Canada Canadians: Anyone ever shop at Freestyle?

[sienarot]

Has anyone here ever purchased from Freestyle before? I'd like to try some of the Fortepan 400 they have on special, but after shipping, the cost ends up doubling. I sent them an email and ask if they would ship any cheaper method for just the film, but they wouldn't.

Anywhere else that I can get this stuff for cheap?

 

[ed1k]

No, I never shop at Freestyle. Honestly, I'd not even think why one may search for Fortepan film that hard. Vistek had (maybe has) Tri-X, fairly cheap.

 

[Kristopher]

Freestyle is great

Freestyle is great

I am sorry but I strongly disagree about Vistek. Film in Canada is a hack.

Vistek 135-36 TriX 6.79$
Freestyle: 3.99$

And CDN US dollar is 1:1

Ship it with USPS Priority Mail International and you are likely not to pay GST/PST. And this shipping method is not expensive.

I always Order large batch and it comes way less expensive than buying in Canada. I strongly recommand Freestyle. I don't see the point of being ripped off by canadian distributors especially when dealers don't care about film users anymore.

Kris

 

[xayraa33]

I bought film at Freestyle, even with shipping, currency exchange(then), GST+PST and the 5 dollars Canada Post charges.. you still come out ahead if you buy in quantity on certain B&W films.

 

[back alley]

and there is 'photoco' in quebec.

 

[xayraa33]

Ship it with USPS Priority Mail International and you are likely not to pay GST/PST. And this shipping method is not expensive.


Kris[/QUOTE]

I have yet to experience not paying GST/PST even if a parcel of some value is shipped with USPS.

 

[thomasw_]

freestyle is pretty good, but I have sometimes felt the crushing blow of our taxes; other times, the goods have not been taxed: so it is hit/miss. With BH I find I always get hit, even with a small value item -- <20$.

 

[sienarot]

No, I never shop at Freestyle. Honestly, I'd not even think why one may search for Fortepan film that hard. Vistek had (maybe has) Tri-X, fairly cheap.

Actually, I'm going out of my way not to shop at Vistek, even if I have to pay more. I can't stand their service (or lack thereof) here in Calgary.

Also I'm not a Tri-X user, nor am I a Kodak supporter.

 

[sienarot]

and there is 'photoco' in quebec.

Yup, another member's made a recommendation to photoco, to which I've made an order to earlier in the year. Great service and great prices!

 

[PhotoJim]

Freestyle is a good place to use if you buy in large enough quantities.

I tend to shift between them, Adorama and B&H depending on what I want to buy. I just got a big box of film from Adorama yesterday.

I still buy some film locally at Don's Photo (in Regina), but the selection in stock seems to be diminishing. The prices on Ilford film are very good locally, though.

 

[photogdave]

I don't see the point of being ripped off by canadian distributors especially when dealers don't care about film users anymore.Kris

I'm sicking of hearing this. It costs the Canadian distributer more to stock the film than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a higher shipping cost to receive and send the film out than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a MUCH smaller market to sell to than the U.S. distributer and has to cut their margin to be even relatively competitive. They are not ripping us off, just trying to survive!
And the dollar parity has absolutely no bearing on what retail items sell for in Canada vs the U.S. Our geographic proximity has nothing to do with the fact that we are two separate countries with two completely differect economies.

 

[RooX]

I'm sicking of hearing this. It costs the Canadian distributer more to stock the film than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a higher shipping cost to receive and send the film out than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a MUCH smaller market to sell to than the U.S. distributer and has to cut their margin to be even relatively competitive. They are not ripping us off, just trying to survive!
And the dollar parity has absolutely no bearing on what retail items sell for in Canada vs the U.S. Our geographic proximity has nothing to do with the fact that we are two separate countries with two completely differect economies.

all true, still doesn't mean the consumer has to put up with it in a global economy. I think the big price disparity is less from the distributor, and more from the shops you (I) purchase from. Places like freestyle and BHPhoto are stocking hundreds if not thousands of units of certain films i would imagine. My local stores only carry a dozen rolls of a few films (many close to short-dated). They cant compete with the big net based shops. I would imagine BHphoto sells more film in a day than all of my local (Calgary) shops sell in a year. Local shops (or smaller canadian internet based stores) can't compete with the few % margin that the "big 4" net based shops can work on.

I continually attempt to buy locally, occasionaly it works out, I can get my 4x5 tmax100 film from a great local store, for only a few bucks a 50-pack more than from freestyle et. al. But for roll film (135/120/220), the difference is as much as 3-5$ per roll. Sorry, I'm not that dedicated to the cause. Filters are the same thing. The mark-up is huge in a store, its probably a big part of their monthly income, to all the new dslr owners. But i refuse to pay (as anyone whom has done any research should be) to pay $30 to $50 more per filter than of the net.

For pretty much all purchases I at least give my local guys a chance, if the difference is within a small margin, im more than happy to buy from them, but when we are looking at differences in the 100-300%.... well, its a personal call to make.


On a side rant, what is it with local shops in my area only giving 15%-20% off list price on short/out dated film. Its practices like this that help instil the desire to shop elsewhere.

 

[RooX]

on the topic of purchasing film from the states, my last order (135-36's)from BHphoto, i was charged GST (as per usual) as well as a 6.5 cent per roll duty charge. Which i have never had before, 6.5 cents isnt the end of the world, but on a 150 rolls it starts to add up.

My yearly 120/220 purchase didnt get dinged for this though.

