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Cheapest place to send macbook (NJ, PA, or CA)?

D

dvader123

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 27, 2010
105
0
hi. I have family in Philadelphia, PA, New Jersey, and I live in California. In terms of taxes, where should i send the macbook pro to in order to save the most money on taxes?

How much would i save for getting a mbp 15" base if I send it to those three states?

Thanks.
 
dvader123 said:
hi. I have family in Philadelphia, PA, New Jersey, and I live in California. In terms of taxes, where should i send the macbook pro to in order to save the most money on taxes?

How much would i save for getting a mbp 15" base if I send it to those three states?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

PA has the cheapest sales tax @ 6% of the three.

PA - 6%
NJ - 7%
CA - 8.25%
 
NJ sales tax is 3-1/2% in some towns...

... which is half the usual 7%. I think the half tax areas are called "enterprise zones". There is at least one Apple store is located in such a half-tax zone, the one in the Menlo Park Mall, in the town of Edison.

The half-sales-tax policy applies ONLY* to purchases made in a physical store in a designated town. Appliance shoppers often benefit plenty from this deal. (*So, if you live in one of the NJ towns designated as half sales tax, and you mail order a Mac, Apple has to charge you the full 7% sales tax. But of course the stores don't take B.T.O. orders.)
 
Unless you are planning to visit your family on the east cost shipping is going to eat up most of savings given that the rates are so close plus you are giving UPS/FedEx/USPS another wack at losing or damaging it. Sure it's insured, but getting a tooth pulled is more enjoyable than the circus of filing a claim.
 
Some counties have higher tax than suggested by state. Like Santa Clara for example. we have 9.25.

That or the Cali tax has been raised : (
 
go hang around a college bookstore and buy a kid some pizza in exchange for their student discount.
 
If you cant get it at a tax-free retailer like Amazon, try to find someone in DE who can receive it for you. DE has no sales tax at all.
 
Thank you guys. I will send it to PA. It's no trouble at all because I'm planning to move back to the east coast.
 
FYI Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are 7%. It is a county thing. The rest of the state is 6%
 
RonShort said:
FYI Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are 7%. It is a county thing. The rest of the state is 6%
Click to expand...

Thats odd. I live close to philly and i've never actually noticed this. I dont really pay much attention to sales tax unless its a huge purchase, but then i usually just zip over to wilmington and buy whatever it is.
 
about amazon...i realize that its tax free. are there any catches to buying off amazon? if theres a problem can i still take it to the apple store to get it checked out ect?
 
PurpleShaman said:
about amazon...i realize that its tax free. are there any catches to buying off amazon? if theres a problem can i still take it to the apple store to get it checked out ect?
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Apple isn't going to refuse service on one of its computers if you didn't buy it from their store. They'll definitely service it for you.
 
Buy from Bhphotovideo.com

FREE SHIPPING
$50 cheaper
Free Parallels Desktop 5.0
1 Year Manufacture Warranty.
No tax
 
iBryton said:
Buy from Bhphotovideo.com

FREE SHIPPING
$50 cheaper
Free Parallels Desktop 5.0
1 Year Manufacture Warranty.
No tax
Click to expand...
Amazon is $81 cheaper than MSRP on the base i5 15", and if you have prime, you get free two day shipping. If you don't have prime, you still get free super saver shipping or regular shipping for like $4 on normal items.
 
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