The Maple Seed: How NOT to score motors

The Thrifty Rocketeer continues...
So now that I have finished my build for the Semroc Maple Seed rocket, I'm ready to fly, but noticed I don't have any C11-7 motors to launch with.
I started a search on-line, and found Hobby Lobby doesn't stock them, and couldn't turn up a local store with them. So I searched on eBay and found ONE Canadian seller who had a 3-pack for $12.95 and $5 shipping. So I did a little math and decided that was near $4 a motor, still cheaper than paying hazmat charges, so I pulled the trigger.
Almost simultaneous, a fellow rocketeer was kind enough to offer to pick up a pack from eRockets, and told me he had them. So, knowing that I'd launch the rocket multiple times, I agreed to pick them up from him. His pack is a 2-pack of the same C11-7 value motors and runs about $8... so they're right in line with what I'm expecting. We met for coffee at a drive thru and he gave them to me.
Now the Canadian package arrives, and I notice that it's very well sealed, complete with a custom's declaration that there is nothing prohibited in the package. (Really?!) So I slice open the package, cutting right through the invoice, slicing it multiple times since it was folded up and taped over the cardboard shipping box flap opening.
I open the box and find a very well-cushioned 3-pack of C11-7 motors as promised, with a price tag of $12.95 on them. I look at the invoice and find that I have been charged $24.83 for the item.
I can't believe my eyes, and try to go back and look at the terms of the sale. It says shipping is $5 Canadian and $12.95 for the pack. I've been charged $10.95 plus 1.63 for tax. This makes the cost per motor now over $8 each. OUCH! This is still a low power motor!
I rant and rave to my family about how I've been taken, and learned my lesson and that I should have known better than to order via eBay from a Canadian seller. And the wife asks who the seller was. She says if they do this a lot, they won't be in business long.
So for the first time, I piece the invoice together and discover that it's a NON-PROFIT MUSEUM near Sudburry, Ontario. I look at it and figure that it's a gift shop that had one or two packs of motors left over after stocking some science-y type stuff that must have included Model Rockets and this is the last of the stuff they are trying to clear out.
And then I look more closely. In slicing the invoice up, I had cut off the statement that each figure was followed by CAD....an indication that it was Canadian funds.
Now I am not sure if I'm going to be charged on my American VISA card in Canadian or USA funds. The exchange rate is .71 in our favor, so I'm thinking that maybe the damage isn't as bad as I thought. I multiply the conversion factor to each of the Canadian figures, and come up with a cost per motor that is damn close to $4 per motor. Still, they charged about $10.95 to ship to the USA.
Maybe that's what their actual cost was, but it's still almost double what they had in the original eBay listing. I guess I still learned a lesson, but I'll have to wait for my monthly statement to arrive to see just how much I actually paid in US Funds or not.
The better route was to have ordered a pack of the C11-7 motors when I ordered the Maple Seed kit. I don't know how common C11-7 motors are, but I've never run into them before.... So the lesson here is buy the motors at the same time you buy an exotic kit.
...And I am STILL waiting for the Stay-At-Home order to be lifted so I can fly this bird.

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