I find the best deal on shipping to Canada lately is "UPS expedited" It costs a few bucks more that the time of shipping, but there are 0 brokerage fees, and up until that last batch of film, no duty either. Only GST/PST charges (which are perfectly acceptable to me)

I was a staunch UPS hater in the past (was always getting hit with brokerage fees that were outrageous) But as long as its not ups ground, you don't get those fees.

edit: i just realized, i bought a huge order of fuji film this time to try out... of course i got a duty charge, its not my usual Kodak (exempt due to it USA heritage.)

 

[Kristopher]

I'm sicking of hearing this. It costs the Canadian distributer more to stock the film than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a higher shipping cost to receive and send the film out than the U.S. distributer. The Canadian distributer has a MUCH smaller market to sell to than the U.S. distributer and has to cut their margin to be even relatively competitive. They are not ripping us off, just trying to survive!
And the dollar parity has absolutely no bearing on what retail items sell for in Canada vs the U.S. Our geographic proximity has nothing to do with the fact that we are two separate countries with two completely differect economies.

I am sorry but I disagree. A year ago, the Canadian dollar was at 75 cents us or so. It is now at parity, and the prices of Kodak film remained the same. This is not just about photography, in other domains too goods are staying at the same price. I am sorry, but I won't fill up the pockets of distributors if they don't remain competitive by adjusting their prices to what they pay for the goods. Their margin has gone up really high since the Canadian dollar is strong.

The previous Canadian distributor for Ilford was in the US (It just changed last week for a local one) and the prices were still very high in canada, sometimes 200%. With NAFTA it is not more difficult or epensive to ship a box of film to Ottawa or Toronto than it is to ship it to Detroit.

And don't tell me that lower US prices are en effect of a buying in larger quantities, small shops still have better prices than big canadian retailers.

Dealers should organise themselfs and fight this stupid distribution racket. Camtec Photo in Montreal is selling Voigtlander Camera at the same price as it is in the US. Before this, their sales were cannibalized by the fact that they were ordering from the Canadian distributor (that added 30% to their prices + limited availability) . Now they order directly from Cosina, like M. Gandy, and they are competitive.

When I say that Canadian shops simply don'T care about film, It is because they don't do the effort of finding solutions, I found mine.

 

[photogdave]

It's simple economics. A U.S. distributer pays less for each item they import or stock. They sell it to the retailer for less. The retailer sells it to the customer for less.
In Canada the per unit landed cost is higher etc. etc.
The average American wage is lower and their goods and services are lower so it all evens out.
I'm not saying you can't shop where you want to shop, but don't accuse the Canadian distributers and retailers of "ripping off" customers just because they have higher operating costs.

 

[PhotoJim]

on the topic of purchasing film from the states, my last order (135-36's)from BHphoto, i was charged GST (as per usual) as well as a 6.5 cent per roll duty charge. Which i have never had before, 6.5 cents isnt the end of the world, but on a 150 rolls it starts to add up.

This was erroneous.

There is no duty on film made in Canada, the US or Mexico (i.e. Kodak), for one because of NAFTA.

Second, there is no duty on photographic materials at all in the first place, including equipment.

This was a simple error by Customs and you should have filled out the appeal form. You would have gotten a refund.

I've only had a couple of errors by Canada Customs, but I appealed both and got fairly quick refunds of the overpayment.

 

[RooX]

This was erroneous.

There is no duty on film made in Canada, the US or Mexico (i.e. Kodak), for one because of NAFTA.

Second, there is no duty on photographic materials at all in the first place, including equipment.

This was a simple error by Customs and you should have filled out the appeal form. You would have gotten a refund.

I've only had a couple of errors by Canada Customs, but I appealed both and got fairly quick refunds of the overpayment.

yeah, made a edit to my post, first time buying fuji in bulk, forgot that fact when i wrote that statement up. although if photo stuff in general is exempt, i guess i still got hit. Are we sure that goes in regards to film as well?

 

[ed1k]

Seems I open can of worms replying to quite old post. I only mentioned Vistek because I know they have stores in Alberta. Here, in Toronto, their service is not good also, they actually abandoned film users years ago, but this is on pair with other dealers, like Henry's, for example. Actually, I think Henry's even worse, because Fuji Neopan 1600 does not have exp. date anywhere on individual package but on carton box only, and in Toronto downtown superstore they discarded boxes and had film on shelf with no clue of expirity date for it (that was two years ago when I was last time there).
Talking about price for Tri-X, I meant 120 rollfilm - that's what I bought recently. Tri-X 120 rolls are 4.09 per roll and they give you discount if you buy 5 rolls or more, pretty decent discount for pack of 20. Anyway, Downtown Camera in Toronto had the same Tri-X for 3.99 per roll and similar discounts. However I have a very unpleasant experience with Downtown Camera - they have some out-dated stuff, and they have policy not to refund or exchange any film or photo paper. I didn't know about that policy (and didn't expect to see something like that in Canada) and did a hundred dollars mistake. Not a big loss, but I don't feel like shopping in Downtown Camera anymore... Maybe I'll join the club of getting film thru internet soon.

Cheers,
Ed.

 

[photogdave]

No store would, or should, refund or exchange consumable materials like film or paper. Once it has left the store there is no way to verify what kind of conditions it's been exposed to so there is no way they can accept it back and resell it to the next customer.
It's not the store's fault that film has expiry dates on the cartons and not the individual canisters, but they should keep track of the expiry date themselves and discount anything that's gone out of date.

 

[newsgrunt]

Abandon to me means totally leave out in the cold and when I poked around Henry's yesterday, the film counter still had lots of stock of 35, 100 foot roll, 120, 4x5 etc. Likewise Vistek. If I can still get the above, I'm happy otherwise I go to Freestyle of Badger.

And no matter where we order film from, we will get dinged for taxes.