It’s not always easy to figure out who to buy from in the HEMA market. There are a lot of factors that we want to take into account, from how quickly we can get the item(s), whether the particular gear or sword will meet our expectations, what kind of return policy or warranty might be available, etc. One of the things that is difficult to assess is price.
When we’re looking at price, we most often just look at the straight price that we see on a vendor’s website or shop. This rarely tells the whole story, especially when comparing domestic vendors to international suppliers. If you’re ordering from out of country, you will have higher shipping costs. If the seller or from overseas, quite often the shipping can be as much as the original item(s) you want to buy. Ouch!
Then there are the taxes and duties for these. If you’re in the USA, buying from Canada can have duties, but for most items it won’t. You would have to look into each item separately. In Canada, everything you buy from outside the country will have, at minimum, GST applied to it at the border. If you are fortunate enough for that not to occur, never fret, it’s likely to happen next time. If it wasn’t applied, it’s only because someone missed it. This is most common with Canada Post, but can happen with other shippers, as well.
Then there are domestic vendors who show prices exclusive of GST/HST. This will add fees at the backend, again.
Fortunately, Sword Gear’s prices include all taxes! Yes, the price you see is the price you get. Everything, that is, except shipping. This has to be applied separately for each order, and is done on a cost-recovery basis, so you know you’re getting the best price possible. Below is an example, using an actual gear price, from one of our competitors. And then you can see how Sword Gear’s all taxes in helps save ou money.
The above example uses the Ontario HST rate. Note that you save even before shipping is applied!