What AVNFi charges for, what we don’t, and why the hardware number you found online isn’t the whole number.
Prices indicative, in CAD, as of 16 July 2026. Ubiquiti pricing and stock change. Contact AVNFi for a current quote.
The short version
AVNFi adds no markup to hardware. Equipment is at cost. We charge for design, configuration and labour. That’s it.
“At cost” means exactly that: the equipment price on your quote is what the equipment costs, Ubiquiti’s store price plus Ubiquiti’s own memory surcharge. We add nothing to it and we take no cut of it. The only money AVNFi earns is on the design and the work.
There’s a second thing worth knowing, and it’s about Ubiquiti’s own online store rather than about us: the store’s product page does not show you the full price of a product. There’s a per-unit charge added at checkout that isn’t visible until the cart. That charge is the whole reason the store looks cheaper than your quote.
Here’s exactly how both halves work, with verified numbers, so you can check them yourself.
1. The memory surcharge
Ubiquiti applies a per-unit charge it calls the “Memory Surcharge.”
It is invisible on the product page. It’s not in the headline price, not in the description, not in the specs. It appears as its own itemised line in the cart, and nowhere else. You cannot see it by browsing.
Verified in the Canadian store cart on 2026-07-16:
| Product | Base price shown | Memory surcharge | What you actually pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNVR (recorder) | $399 | + $31 | $430 |
| UNAS-Pro (network storage) | $715 | + $56 | $771 |
| U7-Pro (access point) | $239 | + $18 | $257 |
| USW-Pro-48-PoE (switch) | $1,499 | + $118 | $1,617 |
| UDM-Pro-Max (gateway) | $859 | + $67 | $926 |
| Fail-secure door strike | $129 | + $0 | $129 |
All CAD. Every line read directly from the cart, not calculated.
That’s the whole mechanism. Nothing sinister, nothing hidden in fine print you should have read. It’s simply not shown until the last screen.
2. It scales per unit
The surcharge is per device, not per order.
Two UNVRs = two surcharges. $31 becomes $62. Verified in the cart. It isn’t a flat fee, it isn’t capped, and it doesn’t stop applying once you’ve bought a few.
On a single access point this is $18 and easy to shrug at. On a build with a dozen cameras, a couple of switches, a recorder and four access points, it compounds into real money, and it compounds silently, because nothing on any product page told you it was coming.
3. It applies to most devices, but not all, and not predictably
Where the surcharge applies, it is remarkably consistent: a small percentage of the base price, product after product.
| Product | Base | Surcharge | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNVR | $399 | $31 | 7.77% |
| UNAS-Pro | $715 | $56 | 7.83% |
| U7-Pro | $239 | $18 | 7.53% |
| USW-Pro-48-PoE | $1,499 | $118 | 7.87% |
| UDM-Pro-Max | $859 | $67 | 7.80% |
| Fail-secure door strike | $129 | $0 | 0% |
But some products carry no surcharge at all, and you cannot predict which ones from the category. This is the part that catches people out. The USW-Flex-Mini is a switch, and it carries none. The UVC-AI-MS-2 is a $1,005 camera with an AI engine in it, and it carries none. A door strike carries none. Switches and cameras as a class do normally carry the surcharge; these don’t. There is no rule that survives contact with the cart. Exemption shows up only as the absence of a surcharge line at checkout; nothing on the product page marks it.
The practical consequence: there is no formula that tells you whether a surcharge applies to a given product, or how much it will be. The number that ends up on your invoice is whatever the cart says.
So we don’t calculate it. We read it, per product, from the cart.
This matters to you directly, because hardware is at cost. We’re not absorbing the surcharge and we’re not marking it up. It’s simply part of what the equipment costs, and it appears on your quote as part of that cost.
4. Why the store number and our number don’t match
Hardware at cost. We charge for design and labour.
If you’ve priced a UDM-Pro-Max at $859 online, that’s a base figure. Ubiquiti’s own cart adds $67 to it, so it’s $926. That’s not a markup and it isn’t us; it’s Ubiquiti’s checkout. It’s also the number that appears on our quote, because at cost means at cost.
If you’re comparing our quote against prices you found yourself, compare like with like: the hardware lines should match the cart, not the product page. The rest of the quote is design and labour, which is a different question entirely.
5. No markup on hardware. Design and labour are what we charge for.
This is the part people most often want stated plainly, so here it is.
AVNFi adds nothing to hardware and takes no cut of the equipment sale.
- Equipment is at cost. Ubiquiti’s store price plus Ubiquiti’s memory surcharge. No margin, no handling fee, no percentage.
- AVNFi designs and configures. Which gateway, which cameras, where each one goes, what powers it, how it’s set up. Much of it is done remotely.
- Local installers do the physical work. AVNFi works with installers across the country for the cable, the mounting and the commissioning.
- Our quote separates the two. Hardware at cost on one side, design and labour on the other. No blended lines, nothing hidden inside a hardware figure.
Why this is structured that way: when the person specifying the equipment doesn’t profit from the equipment, the advice gets more honest. A design that says “buy the cheaper camera, you’ll never see the difference” costs us nothing. That’s the point.
Things that get priced at source and clearly marked, separately from anything else:
- Hard drives. Not Ubiquiti products, never included with a recorder, always a separate line.
- Racks, cabinets and mounting hardware where they’re not Ubiquiti parts.
- Any third-party equipment.
- Fluke channel certification. Excluded by default, offered as its own line if you want it.
6. Lead time, shipping and stock
- Where hardware is ordered from Ubiquiti’s Canadian store: lead time is approximately 7 to 10 days from order, subject to Ubiquiti’s stock at the time, and shipping is free on orders over C$700.
- Stock changes without notice. Products go Sold Out with no warning, and some have no like-for-like substitute. A product that was available when we designed around it can be gone by the time you order. If that happens we’ll tell you before anything is ordered, not after.
If a timeline matters to you, say so early. Lead time is the constraint we can influence least.
7. Prices move, so quotes expire
Ubiquiti reprices whenever it likes, without notice. The surcharge can change with it. Because hardware is at cost, when Ubiquiti’s number moves, ours moves with it.
So:
- Every quote carries a validity window. Inside it, the number holds.
- Outside it, we re-check every price before anything is ordered. Line by line, the same way we built it.
- Prices on this wiki are indicative, captured on a stated date, and are not a quote.
Where a page here says “Ask us,” get in touch and we’ll price the product live for you, all-in.
What to take away
- AVNFi adds no markup to hardware and takes no cut of the equipment sale. We charge for design, configuration and labour.
- Equipment is at cost. Ubiquiti’s store price plus Ubiquiti’s memory surcharge, and nothing on top.
- Ubiquiti’s product page is not the full price on its own store: a per-unit memory surcharge is added at checkout.
- It’s per device, and it’s nothing at all on some products, including a switch and a $1,005 camera. You cannot tell which from the category, so the store price is never the final price. Our quote is all-in.
- Drives are always extra, and prices move, so quotes expire.
Related
- What Works With What. The compatibility rules that decide what’s on the list
- Choosing a Gateway. Where the biggest single line usually is
- Add-Ons and Accessories. What’s genuinely needed vs merely available
- Legacy and Upgrades. The cheapest quote is the one you don’t need
Surcharge figures verified in the ca.store.ui.com cart on 2026-07-16. For a current number on your specific job, AVNFi will walk the design with you and show you the breakdown.