any pictures of the clock
Quoted from Stretch7:Looking good.... I know of a place that could use a few of those signs.
Ya, the new barn sounds awesome Gilles! Are you guys live streaming your tourneys on twitch yet?! If so, any link available? Was hoping to bring these with to yegpin this year.(fingers crossed still)
Yes we live stream tourneys and league nights on twitch. Super easy with new wireless camera rig to move around to different machines. The guys did a great job with the layout on twitch and commentating is good too. I dont have a link handy but if you search DHPL you should see something pop up.
I think I've asked Tyler before..I'll find it again.. congrats on the new spot tho! Does it hold 249 people?!
A big issue with getting parts and accessories from the US is that companies like FedEx and UPS (and probably DHL, haven't dealt with them) charge you a brokerage "service fee" on packages shipped from US to Canada based on the value of the package.
In some cases the brokerage fee can be double or more of the shipping charge. So your total cost to ship is the shipping charge + the taxes + the service fee. The worst part is the fee is hidden at time of order, so you don't realize how hard you are going to get hit until later. Probably not news to anyone and pretty crappy business practice if you ask me. You can research and find out the fees on the shipping company websites, but if you aren't expecting it you learn a hard lesson.
What may be news is that you can avoid paying the fee if you "self clear" or "self account" the package as long as the value is under $2500.00 and it is for personal use, not commercial. On only four deliveries I estimate I have saved over $300.00 in fees by clearing things myself.
You also really need to be within reasonable driving distance of a CBSA office that offers the self clearing service, and there is some work involved. Up to you to decide if it is just cheaper/easier to pay the fees. Note that depending on where you live things might be a bit different, this is just my experience here in Calgary. YMMV.
UPS
-----------------------------------
- You only have to worry about this if you send it International Ground (generally the cheapest option). The more expensive "Worldwide" options have the brokerage fee baked in. You will still have to pay tax of course. The Worldwide options are in some cases almost double the Ground. For an expensive package, if you cannot or do not want to self clear, it will be worth it to pay the higher shipping option in the long run.
- UPS will not deliver you the package until you pay the fees, holding it hostage. This can really suck if you weren't expecting it.
- You will get an email at some point from UPS telling you what the fees are, and giving you a "convenient" option to pay before you get your package and avoid yet another 5% they will tack on to the bill. At this point (or once you have the tracking number), call UPS and pick the customs brokerage option through their automated menu. You will need to give them the tracking number and tell them you want to self account/clear. They may give you a bunch of bs, asking you if you are a licensed broker, etc. Again, as long as it is under $2500.00 you do not have to have a customs broker. Just repeat yourself until they understand. Note that you can refuse to pay the fees at the door as well and start the process then, but saves time to contact them earlier.
- Once the UPS customs brokerage person and you are on the same page, you will get an email you a commercial invoice and a printed page with instructions on self clearing. You cannot self clear until the package is in the country, so may take a day or two after you call them to get the email.
- Take the documentation to the CBSA office and tell them that you are paying the tax on the shipment yourself. They will ask if it is personal or business, yadda yadda. After they get everything entered into the system they give you a "B15" form showing you paid the GST and ask you to go over to the cashier to pay it. After you do you will get a customs stamp on the form and are done at the CBSA.
- Once you have your stamped B15, you drive to the UPS depot (about 5 minutes away from the CBSA office here in Calgary), show them the information and get your package. You will also probably need to scan and email the B15 to the UPS person you got the invoice and instructions from.
All told, it takes me about an hour. Most of that driving. If I lived closer to the CBSA office it would be about 15 minutes.
FedEx International Ground
------------------------------------
- Note that FedEx Ground and FedEx Express are two different entities in Canada. Not sure of the procedure with FedEx Express, the brokerage fees may be baked in.
- FedEx Ground works differently than with UPS, in that FedEx will deliver the package before you pay the fees. They will send you an invoice for the extra fees, sometimes weeks after you get the package. So you pay your shipping, get your package, and then a surprise in the mail saying you owe them an extra $90.00. Fun.
- Instead of contacting them once you have the shipping notification, you have to wait until after you receive the package. As soon as it is delivered you follow a similar set of steps as with UPS. You call FedEx, get the commercial invoice, go up to CBSA and pay your taxes and get your B15 form. Then you scan and send the info to them. Note that it is not FedEx Ground you contact, they use a separate company for customs called FedEx Trade Networks and Brokerage. If you call them and give them your tracking number you should be on your way.
USPS
---------------------------
- Stuff shipped through USPS ends up going through Canada Post, and you get charged a flat $10.00 brokerage fee plus tax. Obviously the cheapest and easiest option, but a lot of the places for pinball accessories and parts do not provide it as an option, and it will be slower.
Good post. Where's this office in Calgary in case I need it?
My experience. USPS air is best for fees but may not be an option in which case DHL is the best.
Then FedEx.
UPS the worst for fees and delivery speed. Total joke (at least here to Calgary)
I only use UPS if I have to and even then I'll call the store first because some places have more options if you call.
I’ve got ups to drop off without paying brokerage fees before. But then in the long run you’ll have a bill waiting.
Quoted from pkrobin:Good post. Where's this office in Calgary in case I need it?
My experience. USPS air is best for fees but may not be an option in which case DHL is the best.
Then FedEx.
UPS the worst for fees and delivery speed. Total joke (at least here to Calgary)
I only use UPS if I have to and even then I'll call the store first because some places have more options if you call.
The worst part is, Inside Canada UPS is the bomb, fast. And of course no other fees.
They just blow fuckin chunks of its from out of Canada
What pisses me off even more is UPS brokerage fees are less if you are in the US shipping from Canada. Not sure if that is on UPS or differences in how our countries handle customs.
From Canada to US is no charge up to 800.00, where US to Canada you would be charged 81.00 in fees, not including tax.
sorry to see Josh Brown (Canada Arcade) on the national news.. Calgary got hit by a storm and hi house was getting pelted with hail and severe rain.. hope everyone is alright man..
Quoted from Dee-Bow:sorry to see Josh Brown (Canada Arcade) on the national news.. Calgary got hit by a storm and hi house was getting pelted with hail and severe rain.. hope everyone is alright man..
wasn't it called Pinbar ? saw the CBC clip too
Quoted from Dee-Bow:sorry to see Josh Brown (Canada Arcade) on the national news.. Calgary got hit by a storm and hi house was getting pelted with hail and severe rain.. hope everyone is alright man..
Here's the link:
Quoted from luch:wasn't it called Pinbar ? saw the CBC clip too
That was Josh's basement, nice collection he has.
Luckily the people and games came out okay. Insurance will cover the rest hopefully. Major PIA though...
Yup, we got hit crazy hard on Saturday. We've actually had a few notable hailstorms in Calgary in the last 10 years or so. This will be my 3rd storm in this house. One in 2012 where it just shredded siding on the west and north sides of my house. At the time they couldn't match the siding color and I ended up getting the entire house and garage re-sided. 2016 storm again hit the north and west sides of the house, we were able to match siding this time, so only had to replace part of those walls.. but had to put a new roof on it at that point too, since the shingles were getting pretty tired.
Saturday's storm was kind of weird and the damage was a little different than the previous ones. The wind was coming directly from the west at about 100 km/hour this time, my house is sandwiched in a row, so the neighbor's house shielded us from a lot more area damage on the outside walls. I have a big window in my stairwell that took a lot of impacts from hail bouncing down from the roof of the house next to us, and broke away the outside pane almost completely, and eventually breached the inner pane, punching about a 6-inch hole through. Luckily it didn't leak water in too bad, but lots of hailstones went through the hole and bounced off the window sill and flew down the hallway into our bathroom, which was a good 16 feet or so away from the window. we kept a few of the hailstones we found, they were slightly bigger than golf balls and weighed in around 40-45 grams. (A pinball weighs about 80 grams). Houses that were entirely exposed to the west got wrecked waaaaaaay worse than us.
Literally every car that was outside parked around our block had a smashed windshield or back window (or both). The hood of my van looks like a new Stern playfield after 200 plays.
My hail deductible used to be 1,000 bucks but now is 2,500.. so that kinda sucks. Since only one side of the house got nailed, we'll likely just do the siding and see if the roof needs to be done. If we ever get a storm again that nails two sides or more, we'll probably upgrade to hardie board.
I did film a bunch during the storm, and a quick walk around the block to tour some of the damage the next morning. Video is up on youtube now and hit 20K views just an hour or so ago.
