Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Compared to amazon.co.uk. You can get most things you need or want on the UK site but here it is like an old catalogue, like Freemans, which I seem to remember had shit stuff in it too!

Oh dear, I am comparing and whingeing again!

Cheeaz,
Jim

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Yes it is.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

:(I know- I keep getting Christmas vouchers for there from well meaning UK relatives and I haven't spent any of the last three Christmas ones!

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Yep, limited selection and very expensive - some CDs and DVDs/Blurays are double the price of local stores. I use Amazon.com and ship it to a mailbox in the US.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

I find it changes. Sometimes it's better and/or cheaper.

Particularly the case with marketplace (new or used) purchases.

Quite often there is something on the US site from a seller and the cost includes a high mailing fee and then you look on the Canadian site and the same item is advertised by the same US seller for the same price, but the mailing cost is 'domestic' and works out quite a bit cheaper.

The US site also appears to be charging an import fee now as well. That wasn't there last time I ordered from them.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

...... but it's shit compared to UK, innit?

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Yes it is. Although it's only a real problem when amazon.com says "we do not ship to your location"

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

There's not as much there, but I do find identical things on there cheaper than UK or US.

Just a few days ago I ordered a CD (new) from The Canadian site that was a couple of quid cheaper than the UK site.

I also ordered a CD from the UK site that was cheaper than the Canadian one.

A score draw :)

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

We had a parcel from amazon ca that came from missausaga to Toronto via Calgary !

Tracking it online was fun , where's it going to be today ?
We calculated we could have walked there and collected it quicker !

I don't think it's that bad , judging by the steady stream of amazon boxes arriving in the mail , Ben obviously finds stuff to buy . I guess it could just be porn though ;)

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

It's kind of where amazon.co.uk/.com were about 10 years ago, you could get books and CDs, usually cheaper than RRP (not always), or a poor selection of electronics well above street prices.
So yes, it's pants. We struggle every year to spend the inevitable amazon.ca vouchers, but there are so few Canadian retailers that offer any kind of voucher/giftcards that can be purchased from abroad.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Why? Amazon is a good competitive company, so Why is the service so crap for Canada? I bought just about everything I wanted before I left Europe because I refused to use them here, and I haven't. Is it just that the Canadians don't demand better service?

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

It's business I think. There is a smaller customer base here spread over a greater distance so they cannot afford to stock the kind of items that amazon.co.uk has. Having said that, in the Yookay amazon has partnered up with other companies to sell and distribute their goods, so maybe that is not done here.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Welcome to Canada, eh?

What have we here? Home-grown Canadian retailing is behind the times, seemingly, compared to other parts of the world - at least that's the impression I get here in NS.
Zellers = BHS or Littlewoods c.1978?
The Bay = Debenhams c.1985
Leon's = DFS c.1992

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

I don't even use amazon here,I have maybe used it 2 or 3 times since it started.
I'm just not a fan of amazon for some reason,I use ebay,and some online shopping,I have checked amazon to compare prices,but I've always found cheaper on ebay,or other online retailers.

I would have thought that the cities in Canada would have had plenty of shops with a good variety,I'm aiming for Edmonton next month,surely that huge shopping centre(or mall) must have plenty of shops,etc..

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Everything is cheaper in the US. Canadians don't care; they are either apologists for how it is or they cross the border to buy stuff.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Canadians dont get the whole internet shopping thing. They prefer to pay top dollar for just about everything. .

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

I think that these companies would fall foul of the Monopolies Commission in the UK - Rogers definitely would. They charge stupid prices for mobile phones and there is not much competition.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Yet people still choose to move here :rofl:
Crap banking, no competition for mobile phones, crap internet shopping, expensive food prices, outrageous car insurance, expensive booze with no competition, less than ideal education standards, expensive rents for housing, really outrageous air fare prices and etc etc etc
So one has to ask why are you coming here:confused:

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Why do some people get all defensive when people make valid observations about life in Canada.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

I guess the same reasons people in the UK would if Canadians went over there and started slagging of the UK.
Nobody is disputing that we have higher prices in Canada for SOME not all things. I guess if they lived in certain other countries where there is little or no high speed internet, no Amazon.Botswana, no cable TV etc etc then those would also be valid observations as well.
It is what it is so they better get used to it.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

We have this conversation on here all the time - it boils down to the fact that Canada is a large country and shipping costs are not subsidized by the govt. the way they are in the US (USPS receives huge assistance from the US Treasury)

So Canada Post charges much higher prices for shipping and also the service is slower. Because they're competing with Canada Post, DHL/Purolator and UPS are also slower and more expensive.

Plus - unlike the UK, you cannot avoid the taxes on products (stuff below £15 is exempt from VAT when imported for example from outside the EU, so Amazon has a warehouse on Jersey) or like the US, where you can avoid sales tax by buying out-of-State.

So when you buy on-line in Canada, you have to pay all the tax you would normally pay plus shipping, plus the shipping is expensive and slow.

So why buy on-line? Quicker and easier to go to the shops. Ergo internet shopping in Canada is pretty bad.

Frankly I think Canada's retail market is a level playing field, I always think it is crazy in the US where they provide massive competitive advantages to companies like Amazon at the cost of local retailers, or how it works in the UK where they have the exempt VAT limit (which basically allows Amazon to offer "free" shipping).

So I think it isn't accurate to say that it's worse - it's fair. This is how a retail market should look.

Also the moral of the story is don't think you're going to move to Canada and start a successful on-line business using Ebay or whatever. If you're going to do that you're going to have to open this thing called a "store".

