Why are the Eggs so Darn Expesive in Canada?

Skiddymarker · August 2012

dantesinferno said:

There is a place in Amherst, NY who sells the XL for 989. I may have to make the trip over the boarder and pick it up. I can't see the duty being anywhere close to 500 buck Canadians will save. The warranty, could one not just go thru the US BGE and have the parts sent to the store or a US postal address?

Yep. I live in Delta BC, my dealer is in Bellingham Wa. For warranty claims I can (and have) contacted my dealer who handles everything for me. The week I bought they sold to 4 other Canadians.

We bought a MBGE with setter, cast grid and some other stuff, tax, for $750, the price in Canada was almost $1200. With our new 48 hour duty free allowance of $800, and what we saved on the egg, we spent two days in Tulalip and brought it back duty and tax free.

There is no duty on an egg, just GST/PST or HST, so in Ontario, convert the $US (tax included) to $CDN, then calculate HST. The entire item is subject to HST, you cannot buy any one item more than $800 and apply your exemption. I think a MBGE is the largest you can get tax and duty free. Even so, an XLBGE might cost you $150 HST.

Canadian retailers need the support of government to level the playing field, Notice how government changed the 48 hour tax free limit from $400 to $800 yet there was no change to the amount of alcohol? Because alcohol is the government's business.

All the extra taxes we pay does not all go to health care. It pays for our politicians. We have 308 MPs, the US has only some 435 Congressmen and they have ten times more people. Hell, we have more senators than they do and we don't even elect them. Our cost of government is ridiculous, and you pay for it with everything you buy.

Charcoal_Addict · August 2012

I just couldn't justify paying 60% more for the BGE in Canada. $1499 - 1699 is just way too much when US clients are paying. The Big Joe wasn't perfect either. It did cost me $200 more than the US list to buy in Canada.

dantesinferno · August 2012

Skiddymarker said:

dantesinferno said:

There is a place in Amherst, NY who sells the XL for 989. I may have to make the trip over the boarder and pick it up. I can't see the duty being anywhere close to 500 buck Canadians will save. The warranty, could one not just go thru the US BGE and have the parts sent to the store or a US postal address?

Yep. I live in Delta BC, my dealer is in Bellingham Wa. For warranty claims I can (and have) contacted my dealer who handles everything for me. The week I bought they sold to 4 other Canadians.
We bought a MBGE with setter, cast grid and some other stuff, tax, for $750, the price in Canada was almost $1200. With our new 48 hour duty free allowance of $800, and what we saved on the egg, we spent two days in Tulalip and brought it back duty and tax free.
There is no duty on an egg, just GST/PST or HST, so in Ontario, convert the $US (tax included) to $CDN, then calculate HST. The entire item is subject to HST, you cannot buy any one item more than $800 and apply your exemption. I think a MBGE is the largest you can get tax and duty free. Even so, an XLBGE might cost you $150 HST.
Canadian retailers need the support of government to level the playing field, Notice how government changed the 48 hour tax free limit from $400 to $800 yet there was no change to the amount of alcohol? Because alcohol is the government's business.
All the extra taxes we pay does not all go to health care. It pays for our politicians. We have 308 MPs, the US has only some 435 Congressmen and they have ten times more people. Hell, we have more senators than they do and we don't even elect them. Our cost of government is ridiculous, and you pay for it with everything you buy.

Thanks for the great info on the duties and warranty. Perhaps I can have a conversation with the BGE dealer and have him write me up a fake receipt for a medium to show the customs office and the real receipt for an XL for warranty. Like you, if I can save 300 and have a nice small vaykay in the US for two days that's a good deal. We totally pay to much for certain things here and there is no way its going to good causes all the time.

Charcoal_Addict · August 2012

dantesinferno said:

Skiddymarker said:

dantesinferno said:

There is a place in Amherst, NY who sells the XL for 989. I may have to make the trip over the boarder and pick it up. I can't see the duty being anywhere close to 500 buck Canadians will save. The warranty, could one not just go thru the US BGE and have the parts sent to the store or a US postal address?

