MSI GT725 in Canada?

Hi guys

I've been lurking around this forum for two or three months awaiting the release of the GT725. I was quite thrilled when it got out in the UK and when Faisal got it first, you lucky guy... Now that it's out in the USA, I was wondering if any canadian fellow had any info on its release in Canada. As for myself, I called a distributor last week who's "in touch" with MSI and he said that he had no info as if its gonna be available or any release date.

I've been waiting for this laptop for 4-5 months and I can't stand the wait anymore!! I was kinda of reluctant to buy it from Frostys because the shipping fee is 60-120$ and I'm really concerned about the customs fee and the taxes(13%). I dont want to pay an extra 200-300$ for this laptop. I live in Québec so it would be quite easy to get in Burlington, VT, to get that laptop from a retailler and avoid the customs fee...So I was wondering if any of you had any info that might help me!!

 

I purchased one tomorrow I place full review

 

Hmm... Can you be a little clearer?? Its not that I'm submerged by the overflow of information coming from your post but did you buy one in Canada? And if so, WHERE??? I'm almost ready to beg for this laptop

 

newegg.ca is the only place I saw "in Canada" which sells the new MSI models(the GT725 and the GT627), but they cost quite a bit(considering the exchange rate and blah blah) and you have to factor in the handling fees newegg charges for making it come from their US warehouse.

Other than that, I've yet to see the newer models in Canada sorry >.<

If it's within your options, you can purchase it in the States(since you're close to the border you said) and bring it back. Mind you, you'd still have to pay some type of tax on it if you declared it to customs since there is a limit on how much money you can spend in proportion to the time you spend in the US.

 

You almost made my heart stop but neweg.ca only sells the GT735 and the GT627... Thanx for the info but still no GT725 in Canada...

 

Could always get it from XoticPC (they seem to be good for shipping to Canada, from various people with NP8660s) or see if you can find a local reseller (like I'm trying to do).

 

i just chat with someone on Newegg ans she told me that they don't have a sales dep so they dont have any info on a canadian release... And if you ever find a canadian reseller notyou, dont forget to tell us!!!

 

Got it from eBay forestcomputers "as my local currency is based on us dollar there was difference".
I'm now downloading 3d mark vantage and 3d mark 2006. I installed fear 2
I will post updates few hours after I setup things

 

Nice I'm glad that you got it but where do you live?? And if you're in Canada, did you had some customs fee to pay? What's the total amount of cash you spent on it (Customs, delivery)??

 

That great to hear handy another 725 owner i kept saying that you can get these things on ebay

 

sorry guys I didn't post the review yesterday police catch me speeding I spent all night with them...

fast numbers from 3d mark 2006
system came with windows vista home p 32 bit ,

I didn't touch anything yet bone stock old ATI drivers 8?? something

3d mark 2006 normal run
9454
with turbo on @3.0 GHz
9872

 

There is no duty charged by the Canada Border Services Agency on "computers and related equipment".

If you buy your GT725 from a U.S. retailer and have them ship it to Canada, the shipping will indeed be expensive because of the size of the package and the weight. You will also be subject to brokerage fees because you are essentially importing this into Canada and there is paperwork to be processed.

Since you're close to a border city in the U.S. (i.e. Burlington, VT), I would suggest you have the U.S. retailer ship the laptop to a UPS store in Burlington, VT. This way, it will only cost you about $10 in gasoline and about two hours of your time to pick up and bring your laptop across the border. You save on shipping and brokerage. The UPS store does charge a small fee for receiving and holding your shipment but that's understandable. The fee is either $10 or $15. Canadian sales taxes are unavoidable so you must also pay GST and QST when you cross the border but that's all you'll be paying!

Another piece of advice to save money...make sure the retailer does NOT charge state sales tax for shipping to Vermont. If the retailer is based in Vermont, they have to charge sales tax which is 6%.

I know Amazon.com charges sales tax even though they're not located in Vermont. They're based out of Seattle, Washington. I don't know about Xotic PC's sales tax policy but I do know Newegg does NOT charge sales tax unless the package is being shipped within California. Do your homework!

About crossing the border, whether you declare your laptop or not is up to you! I won't get into the specifics of trying to cheat customs out of their cut (i.e. sales taxes). Considering how everyone is so sensitive about border security today, I'd recommend against trying to cheat customs. If they catch you, you'll be put on a blacklist forever and border crossings will be a big hassle. They may tell you to turn back for no reason. They may also hold you for an interview and thorough search of your vehicle. And they may also confiscate your laptop!

YZFR1CEX

 

Wow thanks a lot for the extensive answer you gave us!! I'm gonna look into it and take a good day for our dollar to raise up and order this laptop!!
Thanks again!!

 

No problem! If you check out any UPS store on a Saturday in a U.S. border city, half of the license plates of the cars in the parking lot are Canadian.

Since it sounds like you're serious about doing this, I have some more info. Most U.S. retailers do not sell to Canadian customers. They know you're Canadian because of the billing address that's stored on your credit card. If you want to get around this, call up your credit card provider and tell them you want to add an "alternate address". This alternate address will be the store address of the UPS store you want your purchases shipped to!

