Canadian Brickpickers

[tiltingmsh]

HI, new member and first post and all that Love this site, I'm so glad I found it.

As many of you probably know, here in Canada we generally pay at least 20% more for Lego than our friends in the States. I was curious how fellow Canadians manage to make this hobby profitable. After buying a few sets for my own enjoyment, I discovered this site and realized collecting Lego can actually be profitable, and in my enthusiasm I ran out and bought a couple sets I figured had potential at 20% off the retail price. What a great start!, I figured. Enter the sets into my Brickfolio and I realize I'm already showing a loss because even at 20% off I still paid more than the set are currently worth on the market because our prices here are so inflated.

So, my first lesson in investing learned, I'm now exploring other options. I live close to the US border (Vancouver, BC), so I can make trips down south, which is really good. I see American Walmarts will have unadvertised clearance of certain sets, but I'm not sure if our Walmarts do that here. Seems like our sales are always advertised and are the same across all the stores. Have any Canadians ever found clearance Lego at Walmart not advertised in a flyer, etc?

Also, I am very interested in online purchasing options. Are Canadians ordering from Amazon.com or Amazon.uk able to turn a small profit with shipping costs, exchange rates, etc? Amazon.ca appears to be next to useless for buying Lego at a decent price, from what I've seen so far in my admittedly limited research. Any other tips on how to be profitable in Canada?

Thanks guys.

[Ed Mack]

Welcome to the site.

[Hansolo55]

Hey! we should carpool down to Bellingham Washington lol Then wrestle over potential Walmart and target clearance deals! I'm in Langley and have only just stared collecting Lego for investment purposes. Seeing as I'm very close to the border I don't buy a single Lego item from Canadian retailers unless it's 40-50% off, and this is hard to do. Even some sets at TRU in Canada at 40% off aren't the best bargain I find. Everything I get for investment purposes (and personal collection) comes from Amazon.com or driving into the states for deals! Even with the duty (12%) its way cheaper than in Canada. Plus with Amazon's great cycle of sales online it's possible to turn decent profits. But I find you do have to be patient and wait for a great Amazon deal to make it pay when adding tax plus duty. Amazon.com doesn't ship to Canada for the most part, but I have an account with 'Ship happens" in Sumas Washington. They're a third party shipper/receiver. (only 2 minutes across the border) I have my own 'CODE" that I put in the shipping info, and have the item shipped to their address. They notify me when they receive a package and I go pick it up plain and simple! it costs $5 per box to pickup, so I usually order multiple sets that come in one box to help reduce cost. Unfortunately Amazon charges 8% tax when shipping to Washington state, plus you'll pay another 12% duty at the border coming back. So yes we're looking at about 20% more cost compared to US residents that get charged no tax (or duty obviously) . And I factor in gas expense etc. So we're behind the 8 ball no doubt. BUT, when amazon puts on a great sale for 30-35% off you're still paying LESS THAN AMERICAN RETAIL all said and done. If its an EOL item I think it's well worth it, but I only look for EOL items or larger sets that I'm sure will do very well down the road. I'm fortunate I live very close to the border and close to my third party receiver, but I also take advantage of any extended time staying in the US. If I'm there for more than 48 hours I have an $800 duty free limit. So when I do go down (2 or 3 times a year for this amount of time) I take FULL AVDANTAGE of this. I plan ahead and start looking for online deals well ahead of my trip. I'll buy them and have them waiting for me. The last stop before heading home is picking up my precious LEGO This is clearly the highlight of my trip .. And bring it all back DUTY FREE! Plus I'll be sure to check every Target, Walmart and TRU I come across along the way to hopefully score some clearance deals on the road. We'll never be able to make profits the same as those lucky Americans, but at least we have free health care! PS: I also make sure my gas tank is almost empty when I cross the line. I fill up my tank in the states which saves me about $15-$20 a tank! BONUS!

[Darth Lego]

Welcome to Brickpicker! I live in MN.

[Arcanum777]

As a Canadian myself, I will tell you to watch Amazon France for good deals. They had a bunch of stuff on their site quite cheap before Christmas and their shipping is not all that bad - especially when compared to some of the other European Amazons. For most of the stuff I bought I ended up paying about US retail delivered to my door, but hey, it beats the ridiculous mark up we pay here. I should mention that I only buy the larger sets for investment so I am not too familiar with the savings on the smaller ones.

[tiltingmsh]

Hmm not sure why this was moved here...I was more interested in asking for advice for Canadian Lego buyers, not just introducing myself...:-/ Anyways, thnx for the replies and welcome guys Hansolo55 - I wasn't aware Amazon.com didn't ship to Canada. Lots of good advice, this is the kind of info I was interested in, thanks so much. And true, the free health care takes the sting out of our inflated Lego prices hahaha Aranum777 - I will definitely check out Amazon France. I've checked out Amazon UK before but never thought to check France. Thanks :)

[Brick_BreakDown]

I also happen to live in canada (toronto) have you thought about buying your lego in the states while being on vacation and bringing it back with you. I happen to own a P.O. box in Niagara falls witch allows me to order lego from lego.com, most sellers on ebay and amazon. after staying in the states for week or so I pass by my P.O. box and pass through the border problem free.