Yep. I live in Delta BC, my dealer is in Bellingham Wa. For warranty claims I can (and have) contacted my dealer who handles everything for me. The week I bought they sold to 4 other Canadians.
We bought a MBGE with setter, cast grid and some other stuff, tax, for $750, the price in Canada was almost $1200. With our new 48 hour duty free allowance of $800, and what we saved on the egg, we spent two days in Tulalip and brought it back duty and tax free.
There is no duty on an egg, just GST/PST or HST, so in Ontario, convert the $US (tax included) to $CDN, then calculate HST. The entire item is subject to HST, you cannot buy any one item more than $800 and apply your exemption. I think a MBGE is the largest you can get tax and duty free. Even so, an XLBGE might cost you $150 HST.
Canadian retailers need the support of government to level the playing field, Notice how government changed the 48 hour tax free limit from $400 to $800 yet there was no change to the amount of alcohol? Because alcohol is the government's business.
All the extra taxes we pay does not all go to health care. It pays for our politicians. We have 308 MPs, the US has only some 435 Congressmen and they have ten times more people. Hell, we have more senators than they do and we don't even elect them. Our cost of government is ridiculous, and you pay for it with everything you buy.

Thanks for the great info on the duties and warranty. Perhaps I can have a conversation with the BGE dealer and have him write me up a fake receipt for a medium to show the customs office and the real receipt for an XL for warranty. Like you, if I can save 300 and have a nice small vaykay in the US for two days that's a good deal. We totally pay to much for certain things here and there is no way its going to good causes all the time.

Most of the time it goes into black holes and the money is never seen ever again.

BGE Canada was farily decent overall when I spoke with them. It was the local dealers for BGE here in Edmonton, Alberta that killed BGE for me. Barbeque Country is too pricey and too arrogant. Home Hardware doesn't know the product at all.

BGE needs to work with their dealer network here in western Canada. It's definitely costing them business in Alberta. It doesn't matter how good a product is if dealer are so out of touch with the customers.

bertscampers · August 2012

I agree some of the dealers need to know the product better here in Canada. One dealer tried to sell be a Treager (sp?) pellet smoker instead of the egg.

dantesinferno · August 2012

Nothing worse than having to listen to a sales rep explain something incorrectly.

BRush00 · August 2012

dantesinferno said:

Nothing worse than having to listen to a sales rep explain something incorrectly.

haha - so true.

My sales guy (*) tried to sell me a Chimney Starter when I bought my egg, I entertained him, asked him why etc...

His reasoning for why it was "absolutely required" was that on a long cook, I will have to ADD charcoal to the egg, and when doing so, it's best to pre-light these coals in the chimney starter so that you're not adding cold charcoal to the already hot charcoal.

He then proceeded to tell me that he lives in a condo and as a result, has a small propane grill, and has never used a charcoal grill in his life.

(*) note - my REAL sales guys were really the people of this forum, not this dumb schmuck at a grill store.

Skiddymarker · August 2012

bertscampers said:

I agree some of the dealers need to know the product better here in Canada. One dealer tried to sell be a Treager (sp?) pellet smoker instead of the egg.

I'll bet the dealer makes more on the Traeger than he does on BGE. Northwind Marketing seems to have the distribution rights in Canada and they simply do not care. Why BGE even deals with them is beyond me. Their pricing has cost BGE hundreds of sales as clients move to Vision and Primo, both good units, but not eggs.

As a distributor, they import to Canada without tax or duty. Their cost is the same as the distributor that serves Amherst NY. The difference is they repackage and ship again, that's where the redundant cost is added. As we all know it is very important to get French and English assembly instructions and to do so adds almost 40% to the price of the unit. LBGE in USA $800, LBGE in Canada $1100.

dantesinferno · August 2012

Northwind Marketing are the crooks of all crooks and you are right they have cost the BGE plenty of sales with the markup. The Vision people have been able to bust into the kamado market because of it. If it wasn't double the price for the egg and maybe just 200 more, I think Vision owners would be more likely to purchase the Egg, but double the price is hard to swallow.

I have thought about the Vision for about a minute when I saw it at Costco but just couldn't bring myself to purchase it over the Egg. The Primo is a good alternative but still just an alternative to the Egg for me. Isn't the Primo the same price of the Eggs.

