way. But they are not.
This whole research was surprisingly painful. (Took me ~2 hours)