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CA-ON McMaster-Carr
- Thread starter kstrauss
- Start date
Ontario
I ordered a batch of 4’ acme rods in various pitches plus a set of acme nuts to match. Shipping on about 27lbs was 80USD.
I live in rural Sk, and the parts shipped from 3 warehouses (Etobicoke , Chicago and Cleveland ). All parcels arrived in under three days on two Purolator deloveries
This is amazing as far as I’m concerned. Same experience I had last time. Pricey? Yep. In my hands quickly in the middle of nowhere? Yep.
I live in rural Sk, and the parts shipped from 3 warehouses (Etobicoke , Chicago and Cleveland ). All parcels arrived in under three days on two Purolator deloveries
This is amazing as far as I’m concerned. Same experience I had last time. Pricey? Yep. In my hands quickly in the middle of nowhere? Yep.
No additional charges btw, what they stated online was what I paid.
Do a 'McMaster' search on forum, lots has been written. The bottom line is is technically difficult/impossible for non-business, non-institution, everyday Joe to get an account according to their own policies (although, some have managed to for one reason or another might be able to provide details).
I registered a trade name in Alberta 30 years ago for $30. That allows me to use that name when setting up bank accounts etc. when I signed up with McMaster cart i just typed the name in. No evidence required. I recently went in and changed my address for this last order, no issues
I don’t know where it is stopping most people, it works just like Amazon for me, not sure if they validate the company name somewhere.
I don’t know where it is stopping most people, it works just like Amazon for me, not sure if they validate the company name somewhere.
Former Member
Guest
They only sell to businesses, so you are a business. Second, they charge GST. Ship rates are not bad actually. Finally they easily beat the prices from Bolts Plus, Brafasco and a few others even with shipping in the equation. Sad but true fact.
My advice is ROI is from larger orders generally over a $100 or more, otherwise buy from the local thieves.
FYI you can download the Apple App and it gives you the prices in CDN$.
My advice is ROI is from larger orders generally over a $100 or more, otherwise buy from the local thieves.
FYI you can download the Apple App and it gives you the prices in CDN$.
'They' as in MMC? I though GST was only collected by RevCan as goods crossed into Canada? Like if I buy 100$ from USA seller, I pay hmm $100 and I pay RevCan 5$ separately when it clears/lands. You are saying MMC charges $105 up front?
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Former Member
Guest
Yes McMaster-Carr. And, yes they have a GST# and it is on your invoice. Your total price (product, shipping and Taxes) is what you pay.
Digikey is the same.
It depends.
Some companies are set up to do the tax transaction, some aren't. I have an idea also that the ones that are are also set up to handle the brokerage at the border so you don't get the hassle of clearing across the border.
For me Digikey is a good example, they charge the tax and ship FedEx cleared ($8.00 flat!) so I don't get surprises at the border. I don't give them my tax number so I could just as well order as a person. I haven't used McMC so I don't know how they do it, if they charge BST but don't ask for a tax number then it's up to the CDN business to deal with getting the tax back on your regular (business) tax return.
D
Former Member
Guest
The business collecting it must display it.It depends.
Some companies are set up to do the tax transaction, some aren't. I have an idea also that the ones that are are also set up to handle the brokerage at the border so you don't get the hassle of clearing across the border.
For me Digikey is a good example, they charge the tax and ship FedEx cleared ($8.00 flat!) so I don't get surprises at the border. I don't give them my tax number so I could just as well order as a person. I haven't used McMC so I don't know how they do it, if they charge BST but don't ask for a tax number then it's up to the CDN business to deal with getting the tax back on your regular (business) tax return.
D
My understanding is that MMC a few years back got tired of the headaches dealing with Canadian individuals too much paperwork, so they started only dealing with businesses. I only started dealing with them at the start of COVID, personally I find them great to deal with but my orders are between $500 to $1000 a shot.
Do you mean display it (BST) on the invoice?
I heard the same story about dealing with Canadians, at that time the story was not even new CDN business accounts. Maybe came about when the GST thing came in? I have fuzzy recollections of something like that.
If I decide I need to try them I'm fortunate to have a CDN business to do it through.
D
boilerhouse
Ultra Member
Do you mean display it (BST) on the invoice?
I heard the same story about dealing with Canadians, at that time the story was not even new CDN business accounts. Maybe came about when the GST thing came in? I have fuzzy recollections of something like that.
If I decide I need to try them I'm fortunate to have a CDN business to do it through.
D
What is BST? Not familiar with the term.
I worked for an American fortune 500 company with a branch plant in Ontario. We would routinely purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars from McMaster Carr per year. Sometime, (in the early 2000's?), we were told that McMC would no longer deal with Canadians, whether they be business or individuals. I have no idea how long that was in effect. The plant found other suppliers and moved on with life.
I will say the McMC catalogue is awesome. I kept mine even after I retired. They have great descriptions, and for someone looking for parts and pieces to fabricate things, if it is not in that catalogue, it probably doesn't exist!
boilerhouse
Ultra Member
Thanks, yes I am in an HST zone.
I used them many years ago, which unfortunately ended abruptly when they instituted their own policy of 'business & institutions only'. From my conversations with them at the time it resulted from internal review that customs processing costs of pesky orders was not worth the internal cost/effort. Fair enough. But how they defined their customer account was a bit weird because I had acquaintances who had a registered CDN business meaning a BN and GST# and still unable to order despite moderate order amounts, say $500 per for arguments sake. The initial issue may have been home residence based business flagged because of Courier imposed delivery limitations. But altering shipping address to a regular business address did not fix the issue. Maybe he was on their radar for whatever reason. There was another story being circulated that they got reviewed (not in a good way) for export shipping issues & they clamped down for that reason. Whether related or coincidental, cant say, but it was around the same time. Seems like there some here have active accounts which is a positive thing. Hope we don't jinx it (it is a public forum).
Where I was going with the GST thing is if they were simply pre-paying RevCan on your behalf based on the order $ amount, no worries. It seems equivalent to me paying amount upon clearing like any import item. RC gets their share, the end. But if they are paying to a GST account number, that infers a business with a corresponding GST#. That might be a different matter as RC does occasional reviews & the algorithm is trained to look for any inconsistencies.
Where I was going with the GST thing is if they were simply pre-paying RevCan on your behalf based on the order $ amount, no worries. It seems equivalent to me paying amount upon clearing like any import item. RC gets their share, the end. But if they are paying to a GST account number, that infers a business with a corresponding GST#. That might be a different matter as RC does occasional reviews & the algorithm is trained to look for any inconsistencies.