I'm thinking of getting a Xiaomi or Honor laptop from Aliexpress.
Apart from obvious potential issues with warranty, are there any problems I should be aware of?
Aliexpress collects 10% VAT GST automatically, does this mean that I won't have to pay any tax here, even if the laptop price is over A$1000?
Also, most sellers use DHL to ship laptops to Australia. I heard DHL sometimes require payment for customs clearance. Does it happen with parcels from Aliexpress?
Yeah, I was planning to re-install Windows.
There is no VAT in Australia - It is GST that they charge. However you'd still have to pay import duty in Australia for items costing over $1000. You'll most likely get a text/email from DHL requesting you to pay the import duty+ any other fees while the package is in transit.
I see, thank you.. I just realized that Aliexpress doesn't charge 10% on laptops over $1000, now I understand why.
Do you know approximately how much is the import duty and other DHL fees? Say for a A$1500 laptop.
I bought a xiaomi air laptop from Ali a few years ago. Still kicking along
Good luck.
I got a Xiaomi "Lapbook" or "Notebook" (or some variant to the name "Macbook", I forgot) laptop a few years back from them. It's still good, the fans are just 'buzzing' now, I will use some engine oil to lube it up (yes, it works).
But warranty-wise, the '1 year warranty' was basically BS.
So instead, I told them what I needed - a new SSD… and they reimbursed me the cost. This also meant that that was it for warranty; the ceasure of warranty with them. A LOT of patience, time and back and forth communication, with broken English.
No. The cost of the laptop was good, but then with the (surprise) tax when it got to Australia made it not such a great deal. Also the hassle of 'warranty'… made it not very worth the price.
(Personally would just wait for deals on Ozbargain for local purchases)
I had to send it back to China, with my own money, for them to honor assess the laptop and honour warranty… which to me, is BS.
Seriously though, if you bought a laptop for the Chinese domestic market and had it shipped to Australia, what would you expect the warranty process to be like?
Yeah fair enough… I guess I was hoping for the best of both worlds
Yeah, I understand it's a gamble. But a laptop with the specs I want will cost $500-1000 more here, so it may be worth the risk.
The cost of the laptop was good, but then with the (surprise) tax when it got to Australia made it not such a great deal.
How much was that surprise tax? More than 10% of the price?
I can't remember, but I think it was like $200… so $1200 in total or something like that. Does that make sense?
Basically I didn't do my homework on import tax, and it blew my budget.
Dont forget if you have Coles / 28d (grandfathered) Shoppers Protection, you can do Merchandise claims if you have any issues, just get a quote from somewhere local
Looks like Coles insurance is only available for their platinum cards now.
Nah that's probably a different one. The one I'm talki g about was from years ago and you had to opt in at the time, before they stopped offering it to new customers
Depends how paranoid you are - when I was following the Indiegogo on win max 2, there was some people in the discord specifically saying they planned to reinstall fresh windows, even though it came with it preinstalled ready to go.
Preinstalled windows typically comes with bloat/junk ware. As long as you know how to assess and remove you should be fine - just in case some random Chinese domestic backdoor software on it