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<blockquote data-quote="Fifth Element" data-source="post: 4553282" data-attributes="member: 48135">You're misusing the term markup. Markup is the amount of a retailer's selling price that represents overhead and profit to the retailer.Amazon marks up its books, or else it cannot make any money. LGSs just have to mark them up more, because their overhead is spread over an extremely small number of products compared to Amazon.The sales tax issue is tricky, and disadvantageous to B&amp;M stores. Presumably the sales tax you're referring to is a state tax rather than federal, or else Amazon would be required to collect it from US residents. In Canada we have a federal sales tax of 5%. Things purchased from the US are charged this tax (plus a $5 handling fee!), if your package happens to be chosen for random inspection at the border. So you generally avoid the sales tax if you order from Amazon, but not necessarily. You'll always avoid the provincial sales tax, but that $5 fee can hurt when your item is only worth $20.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fifth Element, post: 4553282, member: 48135"] You're misusing the term markup. Markup is the amount of a retailer's selling price that represents overhead and profit to the retailer. Amazon marks up its books, or else it cannot make any money. LGSs just have to mark them up more, because their overhead is spread over an extremely small number of products compared to Amazon. The sales tax issue is tricky, and disadvantageous to B&M stores. Presumably the sales tax you're referring to is a state tax rather than federal, or else Amazon would be required to collect it from US residents. In Canada we have a federal sales tax of 5%. Things purchased from the US are charged this tax (plus a $5 handling fee!), [B]if [/B]your package happens to be chosen for random inspection at the border. So you generally avoid the sales tax if you order from Amazon, but not necessarily. You'll always avoid the provincial sales tax, but that $5 fee can hurt when your item is only worth $20. [/QUOTE]

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