There are several UPS stores in the Burlington, Vermont area so I would suggest calling up the closest one and confirming they will receive shipments for you. Also confirm the address you should use for shipping purposes. They will likely tell you to include your phone number in your address! Don't do this! This may flag you as a Canadian customer by the U.S. retailer and/or the credit card company may not allow you to include a phone number in your address. The reason why UPS asks for a phone number to be written next to your name is so they can call you when your package arrives. UPS charges $1 per day to hold your package. Since you can easily track a Fedex or UPS shipment online, you'll know when your package arrives.

My suggestion is to order your laptop on a Monday morning. With 3-day UPS Ground shipping, your package will arrive on Thursday or Friday and you can drive down on Saturday to pick it up. This is assuming of course that you have to work from Monday to Friday and can't just drop whatever you're doing to drive down to the United States. Since most UPS stores close between 6 pm and 7 pm, I assume most Canadians don't have enough time to finish work, drive down across the border, and pick up their package before the UPS store closes.

About waiting until the exchange rate improves, that's not going to happen for anytime soon while our economy is in the dumpster! My suggestion is to get the GT725 now while it's available and still priced at $1599 U.S. I have a suspicion this laptop was priced so low as a way to hype MSI gaming laptops. Let's be honest here! If you were to build a comparable notebook at Dell or HP with the exact same specs, the price would be about $2,500 U.S. so at $1599 (even with all of its perceived faults), it's a steal!

By the way, if you don't want to pay up to $15 per package for UPS to hold your package and be charged $1 per day per package until you pick up your package, you have the option of renting a UPS box! This means you have your own personal U.S. mailing address and you can receive any amount of packages you want without being charged anything. Of course, the cost of a UPS box is the only thing you'll have to pay. They usually cost around $150 per year for a small letter sized box. Of course, it's impossible to fit a huge box into a small mail box. What they do is stick in a white slip of paper indicating you have a package to be picked up. You show them the slip and your driver's license and they give you your package.

YZFR1CEX

 

Thanks for the details!

The only thing that I'm concerned is about the credit card information. Let's say I buy this laptop from Newegg.com and I pay with paypal, is this gonna be alright? And for the UPS store receiving my package, do I need to get there to prove my identity or I can just call them and they will give me all the info I need?

I'm gonna wait a bit to see if it comes out in Canada for the next 1-2 weeks and after that I won't be able to restrain myself!!!

 

About paying Newegg using PayPal, no this won't work! Whenever you use PayPal, the seller will only ship to the verified address of the account holder. They won't ship to a different address for security purposes.

Why don't you just pay using a credit card? It's the same thing anyway but the main difference is you can have an alternate address. I'm not sure what Newegg's shipping policy is. Will they ship to an address that's different than the billing address and you're billing address is in Canada? Find out before you order or there'll be delays in processing.

About UPS, the only thing you need to ask them beforehand is if they are able to receive and hold shipments. They don't care who you are or where you're from! You don't have to prove anything until you show up to pick up your packages.

When your package has arrived, you show up at the UPS store. You give them your full name and they will go to the back and look for your package. To help them look for it faster, tell them if it's a UPS, Fedex, or USPS shipment (the tracking number would also help), the company you bought it from, and how big the package is. Since you don't have a UPS box with them, they will have to look through hundreds of packages potentially. When they find it, they'll it bring it out and ask for identification. As long as the name on the package matches the name on your driver's license, it's yours! They'll tell you how much you owe them for holding your package and that's it!

When you know your package has arrived, send them an email or call them so they know that you know there's a package waiting there for you and you'll pick it up. You don't have to do this though! It's just that packages that haven't been picked up after a long time are returned to the sender. That is, don't wait a couple of weeks until you pick up your packages! Packages that are sitting in their store unaccounted for are costing them storage space!

They'll charge you $5 for a small package, $10 for a medium package, or $15 for a large package. A laptop is considered a medium sized package. Then they'll calculate how many days it took for you to pick it up and charge you $1 per day. When they receive packages, they normally write down the carrier (i.e. UPS, Fedex, or USPS) and the date it was received. This helps them sort packages in back. If you have a UPS box, they also write your mail box number on the package.

And trust me...they know what you're doing! But they don't care as long as you pay them for their services! Don't be surprised to see a ton of garbage outside their store in the garbage bins. These are Canadians who have dumped the packaging and manuals of their shipments before they cross back into Canada. They obviously won't be declaring their purchases! But once again, UPS doesn't care as long as you keep everything tidy outside.

YZFR1CEX

 

Went in again today, this time I got a call back. Computer Avenue can't special order one...

 

This is very similar to what Fasial gave those are still great scores though

 

I know this is somewhat of an old thread but newegg.ca now has the GT725

GT725-075US

GT725-074US

I could be way behind but this is the first time I've seen these offered in canada.

 

Wow finally! Great News!