Amazon Canada MonoPrice prices

Status
Not open for further replies.

OVERKILL

$100 Site Donor 2021
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
57,913
Location
Ontario, Canada
Like probably many of my US neighbours I have an Amazon Prime account and I generally enjoy taking advantage of the fast free shipping and reasonable prices.

So today I was shopping for a set of XLR to RCA cables. MonoPrice's price was $4.58/cable, whilst the price for the same cable on Amazon was $16.05 Prime, making it $32.10 for the pair, plus taxes
crazy2.gif


I ended up just ordering them from the monoprice website and I was just under $15USD including shipping.

Ridiculous!
 
The prices for cables these days are insane in general. High cost and low quality products.
 
There are other choices from other vendors, including on Amazon Canada.

MonoPrice is ridiculously expensive if you live outside the US. if you order from the US site, expect shipping charges that can be in excess of $75 by the time it gets to your door, and that includes small orders like your $5 cable when the value exceeds $C 20. Yours is just under that value, so you will have escaped the higher cost.

They have no interest in setting up an account with a reasonably priced international shipper. This is usually due to contracts with their chosen shipper that offers discounts based on volume.

It's best to just ignore them as a vendor. Almost everyone is cheaper.
 
Originally Posted By: Run
The prices for cables these days are insane in general. High cost and low quality products.
I got a big fat rant about this I'm contemplating typing up. The cheap Chinese Alibaba effect of getting cables for $0.10 each, selling them for $2 each, and undercutting legitimate cables, has had a downward spiral on the quality and availability of the mid-price stuff we used to get. For example: Tie rod ends used to be a little more expensive, but had good quality metal and good QC. Alibaba stepped in and offered $1.00 tie rod ends to reboxers who sell them for $10.00. The reasonably-priced, quality tie rod ends eventually disappeared due to the Chinese pricing pressure. The quality brands started sourcing from China to make their parts cheaper, in order to compete with the super undercutters. Quality tie rod ends disappeared from the market, leaving only the OEM in many cases to offer original quality parts at robbery prices.
For Toyota parts, Beck/Arnley used to only do Japanese stuff, most often from the OEM's parts manufacturer. Enter the ultracheap competition. Now Beck/Arnley has parts coming from Taiwan, Korea, and often CHINA. Nice going! Another brand gone to the dogs.

Oh, this reminds me. I have to go to eBay to buy a pack of iPhone Thunderbolt cables that cost $1.00 each, delivered. They cost the reseller $0.10 each to acquire from the Chinese manufacturer. The Chinese mfg spent $0.03 to make this cable. They last maybe a week or two sometimes at worst, but its cheaper to replace them than to buy the khrApple cable for $40.
 
Amazon isn't always the cheapest. On items with multiple vendors, it's amazing what some want compared to others.

XLRs usually carry balanced signals; RCAs do not. If you get no sound, you may have to verify the pinout.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Amazon isn't always the cheapest. On items with multiple vendors, it's amazing what some want compared to others.

XLRs usually carry balanced signals; RCAs do not. If you get no sound, you may have to verify the pinout.


Yup, my understanding from the Bryston documentation is that the XLR inputs will operate in either balanced or unbalanced mode. The amp has 1/4" and XLR inputs, not RCA, and it is apparently exceedingly difficult to find quality brand-name cables with gold plated inputs for this purpose. I'd rather use the more solid XLR connectors, since I don't intend on disconnecting/connecting it regularly.

I'm presently using a setup of RCA to 1/4" cables, but it is a legacy setup from my old Yorkville rig and not of sufficient quality for the new system.
 
Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Why not just get the XLR to RCA adaptor?


I am not finding great quality ones out there and they really aren't much cheaper than the full cables.
 
Monoprice uses UPS, so let us know if you get hit with a fee when they deliver. Dont think they can bill you duty if its under 20$ value or something but other fees are fair game.
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Monoprice uses UPS, so let us know if you get hit with a fee when they deliver. Dont think they can bill you duty if its under 20$ value or something but other fees are fair game.


They gave me Canada Post as an option for $5, so that's what I chose.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Monoprice uses UPS, so let us know if you get hit with a fee when they deliver. Dont think they can bill you duty if its under 20$ value or something but other fees are fair game.


They gave me Canada Post as an option for $5, so that's what I chose.


Interesting..I guess they ship it from a Canadian warehouse in that case?
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Monoprice uses UPS, so let us know if you get hit with a fee when they deliver. Dont think they can bill you duty if its under 20$ value or something but other fees are fair game.


They gave me Canada Post as an option for $5, so that's what I chose.


Interesting..I guess they ship it from a Canadian warehouse in that case?


I honestly have no idea. I guess I'll know when the cables get here. I got the shipment notification when I made this thread, so if I had to guess, I would say they are coming up from states, as if they were within Canada, I'd expect to have them already.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top