Buying a IPad and shipment to Europe!?

[peterdevries]

about importing an iPad. Most of the lads there have found a genuine bloke living in the US who's dealing in iPads. I believe he charges like $750 for a 16GB (WiFi) iPad, all-in. (Shipping AND additional Dutch customs charges).

What a total effin rip-off! Thats $250 for shipping and customs charges! That guy is making a ton of money from you. But more power to him if he succeeds. You might also try waiting a few days for it to appear in the UK and Germany.

Also not forget that for some Apple products the warranty is limited to the country of purchase. I do not know if this applies to the iPad as well, but you might not want to send it to the US if it appears to be a lemon.

 

[peterdevries]

That's because you're in India and I know how Indian customs and postal services work - they tried to charge a friend of mine (who I shipped a tub of protein powder) 95% duty on it, lol.

Shipping to Europe, Australia, etc is very different - duties do go down depending on the value of the shipment. It's common sense to declare something sensibly - for e.g. a $2000 macbook pro can be declared $1400 or so.. but if it's declared $400 then obviously customs will suspect something's up.

In many places items up to $150-$200 are completely exempt from duties.

I'm in the Netherlands and currently work with people associated with Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) customs. They are monitoring shipments very carefully and flights from NYC, and SF especially.

A few months ago I ordered a displayport to HDMI cable from the US for $45 and ended up paying $75 in total because of customs.

I have to check, but as far as I know there is a €430 free amount that you can purchase, but this only applies to you flying in yourself. Ordered and shipped goods do not fall under this regulation and VAT and Import Fee's need to be paid.

 

[Xenophon]

I have to check, but as far as I know there is a €430 free amount that you can purchase, but this only applies to you flying in yourself. Ordered and shipped goods do not fall under this regulation and VAT and Import Fee's need to be paid.

Correct.

 

[peterdevries]

The way I see it there are about two reasons why people would order abroad:

1. get the cheaper price in the US. Well this basically only works if you manage to smuggle (yes smuggle) it through customs or buy the 16Gb Wifi to stay under the €430 ceiling.. Ordering it abroad will not work if you do it directly from a store because customs checks those 100%. The time of sample taking in all the orders are over. We are living in a crisis and the added manpower to check all parcels easily pays for itself by checking 100%. The only other option is to contact a friend or whatever to ship it to you as a gift or whatever. Even then the chance of being caught is high. Customs will impound it and require you or your relation to produce a proof of purchase so the fees can be payed. You as recipient will be the one who has to pay it, not the sender.

2. because you can't wait for your country to stock it. Wait a few weeks for it to be available in the UK or germany and order it or pick it up. People offering an all-in price are ripping you off. As stated above, you as recipient are responsible for the payment of the fees. The iPad being a gift or not plays no role in that. A person offering an all-in price will probably be "temporarily not available" when you try to retrieve the customs fees that they were promising to pay.

I would like an iPad too, but I'd rather anticipate and wait a bit longer than bleeding from my wallet. It bleeds as it is with all these cool Apple gadgets.

 

[finl69]

US ipad shipping

Indeed it appears to be cheaper to purchase an iPad in the US, but the tax and postage can be a problem. I was recently told about the site bundlebox.com. They specialise in shipping items to Europe etc. It enables you to shop from any US website ie. Walmart who sell electronic items very cheap.

To sign up is free and Bundle Box provides you with a free USA parcel forwarding address so you can buy from any site in the USA. They offer great international shipping rates including custom tax & VAT. They can also purchase an iPad for you and you pay them, as some companies do not accept credit cards with a European address.

Example : iPad 16GB wifi & 3G. If USD 499 that would work out at circa Euro 332.78
2-3 day courier delivery: + Euro 135.01 (inclusive all shipping, import tax & VAT charges). Total iPad price Euro 467.82
4-5 day delivery : + Euro 120.80 (inclusive all shipping, import tax & VAT charges). Total iPad price Euro 453.58

This about Euro 150.00 cheaper than I can find it in the Netherlands.

I haven't used them myself but found them though a reputable UK Computer magazine company article and Google brings up many positive reviews. I have registered and received my US postal address details via email.

Does anyone have any experience with using this service http://www.bundlebox.com ?

 

[SXR]

BundleBox is great . But the discount you get from using such a service, in most cases , is minimal. Thats the reason I just don't go trough the hassle of using such a service.