One funny thing that happened during the storm... I was in the basement in a panic grabbing some tools, and I could hear this white noise pssssh sound. I thought it was my sound system playing static. I went over and flicked off the system, but the sound remained. I was a little confused, looked around a bit and then I realized it was the outside water line going full blast. Turned out some hailstones hit the water faucet knob enough to turn it wide open. Not sure how long it ran for, but glad I caught it before it ended up running all night... likely would have eventually leaked back into the basement with how saturated the ground was at the time. Also noticed the hailstones turned the natural gas line switch to my garage too!
Thats crazy eh, I just put Hardie panel and siding on the front of my place. Highly recommend it.
We only got the pouring rain around us.
We sat outside under our 16 x 26 tin roof, it was awesome,no hail tho. Sorry to hear bout everybody's damage, crazy weather
Quoted from JoshODBrown:Literally every car that was outside parked around our block had a smashed windshield or back window (or both). The hood of my van looks like a new Stern playfield after 200 plays.
Oof, that bad huh?
Nice that you've kept your sense of humor through this.
Quoted from Fytr:Oof, that bad huh?
Nice that you've kept your sense of humor through this.
2020 has been such a shit show, I just laugh now and wonder if someone went back in time and messed up the space/time continuum and this is what we get. I saw this meme yesterday and I looked at it and said "Holy shit, YES! Absolutely"
2020MEME (resized).jpgQuoted from luch:wasn't it called Pinbar ? saw the CBC clip too
They loaded Pinbar with a shit-ton of brand new pins in one of their episodes ! Yes, a shit-ton
Quoted from Dee-Bow:They loaded Pinbar with a shit-ton of brand new pins in one of their episodes ! Yes, a shit-ton
That was the episode where we almost peeled the roof off of the Penske rental truck on an underpass during rush hour in downtown Calgary (as an added bonus, it was -35C that day). We had also declined the all-perils insurance when we picked up the truck. That almost turned into a really baaaad day.
What´s up, canadian brothers! New video is online. MONSTER BASH base RULES in just 4 minutes!
Hope you enjoy it!
Pinball Mods Brasil
Quoted from Soulstoner:Any Canadians getting TMNT Pro? When are you told it's coming? I don't have any locations near me, so my home machine can't come soon enough, and I haven't heard back from Nitro on a solid date yet.
I'm getting one through Nitro as well, so no solid date for me either.
Quoted from pingod:TMNT LE for me, from Nitro.
Should be going on the line this week.
It is going on location at the Century Casino in Calgary.
Selling pirate's to make room?!
Quoted from Dee-Bow:Selling pirate's to make room?!
Quoted from pingod:Not a chance
Hmm. Well giving it away seems like a weird choice, but who am I to judge.
So my son has been getting more and more into superheroes lately, and so I’ve been thinking more and more about getting a superhero pinball machine. With that said, I just picked up a t2, so the budget is a bit tight. I know there’s quite a few superhero dmd pins out there, but which tend to be the cheapest usually in Canada? I was thinking an avengers pro or x-men pro, but maybe I’m forgetting a different one.
Quoted from sixtyfourbits:So my son has been getting more and more into superheroes lately, and so I’ve been thinking more and more about getting a superhero pinball machine. With that said, I just picked up a t2, so the budget is a bit tight. I know there’s quite a few superhero dmd pins out there, but which tend to be the cheapest usually in Canada? I was thinking an avengers pro or x-men pro, but maybe I’m forgetting a different one.
Save a bit more and get a Spider-Man.
Way better then both of those.
Yes I have one, lol.
There is a really nice Iron Man for sale in Edmonton if you can afford it.
Quoted from sixtyfourbits:So my son has been getting more and more into superheroes lately, and so I’ve been thinking more and more about getting a superhero pinball machine. With that said, I just picked up a t2, so the budget is a bit tight. I know there’s quite a few superhero dmd pins out there, but which tend to be the cheapest usually in Canada? I was thinking an avengers pro or x-men pro, but maybe I’m forgetting a different one.
Quoted from sixtyfourbits:So my son has been getting more and more into superheroes lately, and so I’ve been thinking more and more about getting a superhero pinball machine. With that said, I just picked up a t2, so the budget is a bit tight. I know there’s quite a few superhero dmd pins out there, but which tend to be the cheapest usually in Canada? I was thinking an avengers pro or x-men pro, but maybe I’m forgetting a different one.
