van80

Here's a question for all online shoppers here in Canada. What products do you have to buy from the US because they're not available in Canada? I know lots of products that are available in Canada but cheaper in the States, but I'm more interested in those products that just haven't made it up to Canada yet.

Any thoughts?

iaink

Most things I guess are available here if you look around, but ultimately there is a much wider selection of each type of products available in the US, and they are nearly always significantly cheaper.

I just bought a bunch of bits to make a zip line for the kids in the back yard. The brake in particular was not available up here, and the trolley was literally twice the cost ordered from a canadian supplier.

In the past Ive ordered ski boots for the kids as I could not get the adjustable ones I wanted up here. That saved a fortune as each pair was good for three years of foot growth and I recouped almost what I paid selling them on locally once they finally outgrew them.

I bought a fair few bits and bobs for my saxes from the states simply because the used market there is infinitely larger than in Canada and shipping of small stuff is pretty cheap. Some is stuff Ive never seen available up here.

bats

A folding tricycle.

Aviator

Bought an Extra 300, bargain basement price too.

Jericho79

Got my chromecast from there before they were available here.

I get US netflix because, well, Canadian netflix is crap.

MountainHiker

I have yet to find anything that I can't get in Canada, even the more obscure items it's just that it's all so much cheaper in the US.

van80

Thanks everyone! Seems like its just a matter of price mostly - that's been my experience too

magnumpi

I am putting together my own Extra 300, I have a feeling that mine is considerably smaller than yours was. Ooo Mrs.

scrubbedexpat091

When I had aquariums, I ordered my supplies almost exclusively from the US, the hobby isn't nearly as popular in Canada, and there really just wasn't (maybe still isns't) a good supplier online in Canada, and the few there are have a poor selection, and tend to have too high of prices.

dbd33

I considered mentioning aquariums, I order everything from the US, but it is all available in Canada, it's just a matter of price. I think the only things I've purchased in the US that were simply unavailable here have been:

- drugs, at various times different remedies have been licensed there but not here, melatonin springs to mind, it used to be banned in Canada (maybe still is) but OTC in the US so I'd bring it back by the bag full for someone who wanted it.

- hand gun, purchased at a petrol station in the US on the strength of having a Canadian gun license. Not actually licensed in Canada.

- publications, an ex was interested in political publications that were available in the US but banned in Canada. I believe the same was true of some types of pornography. This doesn't apply now, of course, since everything's interneted.

- food items, some things are legal here, some there. A friend who commuted here by private plane used to bring chocolate and take back cheese (thus confounding the canard we see here that cheese is unavailable in Canada).

- cigarettes, "Lucky Strike Original Silver" are, I believe unavailable in Canada, I used to bring them for someone anyway. Marlboro are widely available but they're all smuggled, if you're going to the States you may as well smuggle them yourself.

- fashionable clothes. During my era of schlepping up and down people would have clothing items delivered to the hotel for me to bring to the land of plaid. Inevitably, I'd arrive with slow witted Bob to be handed a bunch of pink lightly perfumed boxes at check in.

haggis88

car parts...

a lot of them are not available in Canada/won't ship to Canada so I need to get them shipped to a border PO Box facility and collect them

still save a fortune since MT doesn't have sales tax ;-)

Piff Poff

+1 but we will find another shipper as the border is too far away for us. Also before Lowes made it up here we did buy some stuff that was preferable to what was available in AB. There is more choice available online but most things required to complete a day are available in Canada.

haggis88

I get a bunch of stuff sent over a period and go collect, the place in Sweetgrass holds it for 90 days at a cost of $5usd (increases with size, they store cars and motorbikes too) which i think is a bargain, then go collect it all at once and pay GST at the border!

There's a lot of carpools on Kijiji here and on the automotive forums for people going down for this reason too...it's a pretty cool setup!

Oink

Thieving seal repellent.

Steve_

Tires - you can get them in Canada but it can be a real trial sometimes depending on the tires you're looking for. Although I have to say it's simply cheaper to go to Discount Tire in the US anyway.

Crystal Light Energy is something I get from the US, for some odd reason the flavours of Crystal Light are different and they don't have the caffeinated ones here at all.

Anyway, true story this, I went to Great Falls once and brought back a fair about of diet cherry pop as you can't get it here, so CBSA gave me a grilling and I had to go to secondary inspection because they couldn't quite believe I would bring back a load of diet cherry pop.

So a couple of weeks later I was chatting to someone and she said she went to Great Falls over the weekend and I asked what she got and she said "oh I got a few litres of Diet Cherry Coke because I use it in mixers and they don't sell it here." And she didn't get grilled by CBSA.

It must be pretty common to randomly have a complete stranger say they did the same thing.