[kwlug-disc] bytes the dust?

Fri May 1 15:47:23 EDT 2015

For me, Canada Computers long ago replaced Tiger Direct - even then I tended more to ncix than Tiger Direct. As I think I said elsewhere, given their retail inventory sparseness, I expect I'll do Canada Computer online next time I run into such.

Add in shopbot.ca (often taking you to amazon.ca, but HookBag and other weird names prevalent too) and Khalid's timely observations of who price matches, and you have a reasonably quick and efficient process of determining what's out there, at what best prices.

Mind you, I've also recently taken Khalid's advice and purchased a Mediasonic 150PVR (OTA PVR) - and expect to return it the day before their 30-day return facility. (Sadly.) I don't know of any other outlet with such useful evaluation periods. (Never mind inet stores where you still have to ship it back, and pay for that shipping, IF you can get such an RMA.) Mediasonic is unrefined, buggy, and unreliable. Seems that whatever user friendliness the VCR brought to us, and the PVR enhanced by making instant and adding things like frame advance ... has gone out the window of consumers' reasonable expectations of today's video presentation. e.g. Seems some devices blank the screen while fast forwarding / rewinding - and people seem OK with that. Giving manufacturers no incentive to deliver a reasonable user experience at least cost. Even the video players I've seen don't match vlc - assuming you've not hit the rare time where vlc is unable or too slow to
 keep up.

- I also took a page from Khalid and got his OTA antenna from Sayal for a weekend. With it got 3 more channels, two French and CITS, so the antenna went back within the 7 days - without trouble or issue. Thanks Khalid!

As a result of investigations around OTA, have ended up purchasing a Tivo with lifetime subscription off eBay - still to arrive. (Every review I see says "Still not as good as a Tivo" ... so ...)

It's been a while since I've eBay'ed, and so experienced courier shock (again) in doing so. Used to be you did USPS Ground, paying something like US$15 (plus CP ~$5 fee & HST) - now it's USPS Priority Mail International (WATCH OUT ... it's Priority Mail EXPRESS International, +~$30, until you click on Display All Options at the top) ... for US$50+

Makes buying in Canada, only, anywhere, even over eBay / shoptbot.ca finds, all but de rigeur. The $50 'surcharge' of USPS makes most things not worth pursuing via US / eBay. Except for the really hard to find things, really low or high spec things, or variety the Canadian market is just too small to justify retailers bringing in. (The U.S. market being more intense, population wise, for it to be worth their while. e.g. WalMart Canada selection vs U.S.)

Along this quest, yet again, I've run into US eBay sellers being unwilling to ship to Canada - despite the ease USPS brings them, or eBay's Global Shipping Program.

Ended up signing up at http://myusaddress.ca/ to get a U.S. address. [Note, not the same as a U.S. PayPal account, which REQUIRES a U.S. credit/debit card and non-P.O. Box  U.S. address - which is to say, all but impossible for a Canadian to satisfy. So if the sellers requires a US PayPal account, you're beat.] Casting about for a "won't ship to Canada" solution, I tended to find two types of results - warehousing solutions (e.g. UPS / FedEx / independent) where you cross the border to pick up your package (self-clearing) [not viable for K-W], and forwarding solutions - except they forward via the regular couriers, and same associated shipping costs that make UPS so despised.

Apparently myusaddress receives at their U.S. building, drive it over the border (and them, not the courier, dealing with customs), then ship it to you via Canada Post / cheapest courier. Avoiding the +US$60 UPS brokerage charges. $5 to receive, $30 to clear / drive over border, $7 to ship in Canada, makes each package ~$42 to ship. Only ~$10 better than traditional USPS, now, but at least it's an option when push comes to shove. Should also be viable for retailers that won't ship to Canada / also have ridiculous cross-border fees. When they receive your package, they e-mail you to let you know - at which point you sign into the site and choose their 'Push North' option.

- I have yet to use myusaddress to be able to comment upon the service, but my ducks were in a row to use them should I have won an eBay auction where the seller absolutely refused to have anything to do with shipping to Canada. [For which in some ways I don't blame them - UPS cheaper within U.S. / a process they already have figured out, and no customs documents / point of origin nonsense to have to fuddle through.]

Note: If you run into the won't ship to Canada problem, have a secondary myusaddress on file with eBay, and make that address your primary address for the duration of that auction. You'll then be able to bid. Upon winning (or losing) switch it back to your Canadian address. DON'T FORGET to switch it back, soonest, or you may win something later, forget, and have the package sent there rather than your regular Canadian address. You'll be quite peeved to discover this when you didn't intend it. YHBW!

So - Canada Computers, online even, and shopbot.ca have become my goto purchase research sites, and eBay U.S. / shipping to Canada has essentially become not worth doing.

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 4/29/15, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] bytes the dust?
 To: "KWLUG discussion" <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
 Received: Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 11:20 AM

 Tiger Direct used to be my go to store
 for buying stuff for less. Even with the shipping they were
 less than other stores.

 How the landscape has changed in merely a
 decade, with Amazon and eBay, then TheSource and BestBuy,
 and Canada Computers.

 Sign of the times ...

 On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at
 11:03 AM,  <jekerr at sdf.org>
 wrote:
 Hi gang
 here is the url to the tiger direct flyer

 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/email/ca/rem0197.asp?SRCCODE=CANREM0197&cm_mmc=email-_-Main-_-CANREM0197-_-tigeremail&utm_source=EML&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=CANREM0197Pre&MobileOptOut=2

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