That price is unbelievable. These chips usually go for around $150 USD with stock labels.
It's what the market will bear, based on the lack of competition and the costs of buying in the US.
Let's do some quick numbers for 1000 chips.
SPS price: $690 CDN + 13% harmonized sales tax (assuming Ontario) = $779.70 CDN. Shipping is free on that order within Canada.
PGI Price: For a PGI compression clay (aka "China Clay"), the price is $0.59 USD / blank chip @ palmgaming.us
For 1000 blank chips from PGI based on their website....
Chips: $590 USD
Shipping : $84.50 USD (2 x Priority Intl MFRB, as 1000 chips exceeds the 20lb limit). USPS /Canada Post is the cheapest option.
Duty : 0.
Sub-total : $674.50 USD
Conversion to CDN: $ 739.66
Cost + HST (13% on value of goods + shipping) : $835.82
Brokerage fee (Canada Post): $10 (for comparison, UPS's fee is $69.10, and they charge an additional 2.7% bond fee)
Total cost: $845.82 CDN. And the chips aren't labeled yet.
I would be cautious about telling people that it is cheaper to buy the china clays. While I agree that the china clays are a superior chip, and I wouldn't order those particular chips myself, I don't believe that it is possible to get the same number of china clay chips for less $$$.