Hi,

I'm new to the boards and I am very close to making my first pinball machine purchase.  The machine is located in Minnesota and the seller called NAVL and said they quoted him $472, which is fine, I guess, but then they also mentioned a $150 customs broker fee. I've been reading a lot of posts on here for the last month or 2 and have never heard of this charge. This seller also said they have never shipped a machine across the border(it is an actual pinball store from what I gather and not just a person selling his machine).
So if any of you good people could enlighten me on this subject, it would be greatly appreciated.  I just can't justify spending about $700Cdn for shipping.
I guess if this correct, looks like I'm going to have to wait a little longer for my first pinball.

Thanks
Vic  

You may be able to improve on the shipping a little but not a lot. (I paid $350 when I shipped mine but that was a great deal) In terms of the broker fee, you will pay that amount ($108 - $150) to have somebody else do the paperwork, clearance, etc for you.  Plus you will pay 5% GST on the total purchase price.  This is over and above the broker fee.  

NAVL is probably one of the most expensive (and easiest) ways to ship.

Quoted from sinpin

In terms of the broker fee, you will pay that amount ($108 - $150) to have somebody else do the paperwork, clearance, etc for you.  Plus you will pay 5% GST on the total purchase price.  This is over and above the broker fee.  

The last machine I brought into the country, I acted as my own Broker, and saved the Brokerage Fees.

CGCC has a post about how to do this:  http://www.cgcc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7594

Hi Vic,

You can also ask the shipping company to ship the pinball in a warehouse closer to Toronto (on the US side of the border). You can then pick it up and cross the border yourself. You will save the brokerage fees for sure and shipping might be a little bit cheaper.

Good luck

tartagliag

. I am now looking into that option of bringing it over myself. The seller is going to find out how much to ship to either Detroit or Buffalo. If it is significantly cheaper than the $470 quoted to Toronto, it may be worth it. Although I will have to rent a van, so I might end up in the same boat. Oh well, I'll see.

Thanks a lot guys for your input.

Vic

If you rent a van, you can buy 2 pinballs..., you're not going to want to have a lonely pinball machine now are you  

Think of the money you'll save in shipping!

I am about 20-25 minutes from the Ambassador bridge in Michigan and live right off of I-75.  If you need somewhere to ship it, you are more than welcome to send it here.  I can hang onto it in my garage for you until you can make arrangements to come and pick it up.  The MAACA discount for my services is 100% off (free) .  I helped Cooke out before with this so he can attest...just an option for you.

PM me if you need me to  help out.  

Dave

Dave (Firehawk734) allowed me to use his place as a drop-off point for a pin back in November. It was great to play his games and chit chat while we waited for the seller to arrive.

Thanks again, Dave!

Thanks for the offer Firehawk, but the shipping to Detroit is $400 from Minnesota, and $472 all the way to Toronto, so it isn't even worth trouble of renting a van which would cost me more than the cost of the broker when you factor in gas, insurance, taxes etc.......funny thing is Buffalo is also $400 and it's much farther from Minnesota than Detroit. Wonder how they calculate these prices???
Anyways I've decided to bite the bullet and just pay the broker fees and shipping. Im spending $2200 between the machine and shipping, what's another $150.....the seller knocked off $100 from the machine to help me out.
  Unless of course there is someone on here that is selling a nice Whirlwind, I haven't committed to this one just yet
  If i didn't find this one, I was going to take a road trip up to Michigan in 2 weeks and check out Prestige Pinball in Walled Lake.  He has a Whirlwind, plus a whole bunch of other pins at reasonable rates it seems. The only thing is, his Whirlwind is in storage and he hasn't been able to send me pics, and I didn't want to risk losing a chance at this nice one I found,  cause who knows what condition the one he has is in.  The price is the same too.

Just want to make sure, $1750 is a fair price for a Whirlwind? Working 100%, topper, cabinet repainted, no playfield wear, coin mech and original manual/schematics? Also mentioned he just replaced both displays, rebuilt the flippers and replaced all bulbs and rubbers.  

Thanks guys

  Vic

I had a pin shipped to me from treasurecove for less than 160 and another from MN for 120 bucks. In both cases the pins were dropped off at the forwarders and I picked them up in the warehouse in Toronto.

I have been to Prestige pinball (it's not far from my work, about 20 minutes) and I didn't have that great of an experience.  They are overpriced on their machines because after all, they're a business, and plus they were the ones that tried to tell me some BS about the problem I was having with my T-2 trough at the time (you can find the thread in the tips and how tos).  I was a complete newbie at the time so I didn't know better, and just after is when I found this site.

I almost bought a judge dredd there and had I done that, would have spent 2000+ for it.  On top of that, they told me it would come with the deadworld modification becuase tha'ts all they buy, but when I looked at the actual machine, the original deadworld was still there.  I just didn't like the sound of them.  The owner, he's a fast talker as well.  I'd be careful.  And don't buy parts from them, they charge too much.  I paid 15 bucks for a coil when you can get it at macro or pinballlife for 6-7.  I was also at one time looking for a Freddy machine and they had one, but the guy felt it wasn't worth it for him to pull it out of the tons of machiens they have laying around in the back of their building so i could take a look at it.  Whatever.

That's been my experience.  I'd be careful if you decide to go there.  They do have quite a few machines though, i'll give them that much.  There's probably 30 set up out on the floor, and it looked like 50+ more in the back that were folded up and stored...or being worked on, etc.

I believe they also go buy Prestige Industries or Games We Play as well...if this isn't the same store, then disregard my rant .
This is the site of the company i am talking about:  http://www.pinball4u.com/