So for a second I am going to forget that Amazon.com has a gamut of great products at very competitive prices, products that dotCa just doesn’t carry. For the moment I am going to focus on the fact that the identical items are frequently at very different prices.

I recently placed an order from dotCom and I will use that as a comparison. For the comparison I will take USD and CAD to identical, as at the moment there is almost no difference. For the comparison I ordered 3 blu-ray discs:

The total from Amazon.com with shipping is: $121.81

Now that may not be the actual total as it is possible that I may be charged tax plus a handling fee at the border. Tax would be 13% of $121.81 = $15.84. The handling fee from Canada Customs is $5. How they can charge you a handling fee to charge you money is beyond me, and should be saved for another entry.

That would bring the total to $142.65, although its not guaranteed that I will be charged customs.

Now to have a look at the same 3 item total (with free shipping) from dotCa: $169.35

That is a difference of $26.70 if you get charged duty/taxes.

Amazon.ca really needs to get their act together and bring their prices more closely inline with the dotCom prices. I will note that it is not always such a large discrepancy, so it is worthwhile checking. Getting the items through customs is also more of a challenge and will take longer. So if there is something that you are anxious for –No Country For Old Men perhaps- then it may be worthwhile to order -or preorder in my case- from dotCa.