FlyingTivo · August 2012

I recently bought a dirt bike for my kid in the US, and imported to Mexico. Just make a lower cost invoice for the product and you pay less tax. I know i will get flamed, but if i did not show a lower price invoice the custom guys will make themselves a lower one and keep the extra money. So i had to make a lower one so they have a lower margin for corruption. Its not the best choice but its all i had. So my point is you can buy an egg on the USA and have a lower invoice like the 800 limit, and you will not pay tax. In case of warranty, after your import to Canada you will have the receipt that you were except and now you can travel with your egg back and fourth.

Felipe

bertscampers · August 2012

The problem with warranty is that if you buy in the USA you need to be in the USA for warranty. If you are close to the border no problem. I am 2 hours from the border, that 4 hours of driving for a warranty claim. In a month I blew out my gasket, they sent me a new, if I had to cross the border it would not pay off (I realize I could just buy a new one locally). Like I said, it is what it is. I don't like but I wanted an egg. There are many imitations out there now (not so good) and some others that are great quality but I wanted the BGE, I wish the price was closer to the price in the USA but what can Canadians really do?

dantesinferno · August 2012

Lucky for me the boarder is less than an hour away so this may work out for me. Now I'll see if the dealer will help out with the lower price receipt. And if the customs officer figures out that the egg is not the same as what reads on the receipt, then I'll put my hands up and ask for my lawyer.

Skiddymarker · August 2012

bertscampers said:

The problem with warranty is that if you buy in the USA you need to be in the USA for warranty. If you are close to the border no problem. I am 2 hours from the border, that 4 hours of driving for a warranty claim. In a month I blew out my gasket, they sent me a new, if I had to cross the border it would not pay off (I realize I could just buy a new one locally). Like I said, it is what it is. I don't like but I wanted an egg. There are many imitations out there now (not so good) and some others that are great quality but I wanted the BGE, I wish the price was closer to the price in the USA but what can Canadians really do?

Both the gasket and the dome thermometers are covered for one year, in the US. The gasket you might just need, well, will probably need, so pick up an extra one for <$10 when you buy in the US. Even if you have to pay the ridiculous Northwind price of <$30 for a gasket, you could get one in a pinch until the <$10US Amazon.com OEM gasket arrives in the mail, and as it is under $20, there is no duty in the mail. Because you saved over $300 on the egg, supporting a Canadian rip off artist for a $10 gasket he charges $30 for is not all that bad.

The real issue is warranty on the fire box, fire ring, dome, base etc - the big ticket items. They are worth a drive to the US if you live within an hour or two of the border for a warranty claim through your US dealer. Hell, buy a tank of gas, some milk and cheese and you can pay for part of your trip.

Well must go, running across to Blaine Washington to pick up my mail order table nest which is now in, $15.99 no tax in the US, $24.99+HST in Canada

dantesinferno · August 2012

You got a table nest for only that much?

Skiddymarker · August 2012

dantesinferno said:

You got a table nest for only that much?

Back from the US, love that NEXUS. Value of goods? $40 (nest plus some other things). Have a nice day.

Picked up the nest from a dealer in Kansas, I think they are getting out of BGE as much of their stuff was Fire sale. Looks OK, not exactly high tech item. Also picked up some Weber 16" tongs, they had a free shipping deal if order was over $25, otherwise shipping would have been <$10.

Normally the nests are almost the same Canada and USA - this is the table nest, not the $150 wheel nest.

dantesinferno · August 2012

Is this table nest the same as the wheel nest but with out the wheels? Does the egg sit on a table?

Skiddymarker · August 2012

dantesinferno said:

Is this table nest the same as the wheel nest but with out the wheels? Does the egg sit on a table?

No. The table nest gets the egg up an inch or two from the table or surface it is sitting on. Most folks use a patio stone, but that does make it harder to clean. The table nest is a very overpriced $25 option that is really just two pieces of steel held together in the center with a bolt and nut. What makes it ideal is that when you rake the ash out of the egg, you can get a dustpan under the egg to catch all the ash, otherwise you have to get the shop vac or buy a BGE dust pan for $20. I liked the look of the table nest and it ensures a good airflow so you don't need a patio stone, makes the table a little lighter (but when you have a 200 pound egg, who notices another 15 pounds?)

If you look on the forum, you will see many guys make their own tables....

Check this link for a picture

http://issuu.com/biggreenegg/docs/bc_cat_v2_online_version?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage

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Why are the Eggs so Darn Expesive in Canada?

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