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

That was the case but it has changed in the last few years.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Mmm, it is but one could argue it protected us against the recession to some extent. The one thing that really annoys me is the InterAC system which was basically thought up due to paranoia about the fees visa/mc charge.

Not true anymore.

Reasons explained above.

Sometimes, depends on what you're buying. Also where you buy it. And the govt. is trying to reform it by scrapping the wheat board for example.

Never quite get this comment, mine isn't much more expensive and given the weather I would expect it to be higher. But yes the market has too much interference from the govt. and let's face it in some provinces like BC and SK it is a state-run company.

Yes, but it does kill the yobbo culture, although the situation in Ontario is absurd with the Beer Store and LCBO.

Apparently Alberta has the best schools in the English-speaking world according to the speech Cameron gave in Ottawa. Not entirely sure I believe him - but they are way better than they are in the US.

Are they? Compared to London for example?

Well fuel prices are basically the same everywhere and it's a big country so they're going to be a bit higher. But taxes on the tickets are lower.

For the weather, obviously. :p

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Don't know why you're bothering to explain. All are completely true and worthy of comment apart from the rent and the education, which doesn't effect me.

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I guess cleaner air, more space, more sunlight and cheaper house (here at least).

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I guess you are not living in Hamilton for the cleaner air, or the GTA for more space or Vancouver for cheaper housing ;)

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Just getting back to the point of the thread - internet shopping is obviously worse but the internet infrastructure itself is better than in the UK by a long distance. The UK recently basically gave up adopting IP v6 and their infrastructure is definitely more prone to failure imx. Average home bandwidth is higher as well here.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

The Jimmy Eat World CD I just bought retails for $16.99 in the local HMV store. Plus tax. Plus the cost to get there (although our buses are free right now:))

Amazon Canada $12.60 inclusive tax and shipping.

Amazon UK $17.58 inclusive
Amazon UK Marketplace $15.99 inclusive

Amazon USA $17.11 inclusive
Amazon USA Marketplace $14.47 inclusive.

Of course, I realise that naming the band enables people to have a dig at my purchase, thus discrediting the attempt at showing Amazon Canada can be the best deal. :rofl:

Better than local purchase and better than both Amazon UK & US.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Im wondering what the OP was trying to get and if they succeeded?

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No, I live in Canada's ocean playground. :-)

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Just curious why Hamilton doesn't have clean air. The current AQHI is as following:

Hamilton 3 - Low Risk
Calgary 5 - Moderate Risk
Edmonton 4 - Moderate Risk

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Because after you've moved your family here, you finally realize that Amazon.ca is about as good as it's going to get.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Amazon in the US seems to prefer the private companies, in all the years and thousands I have ordered from Amazon, they have never shipped me anything by the postal service, always some unknown small shipper, or UPS.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Depends on what you're buying, I do buy stuff occasionally from Amazon Canada but usually I find it is cheaper to go to the store. Certainly faster. I think the most recent example was when I bought a camera.

Also something else about Canada - I always find it is better to stick to Canadian chains rather than American ones, with rare exceptions (usually ones that have been around for ages like Home Depot). Prices at Visions and Soundsaround imx for example are far lower than at Best Buy. Strangely Future Shop prices seem to be lower than Best Buy as well even though they're owned by Best Buy.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

For cell phones you have:

Rogers (Fido), Bell (Virgin), Telus (koodoo) and now as long as you dont live in a rural area, you also likely have Wind, Mobilicity, Public or one of the other smaller companies setting up shop.

I would not say its a monopoly at all.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Yes but those shippers are competing with USPS. Also Fedex and some of the other carriers use USPS for some of their logistics, they can for example deliver a letter by dropping it off at the post office and then USPS performs the local delivery. Try doing that with Canada Post and they will be much slower.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

I never really considered private companies as competitors. The USPS is performing a essential service, the private companies are performing a service simply for profit, and can pick and choose where to deliver.

UPS and Fedex wont deliver a small letter in 3 days for whatever the cost of postage is now.

Canada Post can't even deliver a local letter in 3 days half the time. :rofl:

Say what you want but a postal service is and should not be a private for profit entity, I am fine with a government subsidized postal system.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Quite often FedEx is cheaper than Canada post when it comes to international tracked delivery (such as FedEx ground to the US), which isn't really right.

I'm with Jsmth321, I would much rather have a USPS style mail service in Canada. It's not just the public/private issue either, Canada Post's workers get great benefits and paid very high salaries for what they do and the little hours they work. Seems like they get all the benefits of a public company without actually being publicly controlled.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

Everyone always goes on about the negatives though, I assume because they notice them more.

What about GST only being 5%, compared to VAT being 20% (I realize it is higher in other provinces but nowhere near 20%)?
What about car registration fees, it's only $70 per year in Alberta.
What about the price of gasoline?
Lower income taxes and much lower payroll taxes (maximum class 1 ni is like $6,700 vs $3,100 for cpp/ei - and the employer contributions are staggeringly higher in the UK).
Lower house prices (okay maybe not as noticeable in Vancouver).

It's a pretty long list. Just the GST difference alone easily takes care of my higher car insurance bill and then some.

Re: Amazon.ca is pants!
 

The UPS service is a really pants. I bought a few books at a conference, which I paid in full, including shipping and then the courier bloke who came to my office wanted to charge me double for shipping and duties etc. So Janice (the nice lady downstairs) told them to stick it up their bottom, two days later they called and said they'd deliver them for no extra charge. :blink: