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For the Canadians - Where did you buy your equipment?

jcsmooth

Member
I'm looking into getting a 400 watt hps/mh digital ballast very soon, and after reading clowntowns' thread on which ones have been tested, I'm looking into getting a Lumatek.

I was originally interested in one from hidhut but after I realized the price difference wasn't that much between the two, I decided that my money was best put into a Lumatek.

After a search on google and ebay, I haven't found many distributors who sell to Canada, and the ones that do are very overpriced.

I'm looking to find a supplier who will ship to Canada or is even located w/in Canada.

Any help?
Thanks in advance,
JC
 
I can't recommend a Canadian supplier but from experience I know that probably 90% of the time if you ask an eBayer to send to Canada even though their ad only says shipping in the US, they will. I've purchased more then a 100 items off of eBay and well over half of that I had to ask about shipping to Canada, just avoid air freight and stick to ground shipping with USPS not UPS or FedEx ( outrageous brokerage fees! ), and it's actually pretty reasonable cost wise.

GG
 

jcsmooth

Member
Hey GG, thanks for the speedy reply.

About 20 minutes ago I sent a message to an ebay seller asking if they could ship to Canada (despite them saying only US in auction).

Also thanks for the tip about courier. UPS and FedEx have charged me outrageous brokerage fees as well, but USPS does not.
I once bought a pair of shoes from ebay at 45, and once it came to my door the guy asked for just over $40 in brokerage fees. Would have been about the same price in the store!

There does seem to be a lot of Canadian online growshops.

JC
 
I'm sure there are a ton of online Canadian supplier I personally haven't bought from any ( I'm still working out how to get my first grow organized ), or know of any that I could recommend based on reputation.

Yeah the courier companies are actually just getting into a class action suite over there habit of non disclosure of brokerage, I guess enough people are sick of getting screwed.

Good luck with your search.
GG
 

jcsmooth

Member
Just wanted to say that I purchased some goodies from
www.progressive-growth.com

Their priced seemed very reasonable and they're located in BC, Canada.
I'll let you know of my full experience once I receive my package and get things started.

Cheers,
JC
 

steve green

Member
whats up,,im a canadian,,,and i try and stay local..but if i order stuff...www.bustan.ca is a good canadian based company(toronto) that will offer u all kinds off good stuff..check them out! there are way more companies located in the states,, from bad experiences im staying canadian. paying extra custom charges if found isnt cool and the all mighty american dollar$(wich is not doing so well)... but if your in the sates u can try many companies..and avoid dirty custom and shipping fees unlike me....try...https://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/index.php
or.... www.insidesun.com (super cheap) :joint:
 

jcsmooth

Member
Hey Steve,

I've been to bustan's downtown Toronto shop. Just a neat little store near the University of Toronto, in a old house that's got neat old wood features.

I've found better prices then their's, but like you said, picking it up in person and paying cash (Avoid customs and paper trail) is ideal.

Thanks for the other links.
Check out www.globalgrow.com
They're a pretty good Canadian store. I've purchased from them four times. The first three were seamless, the fourth I got a mixed up order and the guy didn't really care to correct things. Kinda left me sour, but it was my mistake to begin with.

JC
 

steve green

Member
i never went there in person,but only know bustan from online,
your right its deffinetly not the cheapest..there are others..
but its a safe bet..im gonna check out that link u sent , i love canadian companies...and cheap specials lol..thnx
 
Just in general...I'd like to point as well the importance of using USPS for cost savings. And when you are talking or texting with these US suppliers and they are saying to you "ya, ya...no problem"...HALF THE TIME they are still thinking in their heads you said UPS.
You should make it very clear the difference between UPS and USPS
 
G

Guest

www.progressive-growth.com is excellent, if you don't see what you are looking for on the website, call them up because they have or can get just about everything you could ever want. They have also been good to me in the past on discounting larger orders or picking up the shipping costs, really nice guys.

www.bustan.ca is great too, and one of the few places inside Canada that you can get Foxfarm ferts from. They are a little more pricey sometimes but the service is top notch.

I spoke to GlobalGrow a couple times and they were not particularily helpful and only mildly polite so I did'nt bother spending any money there :pointlaug
 

steve green

Member
yeah , i checked out global-growth..there wack! too expensive,no good specials,unwanted stuff..... i will check out progressive-growth. thnx for the link
 
Last edited:

jcsmooth

Member
SuperNuck said:
www.progressive-growth.com is excellent, if you don't see what you are looking for on the website, call them up because they have or can get just about everything you could ever want. They have also been good to me in the past on discounting larger orders or picking up the shipping costs, really nice guys.

www.bustan.ca is great too, and one of the few places inside Canada that you can get Foxfarm ferts from. They are a little more pricey sometimes but the service is top notch.

I spoke to GlobalGrow a couple times and they were not particularily helpful and only mildly polite so I did'nt bother spending any money there :pointlaug

Hey bud, thanks for the tips on progressive-growth. I'll have to inquire about Homebox from them. They just sent me a shipment yesterday (was in the mail only hours after I placed the order!), so I'm happy thus far.
About Globalgrow...They used to have top notch service. The guy (his name started with J I believe), was always extremely polite and had super fast response times on e-mails. They messed up my order recently and when I called them on it, he wasn't polite and basically told me that I was the one that goofed. Not very good customer service but their prices are nice :p

Thanks,
JC
 

jcsmooth

Member
I think I've posted too many times in my own thread, but I just wanted to add some more information for Canadian people out there looking for ways to buy their equipment.

I got a cancellation from http://www.4hydroponics.com/ after ordering the Homebox original. They claimed that USPS has given them problems with mailing large heavy items, and that problem of returning items was enough to make them change their policy on international orders (i.e. no more int'l orders).
They claim that USPS has been known to charge these brokerage fees as well.

I thought couriers were in the business of picking up things and then moving them to a predetermined location...for a profit. What the hell happened to NAFTA and who exactly is trading for free? It ain't me babe, it ain't me.

The search continues for a supplier of these damn Homebox's.

JC
 

SpacedCWBY

Active member
Veteran
The guy I'm looking to buy my 600's is on ebay for a good price. Has cheap 400's too. Says that he ships worldwide for free. Haven't bought yet, so couldn't tell you. Don't have the site, but the 400's were like 130 shipped and the 600s were 160-170 shipped. They are blue, that's all I recall.

Good luck.
 

jcsmooth

Member
If you can look up his ebay name/store that'd be great.
Just go to ebay's website, login, and find out what your purchase was.
There will be a link in there somewhere.

Thanks,
JC
 

SpacedCWBY

Active member
Veteran
Haven't bought them yet, but did track it down outta my own curiousity. store name is digitalballast

Kinda obvious now that I think about it... Duh Spaced....

Yeah, I need to smoke another one.

Good luck
 
$230us vs $375can....a small exchange rate, shipping, over all pain in the ass hassles...just buy local.

It blows my mind that someone would pay for those tents btw. You wanna talk about saving a few bucks?!?!...make your own :)
 

jcsmooth

Member
Building your own will more than likely mean investing in time and commuting to find parts (I don't have a car), plus, it would be difficult to make a tent that can be both assembled and disassembled.
I'll be moving in about 6 months so being able to bring everything down and transfer clones/small plants to my new destination is my goal.
I only grow and smoke for personal use, so I will likely only grow for one harvest a year from here on out. All I have to do is keep some small plants alive in a tiny cupboard, and once winter comes around I can set up the tent for about 3 months, quickly veg the plants and then flower.

A tent is my best option, but thank you for the suggestion.
DIY projects don't always suit everyone's needs :)

JC
 

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