Question for Casters...why TJets?

Hum, I've never noticed the "No Canadians" bias on EBay. Some of the strongest proponents of the HO hobby (http://members.rogers.com/gtrshop/, http://www.canho.ca/index.php) are from north of the border.

The only thing that I can figure is that it has something to do with the innate sense of fear, disbelief, and confusion that folks living south of the border have about a country that considers the bizarre activity associated with Kurling a "sport?" Maybe you need to band together or hire Dudley Do-Right to set things straight.

Just kidding! I'm sure it has something to do with customs fees. I'm pretty sure that most of the major parts vendors will ship their products to Canada with the appropriate adjustments. You should check out the following vendors and others to see what they offer for shipping to Canada...

http://www.jaghobbies.com/
http://www.scaleauto.com/
http://www.wizzardho.com/
http://www.slottech.com/
http://www.toyracecars.com/
http://www.homestead.com/budshocars/budsho.html
http://www.ncphobbies.com/
http://www.mascr.com/

To Dragula: Thanks for the tip about that vendor, and for being willing to ship up North. And I can tell that TJets have a large following, and rightly so, they're great and really take some skill to drive. (I put one on the track for my wife to drive once after she started getting cocky about her ability with the GPlus cars that came with the set.) There's certainly a nostalgia factor there too.

AFX too: Actually, its not so much a "no Canadians" as it is US only. (I was just feeling bitter at the time of writing, cuz I'd just come across yet ANOTHER couple really sweet auctions that I wasn't eligible for.) Actually, the sender doesn't deal with customs, the buyer does.

Thanks for the links though. The guy that does the CanHo site is right in my hometown and I've spoken to him, but the HO speedways are not in operation right now. (Most of the posters there are in the Sudbury region...400 miles away from me) We DO have a freakin amazing 1/24 speedway that I'm just getting involved with. Its a Blue King - 140 foot laps and is the size of half a small gymnasium. Watching wing cars ripping around that thing in about 4 seconds...it'll either make you dizzy or hypnotize you.

I've checked a lot of the sites you've mentioned and I certainly will be dealing with a few of them...cuz really, there's NOTHIN here, not for HO, cept maybe a few old school hobby shops with no websites. Its so barren I've considered setting up shop myself.

Oh, and Curling is spelled with a C, and the only people who do it are the rich, and people from Alberta. (where, occasionally, it really DOES snow 8 months of the year...that makes them a little nuts)

To TX Street Racer: thanks for the reply. I'm surprised, as I would have thought body clips would be easier than the posts. Would you mold them the same way or would there be a different process?

AFXToo: As far as I know, legit vendors will all ship to Canada. They seem to understand how things work. I think its many of the amateur Ebayers that see dealing out of the country as a hassle.

I've understood that in some places in the US, a Canadian Money Order can be a pain in the ass to cash in. If you use Paypal it's no problem, cuz it makes the currency conversion for you.

I imagine that there have been occasions where Canadian customs has held a package back. The customer, in this case, just sees that he hasn't got his stuff yet. If the guy's a moron, he may have an itchy trigger finger for neg feedback instead of being patient like he needs to be. If I'd been burned with neg feedback because of a customs screwup that wasn't my fault, I'd probably take the easy route too and just say US only from now on.

I did win a couple US auctions last Sunday (5th) and got my stuff in the mail today (the 13th) so customs is moving it through pretty good right now.

Like someone else said already, if you put Gift Used Toys or something to that effect on the box, it'll probably get through faster than a box with nothing on it.

Last note: I have heard a few stories of people who refused Canadian bidders because our government wouldn't commit troops for Iraq. I honestly don't know how much truth there is to those stories.

If there are people on the board that resent Canadians for that, I'll just say this: Prime Minister Chretien did NOT speak for the majority of Canadians when he declined the Iraq war. (that's one of the reasons why he's not Prime Minister anymore) There was a time here after 9/11 that US flags flew as prominently as Canadian flags, because we wanted to show some solidarity with the USA even though the government would not commit.

OK, enough politics (blecch)

So I see where some people are coming from when they say US only. But it still sucks, and many bad feelings could be alleviated if buyer and seller would just talk to each other. And the Canadain buyer has to learn to understand the system and explain to the seller about labelling and such.

I've read a guy on these boards who's a dork about it (saying stuff like "US Only, moron. What part of US ONLY do you NOT understand? Are you retarded?") You can't talk to those pinheads. But I've found guys that'll deal with us too.

Actually kinda sorry I brought it up, as my question about modellers favoring TJets has been overshadowed by the Canada US thing.

Cest la vie,
Shadow