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Getting A Laptop With The Low U.S. Dollar
An anonymous reader submits "I am heading to the U.S. pretty soon and am keen to take advantage of the low US$ to buy a laptop. The differences in prices are astounding - on dell.com (US) you pay $2049 for a Precision M60 - in the UK this costs 1620.33UKP, or $2999. That is a fair difference! It makes it cheaper for me to fly to the US to buy it and carry it home than it is for me to buy it in the UK. Now, that said, it isn't particularly easy to find a place to buy a laptop from, since most of the places don't ship to the UK (or it takes weeks) and it is difficult to get stuff delivered to your hotel ... any suggestions of how I can get a good laptop in the New York area when I am only there for 4 days?"
First off, I'm assuming you want a mail order dell laptop. The simplest way to go is to get a mailbox in New York via a company like The Mail Box or a UPS store. They give you a full address that is not a PO box, and they will sign for packages for you. Pre-pay for 1 month. That's step 1.
Step 2 is order your laptop and have it sent to your brand new address. You are going to want expedited shipping here - probably next day shipping because it might take a few days for them to ship it.
Step 3, pick up your cheap laptop when it arrives and consider the difference as... profit!
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
Not sure why this warrents an ask slashdot when a quick search found this:
Gateway Stores
Circuit City
Dell Direct Stores
Or if your feeling artistic:
Apple Stores
Try J&R near city hall.
Try the Apple Store in Soho. They'll have great laptops.
<tongue_in_cheek>Don't forget to declare your new laptop to customs, though--if you don't, you'll be a damned, dirty tax cheat. Nobody likes a damned, dirty tax cheat.</tongue_in_cheek>
(Oh, bear in mind--you'll be stuck with a US QWERTY keyboard. No Euro key or Pound key, among other things--you'll need to remap and remember...)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Doesn't Dell ask you to affirm that you will not export the computer from the United States as part of their checkout process?
From Dell's shopping cart:
Export Intent
I WILL NOT export this order outside the United States.
I WILL export this order outside the United States.
The export of any product and software purchased from Dell must be made in accordance with all relevant laws of the United States, including and without limitation, the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. This may require that you obtain a formal export license or make certain declarations to the United States Government regarding product(s) to be exported, their destination or their end-use.
Ship-To Prohibitions: Please be informed that your designated ship to address must reflect the address of the ultimate end-user. Dell will not process any order which specifies an address of a freight forwarder, warehouse, distribution center, airport, hotel or PO box.
Never flown internationally, but here's my question: How would they know?
You show up at the airport after your four days in New York, lugging a laptop and carrying bag. Just like probably 25% of the other passengers flying that day. How do they know you just purchased this laptop last night? Couldn't you just say "Yup, headed home from my business trip" or something? Or do they make you declare everything you have on you before entering the country? Seriously curious here.
The best reputable dealer in NYC is J&R Music and Computer World. They have a good selection of laptop computers that you can buy and take away right there; naturally they don't have Dell since Dell sells through the web only.
You can start by taking a look at their selection on their web site here. You'll pay the relevant sales taxes for New York (under 10%) but you'll get a much better deal than the Dell you are looking at.
Of course it's totally you to you whether you declare the thing when you arrive back in the UK and pay the relevant UK taxes.
John.
The allowance per trip is just GBP 145 according to the London Heathrow website.
Warhammer forums
A few years ago I bought my Canon Digital Elph from buy.com and had it shipped to the New Orleans hotel where I would be staying. The front desk handed me the package when I checked in.
That capability may have changed due to the rampant fraud in the intervening years. Today most sellers will only ship if the address is OK with your credit card, but you could make a call and arrange that.
I tried doing the same trick when I bought some sandals at the last minute and had them shipped to the el-cheapo motel I would be staying. I asked the front desk each day if the package had arrived. No. The seller shipped after I checked out.
The amazing end of the story was that my package was still stored at the motel when stopped to check when I returned the following year. I wasn't even staying at that motel that year.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
The thing I've noticed when people say it costs $XXX in the use and XXX in the UK is that they don't realize that US prices do *not* include tax. All the UK prices do. They never add the US tax to the US price or subtract the UK tax from the UK price.
1) Call the Apple Store ahead of time and make sure that they will have exactly what you want set aside for you when you arrive.
2) Purchase a UK power adapter from a UK Apple dealer before you go. The day before you leave the US for home, ship all the manuals and paperwork back to the UK, along with the US power adapter. Take nothing but the laptop and a UK power adapter in your bag through customs.
3) Call your credit card company beforehand and make sure that they will clear your charge for the purchase.
4) When you get back to the UK, look into buying a UK keyboard for your PowerBook. IIRC, the key faces can be detached and replaced from the notebook fairly easily.
You're missing the point.
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He wants to buy it now because his money is in GBP. Right now that 2000$ USD laptop will only cost him 1082 GBP. 1 year ago it would have cost him 1280 GBP. It's 200 GBP cheaper now than a year ago for HIM (NOT for you, with USD as your base).
The cost difference is only part of it. Look at the international money scene: The US dollar is DIEING. HORRIBLY. No one wants the greenback. It will recover (we all hope), but for now it means getting stuff from the US can be REALLY cheap, even cheaper than usualy.
http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?s=USD&t=GBP&a=2000&
http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?s=USD&t=AUD&a=2000&
Imagine if those were stock charts... they'd be firing the board of directors!
Shipping might be possible. To avoid a custom's tax you might have to indicate that the unit isn't new and is being shipped back from a conference for safety reasons. If you did try to get it out of the country with your flight you should definitely not take it in the box. You should mail the paperwork and CDs to your home from the US and put the laptop in a well-worn laptop case. That way they'll be less likely to assume it's new (like they'd think that much anyhow).
You are required by law to tell them.
If they even begin to think that you didn't tell them about something you ought to have, they can pull you aside and search you and your baggage. They have zero sense of humour about this kind of thing. They have every reason to want to catch you, since the fines are much higher than the taxes, and they look good catching smugglers. It's their job.
If they ask you, and you lie, you can be easily caught. They will look at the data plate on the laptop and see the country of origin is the US. They will notice how new it looks and ask you to prove when you bought it, or when you brought it into the country and paid the VAT on it (you better have an accompanying entry stamp in your passport). They can also trace the serial number and determine when it was manufactured and sold.
This is why it is a good idea to register any foreign made products prior to leaving your home country. The US has a form for this; I assume the UK has one, too.
I can attest to the lack of humor. I was re-entering Australia after a two-day side-trip over to New Zealand. I had two food items in my bag -- a bag of US chocolate candy that had already cleared Oz quarantine where I had been told it was no problem, and a bag of Oz-produced, Oz-purchased chocolate easter bunnies. I didn't report either one. They have an X-ray machine that detects chocolate. :-( They were not amused.
The person who mentioned "personal item" if the computer is used while overseas is wrong. This exemption is for people who have resided abroad, not just visited. Governments, especially the US, are quite nit-picky about the difference. It is intended for people who have lived overseas and in the normal course of living have bought things like clothing and furniture to use while residing overseas, but want to bring them back home.