yep, you're right on that. i have in my records this from one of the their customer service reps:
Thank you for your inquiry. In The Swim does not charge any additional fees for orders shipped to Canada, except for shipments sent by truck (slides, heaters, etc). In the case of a truck shipment we would need to charge additional fees, as well as require that you arrange a broker before the order is placed. For orders shipped by FedEx, you would simply pay a handling fee of $6.99 – $8.99 just as our American customers do. I have provided a detailed break down of our handling fees below:
i.e. they charge 8.99 handling fee for orders over 100 u.s., but don't charge any shipping fee. i believe it cost me for shipping and duties via fedex about 68 bucks last year..i thought that was quite reasonable for a courier service to pay about 80 bucks canuck for shipping and handling and the dollar of course is at a much better exchange right now then it was back then.. i've bought a midline solar reel and cover off them on my first order and was so happy with how things went and the money i saved that i bought in 2 separate orders, zeobrite, for my sand filter, and a hood adaptor/vent kit that i needed for my jandy pool heater. i suggest you setup an account with them online, but place your order by phone if you want to doublecheck any handling fees. their csr's are absolutely great. the first time i ordered with them for the reel and cover, the csr spent about 15 minutes on the phone with me. very patient, she setup my account on the phone but then recommended i go on the site to doublecheck it..spectacular place to shop in my opinion for many reasons and they have pretty much everything. they will also mail you catalogues at times with their seasonal specials, a code on the catalogue that you can input to save like 10, 20 or 50 bucks depending on what they offering. just ask them to put you on their catalogue mailing list if you want it. of course, you'll get email offers on their specials as well.