A cheap e310 for Canadians

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.handheldcanada.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=H&Product_Code=TS0003&Affiliate=ppcthoughts">http://www.handheldcanada.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=H&Product_Code=TS0003&Affiliate=ppcthoughts</a><br /><br />As a Canadian, I've always found it very frustrating that Amazon doesn't ship electronics to Canada. Well, if you were looking for a good deal on an e310, our affiliate partner Handheld Canada has one. It's not quite as cheap as our American friends are getting it for from Amazon, but at $539.99 CND, it's the least expensive Pocket PC I've ever seen being sold up here in Canada. Check it out - Christmas is coming soon...

[bdeli]

Good price, but still no catch with Amazon's pricing which is around $471CAD (with rebate) including free shipping and not GST/PST to pay!

[Birdman]

That's only if you can get it shipped to someone in the US for you. If you ship it to Canada, they will slap GST and PST on at the border.

If the e310 had a CF sleeve for using a CF modem, I would buy it tomorrow! With no ability to connect to my firm's RAS with a CF modem, I just can't justify it.

[bdeli]

That's only if you can get it shipped to someone in the US for you. If you ship it to Canada, they will slap GST and PST on at the border.

Yes i know that! Had my share of paying GST/PST + handling charges from UPS/Fedex sometimes costing more than the GST/PST paid. The other option is to buy the stuff whilst on holiday in the US of A.

[szamot]

or have it shipped to the US office and then havind a friend ship it to you via interoffice mail. That's what I do - works and it saves a bundle - but it is hard to ship large items

[szamot]

speaking of being Canadian and getting screwed. Bell Mobility is selling Audiovox Thera for $1249 CDN and a $100 credit if you sign a 2 year contract - now that's a far cry from $299.00 US for T-Mobile. That really drives me the wrong way.

[CoffeeKid]

Agreed on the Thera screw over. I was in a Bell Mobility store in Richmond, BC, and was almost bowled over by the price. After the sticker shock subsided, the CSR was quite indignant. I told him about the TMobile pricing on a (better?) PPC device, and he didn't believe me.

In some cases, our pricing up here is okay, but in most cases in the PPC world, it's a joke. As is availability.

This topic (a bit of a drift here, not much) reminds me of the last time I walked into a Futile Shop, about 3 years ago. I'd already been on the Internet for about 5 years+ by this point, and was shopping for my first CF card. I was more than a bit bowled over by the pricing then - IIRC, the FS pricing on CF cards was at least 3x higher than typical US-listed prices on the Internet at the time even with the exchange rate calculated (btw, the difference in CF pricing still exists today, but more like 1.25x - 1.5x the price diff).

I told the FS robot about these immense price differences, and I still remember his reply:

"Oh that Internet thing. I never trust that thing. Those prices were probably bait and switch."

I nearly snorted the Diet Coke I was drinking at the time out of my nose. :)

Mark

[rubberdemon]

It's so great to have a pal in the US. I just bought a firewire Hard Drive and had it shipped to my Seattle buddy where I picked it up on a visit. No tax, and for a $400 drive I saved $150 getting it in the US. If retailers here can't find a way to offer more realistic prices, they're going to lose so much business... It's odd, I mean Dell can offer pretty much the same price on a PC after the exchange rate, but Future Shop charges $650 CDN for the e310 while Amazon has it for $200 less in the US. There are no duties on electronics and computers, so I don't know where the price difference comes from, other than greed. That's crazy, man, just crazy.

[Jonathon Watkins]

.....so I don't know where the price difference comes from, other than greed. That's crazy, man, just crazy.
Just try living in the UK. :roll: It's FAR worse - I wish I could get stuff at Canadian prices! We pay the same in pounds as dollars usually - and at 1.5 dollars to the pound that hurts! :evil:

[Jonathon Watkins]

Check it out - Christmas is coming soon...
Yes - but what other new toys will Santa bring us? :D We know that the Tosh 310 and possibly the 740 are being discontinued - so there will be new toys replacing them - and there is the new IPAQ (for those that like a slippery and shiny PPC :wink:). What else have the elves made for us? :?:

[Paragon]

It's so great to have a pal in the US. I just bought a firewire Hard Drive and had it shipped to my Seattle buddy where I picked it up on a visit. No tax, and for a $400 drive I saved $150 getting it in the US. If retailers here can't find a way to offer more realistic prices, they're going to lose so much business... It's odd, I mean Dell can offer pretty much the same price on a PC after the exchange rate, but Future Shop charges $650 CDN for the e310 while Amazon has it for $200 less in the US. There are no duties on electronics and computers, so I don't know where the price difference comes from, other than greed. That's crazy, man, just crazy.

What happens with a lot of products is once it gets to Canada it has gone through another pair of hands that has to slap it's markup on it as well. Many US distributors don't simply ship product to their Canadian counterpart...they actually sell it to them. If a US distributor was to sell something to CompUSA that same distributor would sell the product (for a smaller markup) to their Canadian subsiduary which then sell it to Futureshop who then put their markup on it. Too many fingers in the pie!

Plus I think Canadian companies like to live off a higher percentage of markup. This may be do partly to the fact that the cost of living, and doing business in Canada is higher. Higher taxes, rent, interest rates and so on.

Dave

[bdeli]

A random pick from Futureshop: 128MB SD with taxes = $109.99 US. 128MB SD from http://www.ecost.com = $59.95 US.

[szamot]

Not that long ago I got the 2gig pcmcia kingston drive in the states $87.00 US in Canada $360 CDN that's getting screwed by a big bhaba without elbow grease people! Still no 39xx in sight.

[CoffeeKid]

http://www.handheldcanada.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=H&Product_Code=TS0003&Affiliate=ppcthoughts

As a Canadian, I've always found it very frustrating that Amazon doesn't ship electronics to Canada. Well, if you were looking for a good deal on an e310, our affiliate partner Handheld Canada has one. It's not quite as cheap as our American friends are getting it for from Amazon, but at $539.99 CND, it's the least expensive Pocket PC I've ever seen being sold up here in Canada. Check it out - Christmas is coming soon...

I don't want to screw with your affiliate link, Jason, but the e310 is sold by a fairly large ecommerce shop based out of Quebec for $500 (has been for a little while now) and shipping into BC or your province would only entail GST. Of course, it's our duty as honest and government loving citizens to report the purchase to our respective provinces, and voluntarily pay the PST... :)

Still, in BC, this would save you 7.5% of the purchase price which more than makes up for this company's flat rate shipping via expedited post.

[vwgm]

What is the name of this place that sells the e310 for 500$cdn in Quebec.
Thanks

[kiwi]

yeah, whats this place? do they sell IPods?!

:)

well I kinda enjoyed coming to Canada and payign cheaper prices for PPCs (tehn getting hit with flippin gst/pst!) but for the past 2 years I have been buying stuff off ebay and shipping to NZ! My E105 came from a cheap deal in the UK and the ipaq from the US. In NZ, the UK is actually cheaper!! wow.. and at 3.3 x 1UKP thats saying something. Last I heard, the Ipaq 3970 was about $CA1250 inc taxes in NZ.

Oh well, it all good fun! right? :roll:

Bri

[Paragon]

What is the name of this place that sells the e310 for 500$cdn in Quebec.
Thanks

The company is Cendirect

http://www.cendirect.com/main_en/tech_specs.asp?rPart_no=JO483678

Dave