Hi OzBargainers, I've been looking to get myself a laptop, and I've noticed that it seems cheaper (in theory) to have one imported, taxes and all.
I was wondering if there were certain things that I had to look out for, extra hurdles that I had to go through, or nasty surprises that would make this not worth the trouble.
Any information would be highly appreciated as I've never dealt with a freight forwarder.
Cheers,
(Also, sorry if I posted in the wrong place; it's my first post 😊)
The price is cheaper than Malaysia?
I haven't used one in a while as the low aussie dollar doesn't make a lot of purchases worthwhile.
Last companies I used were https://www.myus.com/ and https://www.shipito.com/
Shipping always seems to work out more than you think. And for a laptop you need to make sure that it has international warranty as most don't.
Some time ago this was a viable thing, but now pretty much redundant thanks to significantly higher freight charges, low value of our currency and GST. Per @Hellfire's comment, I used to import notebooks bundled with instrumentation/automation but they had to be returned to the country of purchase for warranty processing.
What is the make and model and specs of this laptop? What is the advantage of importing it?
Have you remembered that sales tax is added on top of the purchase price in the USA?
I agree with others. I imported a laptop in '08 through shipito and after postage and import duty ended up about 15% ahead - at a time of a strong $AUD and instant SMB 100% deduction - neither of which apply now.
Every time I price it all up these days it's about break even which makes the hassle and risk not worth it.
Some boutique vendors try to cater to the international market (e.g. gaming laptop seller Eluktronics) but the cost of their international warranty offerings is high.
Car parts are a totally different thing - I had a horrible time with locals trying to get a set of sport shocks and springs (Bilstein/H&R) for my early 90s V8 beemer - all saying 4-6 weeks lead time - ordered direct from a US store, I had it in 5 days.
I have bought quite a few things second hand over eBay, without any issue, many times it would work out cheaper than the very expensive stock UPS/USPS postage options, especially with consolidated shipments.
Freight forwarding a laptop via a third party or as in a seller (like b&h photo) shipping it to Australia for you?
And how much are we talking?
$1000 laptop? $2000 laptop? And savings?
Just make sure power supply ok for 110-240 (most will be) then you will need in most case just an Australia IEC lead, or a travel adapter. I did import a few laptops for myself during the years where aud and usd were over 1:1, these days cbf