TORONTO - It used to be that Canadian consumers who jealously browsed American online shops could only take advantage of spectacular deals if they knew someone in the U.S. to buy on their behalf.
Those online deal-hunters even coined a nickname for their friends or family members who would accept their packages and either hold them or forward them to Canada: "Ameri-friends."
Now, anyone willing to make a trip just across the American border can pull the trigger on U.S.-only online deals and then pick up their purchases later, for a small fee.
Ryan Germann, who grew increasingly sick and tired of seeing online prices considerably higher in Canada than in the U.S., found out about a business called CBI USA in Niagara Falls, N.Y., roughly two hours from his home in Toronto.
The depot typically charges about US$6 to accept the delivery of a shopper's package and then hold it as long as needed.
"The first time I just thought, 'OK, this sounds too simple,"' recalls Germann, who typically has several packages waiting for him when he makes the semi-regular trip to CBI USA.
His first order through Dell's American website saved him about $150 compared to the Canadian price for the same item.
"Exact same product, it's just a matter of which country's store you ordered it from," he says.
"Now that the Canadian dollar's been at parity it's inexcusable for these companies to do this."
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty asked a Senate committee to look into the price gap that has made cross-border shopping so appealing to Canadians. Flaherty says he's irritated that the gap continues to exist after five years of seeing the loonie strengthen.
Of course, there may be taxes and duties to pay at the border when coming back into Canada but Germann says he just factors that into the price when ordering.
Another frequent CBI USA customer named Rehan -- who asked that his last name not be used -- used to frequently hit the outlet malls in New York state but now barely visits given his online shopping habits.
"We used to go to the outlets for clothes or whatever else and I think it's been probably seven to eight years since we did that -- we just buy things online now, we never make trips specifically for outlet shopping anymore," he says.
"You never know what actually is on sale at the outlets but you can shop online for exactly what you want."
He crosses the border every three months or so to pick up his online shopping orders, which sometimes pile up.
"Sometimes things will sit there for several weeks until I go pick it up," he says. "Sometimes I've picked up about 20 packages that were sitting there."
Prices and rules will vary depending on the business you deal with, with some charging more for larger packages or to hold deliveries for more than a few days. Most are independently run, although a company called Kinek has a number of partners across the U.S. that accept packages for Canadians.
Frequent cross-border shoppers should try searching online for "package receiving" or "parcel receiving" in the city they usually visit to find a business to ship purchases to.