Batman forever is a cheaper dmd game. Can still be found in the low to mid 3ks by reasonable sellers
Not sure if transformers are considered super heros but that's another game found under 5k
Quoted from dirkdiggler:Batman forever is a cheaper dmd game. Can still be found in the low to mid 3ks by reasonable sellers
I don't think thats true. Any Batman forevers that Ive seen come up for sale have easily been over the $4k mark.
With that being said, if someone has one for low to mid 3Ks, let me know.
My friend in Edmonton just paid 3400 for a decent one within 3 months. Seller wanted 4k with color dmd or 3400 without.
Most good deals happen between collectors. If someone lists a game on kijiji and it's not gone within a day, it's probably listed too high.
Quoted from dirkdiggler:Most good deals happen between collectors.
That's a fair point.
Quoted from dirkdiggler:My friend in Edmonton just paid 3400
I believe that was mine. Was it his first machine?
Quoted from dirkdiggler:My friend in Edmonton just paid 3400 for a decent one within 3 months. Seller wanted 4k with color dmd or 3400 without.
Most good deals happen between collectors. If someone lists a game on kijiji and it's not gone within a day, it's probably listed too high.
I can’t believe I forgot about batman forever. That’s one Id love to add that I think my son would like too.
Was the one your friend found listed on kijiji about half a year ago? I remember seeing one listed on Edmonton kijiji, but it was the same time I was buying a baywatch so I didn’t get it. It looked like a solid deal though.
I just got a Deadpool Pro and am looking to get some maintenance materials and other goodies such as: Titan bands, side art, Pinwoofer (or another sound upgrade if available), some spotlights or Pinstadium lights, etc.
I just ran through adding all the Titan bands to my cart and calculated shipping and it's $54USD just to ship some rubber bands into Canada. Most other sites are a little more reasonable with shipping their supplies at around $20-$30USD, but Titan is outrageous.
About a month ago I ordered some Stern HD glass and a dust cover for about $40 shipping which was more than reasonable, however UPS charged $70 for the brokerage fee (WTF)and $20 for GST (which was fine and expected). UPS usually bends me over with their fee's, but never that badly.
Where does everyone get their supplies and mods from in Canada? Do you simply bite the bullet and pay the duties and high shipping fees?
Quoted from Soulstoner:I just got a Deadpool Pro and am looking to get some maintenance materials and other goodies such as: Titan bands, side art, Pinwoofer (or another sound upgrade if available), some spotlights or Pinstadium lights, etc.
I just ran through adding all the Titan bands to my cart and calculated shipping and it's $54USD just to ship some rubber bands into Canada. Most other sites are a little more reasonable with shipping their supplies at around $20-$30USD, but Titan is outrageous.
About a month ago I ordered some Stern HD glass and a dust cover for about $40 shipping which was more than reasonable, however UPS charged $70 for the brokerage fee (WTF)and $20 for GST (which was fine and expected). UPS usually bends me over with their fee's, but never that badly.
Where does everyone get their supplies and mods from in Canada? Do you simply bite the bullet and pay the duties and high shipping fees?
Tips
- titan is cheaper than that, you needed to pick a different shipping option
-NEVER use UPS from out of country. Ever. Cancel the order of UPS comes up as option.
- there is guys around with glass in Canada, nitro, absolute pinball in Saskatoon probably. Ask around
-sometimes shipping is high, pinheads group together and bulk buy together to make shipping cheaper overall for each guj
And
Couple of guys in Calgary carry the invisaglass, or what ever brand they call it.
Glass comes from Nitro Pinball in B.C.
Algrande on here is one guy.
If I order a lot of parts from Marco Specialties I alway talk with them and have them ship direct.
There International shipping goes through IGlobal, and they kill us on shipping.
My last order through IGlobal, would have been 155.00 US.
Marco did it for 70.00 U.S, and I got it in two days.
Quoted from northerndude:Tips
- titan is cheaper than that, you needed to pick a different shipping option
Here are the shipping options to Alberta for a full set for Deadpool, some balls, and some tools. Doesn't seem like too much to choose from here.
EDIT: Looks like removing the balls entirely gives me a $20 option. Better.. but now where to find some nice super shiny balls?
EDIT2: Got it sorted... 6 balls is the sweet spot to not increase shipping prices.
Quoted from dirkdiggler:If anyone likes cheap beer, superstore has $8 cases on this long weekend
[quoted image]
Life... Too... Short!
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