Canadian Vendor Prices vs. rising Canadian Dollar

[Puff]

i order all my stuff from US online vendors now. and i save 40-60% while doing it.

if the canadian vendors cant buck up and lower their prices to be competitive, then they will continue losing business to US dealers.

Drsfostersmith.com, marineandreef.com, and marinedepot.com are all really good places to deal with, and the prices are brilliant.

i just ordered a 24G aquapod from drsfostersmith. 360$ with the 150W MH...ive seen them up here selling for around 450-500$...why bother paying that much more?

[deep6er]

Originally Posted by Puff

i order all my stuff from US online vendors now. and i save 40-60% while doing it.

if the canadian vendors cant buck up and lower their prices to be competitive, then they will continue losing business to US dealers.

Drsfostersmith.com, marineandreef.com, and marinedepot.com are all really good places to deal with, and the prices are brilliant.

i just ordered a 24G aquapod from drsfostersmith. 360$ with the 150W MH...ive seen them up here selling for around 450-500$...why bother paying that much more?

how much was the shipping?

[marie]

Originally Posted by deep6er

how much was the shipping?

and the brokerage costs?

[Tom R]

We are very lucky to have retailers such as J&L, OA and Hidden Reef. These retailer have the lowest price in Canada on an ongoing basis. They lower their prices whenever they can. To our benefit they stock inventory of the latest and most desirable item for the hobby. They can not reduce the price of items within their inventory until they sell it and replace it. In some cases that inventory was purchased months before the dollar went to par. Many of the items are made in countries other than the USA. Even though the Canadian Dollar has strengthen against the US, so have many of the other countries currencies. The German Mark, the Japanese Yen and the European Euro have all strengthened against the US dollar.

Tom R

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Puff

i order all my stuff from US online vendors now. and i save 40-60% while doing it.

if the canadian vendors cant buck up and lower their prices to be competitive, then they will continue losing business to US dealers.

Drsfostersmith.com, marineandreef.com, and marinedepot.com are all really good places to deal with, and the prices are brilliant.

i just ordered a 24G aquapod from drsfostersmith. 360$ with the 150W MH...ive seen them up here selling for around 450-500$...why bother paying that much more?

Heh, not quick enough with a response.....



Please remember that THEY BOUGHT EVERYTHING at prices when the dollar was not equal, I hate narrowmindedness...please realize the markets respond quicker than merchants can often deal with, give them time I'm sure they will come down. Its the same thing with books etc. By all means this does not exonerate Canadian retailers, but it is not often as easy as some poeple think it is. Remember that shipping costs are included in Canadian products as well. You'll notice that for an american made product shipping is higher to canada than to the rest of the u.s.. Canadian prices reflect this.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Puff

i order all my stuff from US online vendors now. and i save 40-60% while doing it.

if the canadian vendors cant buck up and lower their prices to be competitive, then they will continue losing business to US dealers.

Drsfostersmith.com, marineandreef.com, and marinedepot.com are all really good places to deal with, and the prices are brilliant.

i just ordered a 24G aquapod from drsfostersmith. 360$ with the 150W MH...ive seen them up here selling for around 450-500$...why bother paying that much more?

If you payed 360 from them I would call them, as they are 329 on sale right now.

[Xtasia]

Our local retailers are already in a very competitive market where they make very little mark-up.

So their prices may have not caught up to the fluctuating Canadian Dollar, but it is important to support OUR LOCAL businesses. They are the ones who provide us with information (and deals) on a day to day while maintaining an educated staff. You will not get any of that off a US website.

SUPPORT YOUR LFS!

[marcingo]

I know that in Edmonton at least our good old lfs gouge everyone. When I was buying everything from livestock to equipment it was in some cases half the price to buy it from JL aquatic (and im including shipping here) as compared to any LFS in the city. As to educated staff, I beg to differ. The only educated staff I found in this city were in small lfs where the owners ran them. I say if you want educated answers research it yourself. However in the defence of LFS in edmonton there have been a few smaller ones, those run by their owners that weren't complete rip offs. (I realize the rebuttal to this will be they have lower overhead cost)

Therefore even though this isnt related to the american canadian purchases, I do not at all agree that we should support LFS.

But then again what isnt a rip off in alberta.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by marcingo

I know that in Edmonton at least our good old lfs gouge everyone. When I was buying everything from livestock to equipment it was in some cases half the price to buy it from JL aquatic (and im including shipping here) as compared to any LFS in the city. As to educated staff, I beg to differ. The only educated staff I found in this city were in small lfs where the owners ran them. I say if you want educated answers research it yourself. However in the defence of LFS in edmonton there have been a few smaller ones, those run by their owners that weren't complete rip offs. (I realize the rebuttal to this will be they have lower overhead cost)

Therefore even though this isnt related to the american canadian purchases, I do not at all agree that we should support LFS.

But then again what isnt a rip off in alberta.

I will support Canadian, but not necessarily local, local support depends on how I'm treated...and that always varies with what i am spending so. I do like to see fish i purchase though, and for that reason alone i usually purchase locally. Though I do prefer the experiences Ive had in calgary with those of edmonton, but a few I nvere was able to checkout, being aquarium enthusiasts, reefwerks (which I'ver never heard a bad thing about, congrats) I've bought off howdy and wow is all i can say. And yes Albert is OK...

[marcingo]

reefwerkz, marine experience and little oceans were the small vendors who I had mentioned actually had reasonable prices as well as educated staff but these are again all run by their owners. However I havent had the opportunity to shop in calgary but I know edmontons bigger LFS are aweful. Anyway Im going to stop here since this thread is about prices Sorry for getting off track. I guess I should find another place to vent lol.