I actually just moved to Vancouver, so I’m still learning what’s around here!
From my perspective as a Canadian customer, I’ll have to say that the taxes are a part of life, and we’re used to that up here… The issue that’s incredibly bothersome is the “brokerage” fees (aka “advancement”) that are charged by the couriers, which at times seem to be pretty random… And the $100ish of brokerage fees on superconductor’s order seemed absolutely ridiculous.
Maybe one thing to find out is why Fedex charged Superconducter so much to see if that can be mitigated in any way… He mentioned splitting orders into smaller packages (to avoid the magic 5-item limit). I don’t now how feasible that is, but maybe there are other ways to get around it.
Or at the very least, maybe some sort of international shipping FAQ/warning/wiki based on customer’s lessons learned (i.e. FEDEX can over-charge, but if you choose as slower option like USPS, you won’t get ridiculous brokerage fees). I realize it would be ridiculous to have SF try and learn every nation’s shipping nuances, but somehow there could be a way “we” (not just SF, but the international hobby community that often does have to ship across borders) could compile all these lessons and tips and tricks to help each other… the wiki idea sounds more and more useful if enough people would be interested in contributing when things go well, not just when things go wrong…