Originally Posted by
veganbikes
digger I just re-read the post you made about Chris King and I don't know what numbers you are getting. I went to the CK website the DropSet is $176 and all of their cupped headsets are $207 granted yes that would be USD but it still gets nowhere near any of the prices you are quoting. The only headsets from CK that would get up that high is maybe an old Titanium cupped Nothreadset or something super rare limited edition they no longer make. A Cane Creek 40 series would be about $52.99 and a 110 series which are quite nice would be 143.99.
I would be curious how you got such heavily inflated numbers? Maybe it is a little bit more in Canada, but to get $100-200 more just seems a bit off.
Look up a Canadian postal code on the Internet, then check shipping from a US location to that Canadian postal code on eBay. The cost can be way higher than you'd expect. From $20 to $40 USD for S/H/insurance wouldn't surprise me, even for a small package like a headset.
Now, add in the exchange rate ($1CAD = $0.73 USD). Assuming $40US for shipping/handling, a $207US item is now up to ($207 + 40) / 0.73 = $338+CAD. And we haven't even talked Canadian import taxes, which I understand are fairly high on some items. But even if the import taxes are only 10%, that brings the total for a $207 USD headset to about $372CAD - which is about what the OP mentioned for the lower end of his price range. And Canadian customs duties on bike parts may well be higher than 10%.