Cross Border Shopping Without the Drawbacks

Cross Border Shopping Without the Drawbacks

Cross border shopping is popular again now that the Canadian dollar is around par with the U.S. dollar. Canadians are travelling in droves to take advantage of better prices and more selection.

Canada lacked a lot of big box retailers like Home Depot and Costco and even a giant like Walmart the last time cross border shopping was this popular back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They are all in Canada now in huge numbers which makes the trip to the U.S. less attractive. Another reason cross border shopping is not the huge craze it was almost two decades ago is because of the extra scrutiny at the border since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Add the recently passed law requiring a passport for all land trips to the U.S. makes short shopping excursions a nuisance. In addition there is the extra length of a trip to a stateside mall that all adds up to an exhausting day. It certainly takes the fun away from shopping.

You don’t have to go through all this to save money buy from U.S. merchants. The solution to avoiding the border headaches, cost of gas, time for the trip back and forth and the exhaustion you feel when you get back is to do your cross border shopping over the Internet. Not only do you avoid the pitfalls outlined above but you also have access to merchants that are located throughout the U.S.

Another advantage of cross border shopping online is that you have access to more coupons and notified of more sales and other special deals. I like to start at a Canadian cash back site because they list all the U.S. retailers that ship to Canada and you get a nice rebate in cash on all your purchases. They list all the coupons and sales, plus your rebates are in Canadian dollars and they also list all the online Canadian merchants. See below for a recommended Canadian cash back rebate site.

Once I started cross border shopping online I ended up having more free time to do other things and I wasn’t worn out by the end of the day. I was sold on the idea after my first experience.