Hi dluth,
I have purchased a few items from the US and it does work out cheaper.
Some companies wont ship certain brands OS due to restrictions from the manufacturer. In these cases I use a freight forwarding company in the US and they ship to me. I use Shipito.com but there are lots of others. I catch with this option is if the freight company is in california u will be charged the state tax.
Places to buy from include optcorp.com,
www.bhphotovideo.com to name a few.
Regards