Why Buy In The U.S. Instead of Canada For Some Items

Yesterday, Sharp Canada announced that the BD-HP20U Blu-Ray player is available in Canada. So far, it's nothing big. It's about 5 weeks after the U.S. announcement. I can understand some delay because we are used to that here.

But here is the kicker for Canadians: the suggested retail price is $649CAD thus $100 more than the U.S. suggested retail price of $549USD. It can be easily found online for $499USD.

I even found the BD-HP20U on amazon.com for $444.06USD. If you find this in a few months, it will be even lower.

What's the problem then?

I'm sure that some of you might think that the exchange rate may be a factor for the higher price. It's not! The Canadian dollar is now higher by a few cents than the American dollar. Both could have the same suggested retail price but the online/b&m price could be around the $500CAD mark depending on the variation of both currencies.

Another example

It not only Sharp but also Fox with Prison Break Season 1 in Blu-Ray. On amazon.com and amazon.ca, they show the list price:

U.S.: $99.98 ($69.95)
CAD: $139.98($97.99)

I could understand if a French audio track was added to the Canadian version but it's only in English.

Cars are the same

Many think of going south of the borders to buy an high price car. Of course, some Canadian manufacturers won't respect the warranty on those cars. But the difference can easily pay for most troubles that could be found.

John Chow mentioned an example this past summer where it was $50K for a Porsche and the Canadian dollar was bit less versus the American dollar. With the same numbers, it's now $54K if they stayed the same and not reacted on that issue.

Conclusion

Those examples also demonstrate how some Canadian corporations are shooting themselves in the foot by making such greedy decisions and/or not reacting faster. If people start to do more cross border shopping, they only have themselves to blame.

It looks like the Canadian dollar will be strong in the months ahead. In a year, it could be an all new situation but it's better to react faster to remain competitive.