Buying JVC Projector's online for us Canadians.

Best option I know is to order from the US sponsors here [Proj People, Visual Apex, AVS], and have them ship it to a US Kinek address you create for yourself thats closest to you [this is free to sign up for].
Then you just cross the border, go to the Kinek drop point, identify yourself, pay an extra pittance for the Kinek service [based on weight of the package and there is no membership or subscription fee], pick it up and bring it back.
Google Kinek and you will see how easy it is.

I know a person here in our office who has used it and it was smooth as silk for them and I plan to use it to save at least $1600-$1800 on a 7900 or 8000 Mitsi within the next 6 months.

Dont know what Canucks usually crossover from Alberta to the US for one one-day trips, but you can use the same excuse [food, sightseeing, etc] to the Canadian customs official on the way back.
Also, dont use shopping as an excuse because I believe a one-day trip doesnt have an allowance anymore.

Make sure you come back when there is a long line-up as they need to process the line a lot faster than they normally would and its a lot less likely they will pull you over for any reason.

Obviously, you dont mention the projector and take it out of the shipping box before you put it in the trunk otherwise the waybill will be a dead giveaway if you do get checked.
Remember that good stores ship it in an outer box with padding.

Its actually a lot easier than what I state it, especially if you are Caucasian and the work colleague who did this is Chinese and he had the least issues.

HTH

I got my JVC RS-1 from http://www.complete-it.ca/ 5 years ago. It did cost more but I was worried about the Warranty.

JVC Canada will not honor the warranty if purchased across the border. If you have any issues, you will need to send it back to the USA for service. When I signed up for the JVC pre-order, AVS Mike informed me of the warranty issues.
If the shipping does not bother you, I would have AVS ship to a US address, then on to you using USPS. Don't play games with border patrol.

What do you drive?

I bought locally as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkC2ve9j8ME&feature=player_detailpage

Got it!

100% agreed.

To tell people in a public forum that they should break the law and not declare something coming through border customs, is (to put it bluntly), stupid.

I will be buying my JVC projector in Canada because:

(1) Once you factor in getting it across the border legally, there's little savings.
(2) No problems with warranty issues.

Kal

This is also illegal. Pay the duties and taxes (both will be necessary as unlike many TVs, projectors are not manufactured in Mexico and are thus not exempt of duties.

I don't discourage people from buying from the US when prices are a big difference. But you are trying to beat the system...and acts like this just end up costing us all in the long run.

Yes, there are extra costs of doing business in this great land of ours, and those costs get reflected in increased pricing above just straight exchange rates.

1. Population is spread out further than the US, and shipping costs are higher
2. Retailers in Canada sell fewer units than those in the US, and as such, request higher margins and expect to make more per unit to 'get by'...so fewer discounts
3. More employees mean higher costs. A US manufacturer's office has approximately 10x higher revenue, but not 10x the staffing costs. In Canada, a company like Sharp or JVC may have 5 accounting staff...in the US, there aren't 50. So operating costs in Canada are higher than the US.
4. Higher taxes...not only the end consumer, but for everything that the Canadian subsidiary does...marketing, events, promotion materials, etc.

There are many more reason...but unfortunately, the average consumer just looks at the exchange rate...which really isn't accurate.

Also once you factor in that you will have to drive back and ship the unit back to JVC US if you have even a single problem, then go back to pick it up...any cost savings are usually eliminated.

Go speak with your local JVC dealer...and keep in mind that to do things the right and legal way, will almost certainly eat up any savings from purchasing from the US. You'll also be supporting your fellow Canadian business people...which is just really...well...Canadian!

I bought a JVC projector from our host here 3 yrs ago and found it to be well worthwhile. They shipped it to me in Vancouver and I was able to self clear it through customs at the airport. I was only charged tax not duty because it was classified as a computer peripheral ( not sure if this is still true but Customs will know). The shipping cost from AVS was very reasonable. The warranty issue is something to consider but AVS said they would help me expedite through JVC in Ca but I never had a warranty issue.If I had, I can get across the border in about 20 min so I would have shipped from there and picked there when it was returned from JVC. I saved more than $1000 compared to Cdn prices at the time.

I live in Canada 20 mins from the border into Niagara Falls NY. I drove to Rochester to pick up my JVC B stock from AVS. I paid all the duty/taxes when I entered back into Canada and still saved about $1200 over the best deal I could find in Ontario.

I haven't bought from any of the following online retailers, but there are options in Canada that are competitive with US pricing once you consider expenses to get one from the US into Canada and then consider you won't get any support for it in Canada. 5 years ago I bought a Panasonic from the states and had to return it for warranty service in the states, that was a pain in the butt, but at the time the discrepancy between US and Canadian retailers was MUCH higher.

Anyway, some of these retailers may not be official resellers so do your homework first:

http://www.quebecacoustic.com/
http://hd.ca/
http://www.eastporters.com/estore/
http://sonicvisions.ca/

These are the retailers I plan on calling on when the time is right.

I buy pretty much everything from the US, electronics wise. As long as they will ship with USPS, there is no need to bother going to the boarder or doing anything special. USPS will charge only the tax and nothing else. The same that you will be charged if you picked it up yourself. I've bought 4 projectors from the US and made sure it's fine that if something goes wrong, I can send it back to the US where I bought it from for repair no questions. Some retailers are fine with that, some aren't, just find the right one. In the past 5 years. If it gets shipped with fedex, ups or any one else, it's worth heading to the boarder if possible but not USPS and projectors are not to big and can be shipped with them. When I bought my AE7000 last year on launch, I paid $300 in taxes on $3300... saved over $800 from any place in Canada.

I bought my RS-45 from Quebec Acoustics, great to deal with and I got it for basically the same as the US price and that was when it was first released. I'd buy from them again.

+1 for Quebec Acoustics. I'm on my 3rd projector from them.

I also live in Alberta

After talking to mike from AVS, I was inform he could not sell to Canada (JVC policies).
So I end up ordering from Eastporter
It was ship using Canada Post without an itch.

Ray

I did a lot of checking around when purchasing my last 3-JVC projectors. There is a dealer in Lloydminister AB that came within a couple hundred dollar of what I could get it for anywhere in the USA. That was an easy decision since that has Canadian warranty....that I had to use on my second projector because of a red banding issue. JVC Canada replaced it for me and paid the freight.

I also recommend Quebec Acoustics. The price was basically the same as the US dealers best for the JVC RS55 last January, and when I had a convergence issue with the original unit, Richard was very helpful in securing a new replacement.

I just tried looking/ calling, after 4 transfers, no one can tell me at jvc who is an authorized reseller . Can you imagine getting service from them?, and I still can't find this info., all sites state they are authorized, hmm.

Have you tried http://www.jvc.ca/www/Support/Dealers.aspx?d=J1

Eastporters and Sonic vision are a pretty good choices. I've read somewhere that Eastporters, at least for Epson, are not an authorized dealer (internet rumors). You can get a good deal on an Epson and their customer service is really good, they'll honor the warranty. I believe they are an authorized dealer for JVC. I have bought from Sonic Vision and they are really good to deal with as well.

Places an order today for one from Eastporters, they are authorized dealer according to jvc site. Very good deal with extra bulb

Placed! (gotta love iPhone auto correct)...