(snip) It didn't seem to matter if I ordered in Canadian or US dollars so I wasn't aware that the type of dollars you use has anything to do with the shipping charges.
Well, at Mouser the shipping is 20$ CAD for Fedex international priority... really fast, i placed an order at 4:29pm, got it the next morning at around 10am in Montreal. They ship overnight via airplane from Texas. If you pay CAD they cover brokerage and duties (duties i think is 0% anyways). I've attached a picture of the currency selection pop-up with the details. And didn't pay GST.
Newark has a canadian site (canada.newark.com), using the CANADA UPS shipping option is 12$ CAD, no brokerage but they charged GST. I placed an order at 2:39 PM, they shipped the following day and i received the morning after. Also attached pic of the detail.
I compared prices between Digikey, Mouser and Newark. Digikey is more expensive, some components are twice as expensive. A 1lb roll of Kester solder i saw for 86$ at digikey and about 41$ at Newark. Hopefully that was just a fluke. Some SMD caps are 0.02$ elsewhere and 0.05$ at DK. Doesn't make a big difference for those unless you're buying lots.
Still, i'm ordering a small quantity of SMD components from digikey tonight because they have all the parts listed in the BOM generated by National Semi's truly wonderful
**broken link removed** tool... Newark and Mouser were both missing some, so i guess we pay extra for their better stock.
Seeing how expensive brokerage is (80$ for 100$ order, is it a flat rate not even related to the value of the product?) i think i won't risk it and stick to ordering in CAD.
To recap all my blabla:
Mouser = fastest (overnight, 20$) but more expensive shipping
Newark = Cheaper shipping (12$) but 2 days
Digikey = Cheapest shipping (8$), most expensive components but better stock... don't know yet how long it'll take.
Hopefully the screenshots are helpful