Should I buy parts from a different country?

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

Hello guys!

I'm choosing parts to build a PC and noticed that the prices in the websites like amazon.com and Newegg USA are a lot cheaper than what I can buy from India. One of our relatives are going to US in a couple of days and I thought that they could buy the part and get it while returning.

Now my questions-

1) Is it legal?

2) Will I face any import charges at the airport?

3) What about the warranty?

 

Thanks!

 

[Xanthe_2871]

Let's address these one at a time.

 

Is it legal? It is in the US, I don't know about India. It's probably fine if you pay import duties.

 

Will they charge you at the airport? I doubt it. How do they know you bought it in the US and didn't bring it with you?

 

The warranty will depend on each individual product. Most major brands have international warranties.

[rn8686]

This depends on your country and their import laws. Here in AU, anything under $1000 is tax free (Includes shipping, dont quote me on this, not legal expert). You can usually return the product if its faulty, but you will have to wait longer to get it shipped. 

[paprikman]

It's legal, but if you ship it in your luggage in box, they can ask you to pay taxes. And yes, you will have warranty, but you should forget about it, because of high shipment price.

To sum up, don't mess with it, buy in local stores.

[dizmo]

I imagine it's perfectly legal, you'll likely face import charges and tax upon bringing it into the country but that's country dependent. You'd have to check your countries duty charges/laws on that one. I know Canada, for instance, only charges tax. No duty.

[mariushm]

Some companies won't send to other countries. Keep that in mind.

 

Unless there's some trade agreements between countries, when package arrives in your country you're probably going to pay customs taxes (in Europe they're usually between 1% and 6% for most goods, but recently customs taxes for electronics no longer exist)

Some countries also have VAT systems (value added tax), in my country for example it was 20% last time I checked... so you pay that as well.

 

Some companies ship products through courier services which are more expensive than regular packages and in addition to that some couriers calculate the customs fees and VAT and charge it advance.  For example when ordering from Amazon and choosing a courier like DHL, Amazon will estimate those fees and add them to the payment and if they estimate too much, they'll eventually refund the difference.

 

There's are some exceptions. For example, my country is in EU which means i can order from any country in EU and not pay customs fees and the VAT is calculated at the purchase. I can also purchase from any store that has a EU presence and not pay customs fees. For example, I can order from Amazon UK or FR because they have a presence in a EU country and the products are actually shipped from Europe, and the packages arrive either directly to my door or at the local post office, and no hassles with customs or paying VAT separately.

 

Also, most EU countries have some rules that may it easier for regular folks. For example, in my country there's some exception that says you don't have to pay customs taxes for any goods ordered online under 150 euro (or dollars, i forget) and you don't have to pay VAT for anything below .. i think it was 25 euro or dollars.  In practice, most often the customs officer won't bother filling forms to charge you less than 2-3$ unless it's an obviously expensive product or it seems like it's not for personal use (like for example if you receive a package with 10 video cards)

 

 

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

@Xanthe_2871 @rn8686 @paprikman @dizmo

 

Thanks guys!

I'm looking for only one product, a graphics card. When I compare the prices, or when I add it to my Newegg cart, I'm literally paying 85USD for shipping, tax etc.... So that's why I asked.

[mariushm]

PS. As for someone going to US and ordering from newegg or Amazon ... you would require a fixed address and ideally someone with US credit card to order products for you and you just hand over the cash.

Expect 2-3 days for the card to arrive and probably 95% of the time the card won't be dead on arrival, so it would be a good idea to have some means of checking the card before taking it all the way to India. If it's faulty consider the time required to return it and replace it.

 

It may be sightly more expensive than newegg or Amazon, but may be worth visiting retail stores like best buy or walmart or fry's or whatever's popular these days in US (i don't know, I'm in Europe) and get something straight off the shelves.

 

[paprikman]

6 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

@Xanthe_2871 @rn8686 @paprikman @dizmo

 

Thanks guys!

I'm looking for only one product, a graphics card. When I compare the prices, or when I add it to my Newegg cart, I'm literally paying 85USD for shipping, tax etc.... So that's why I asked.

Sometimes it's better to pay a bit more and avoid any hassle now, or potetntial hassle in future. In many countries prices are a lot higher than in US (say hi to Australia).

[dizmo]

7 minutes ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

@Xanthe_2871 @rn8686 @paprikman @dizmo

 

Thanks guys!

I'm looking for only one product, a graphics card. When I compare the prices, or when I add it to my Newegg cart, I'm literally paying 85USD for shipping, tax etc.... So that's why I asked.

You might end up paying that much anyway upon arrival into the country. Though I'd check if that includes duty, usually it doesn't and that can be quite a bit.

4 minutes ago, mariushm said:

PS. As for someone going to US and ordering from newegg or Amazon ... you would require a fixed address and ideally someone with US credit card to order products for you and you just hand over the cash.

Expect 2-3 days for the card to arrive and probably 95% of the time the card won't be dead on arrival, so it would be a good idea to have some means of checking the card before taking it all the way to India. If it's faulty consider the time required to return it and replace it.

 

It may be sightly more expensive than newegg or Amazon, but may be worth visiting retail stores like best buy or walmart or frt's or whatever's popular these days in US (i don't know, I'm in Europe) and get something straight off the shelves.

 

A US Amazon account does not require a US based credit card to work, just a US address; there are countless parcel receiving companies that work.

 

[SCHISCHKA]

i dont know about india but where I am, often Amazon sellers provide a shipping option where they take care of customs/duty taxes and it can work out cheaper. Some USA sites do not ship outside of USA or they charge way too much. I haven't seen good shipping prices from Ebay

[mariushm]

10 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You might end up paying that much anyway upon arrival into the country. Though I'd check if that includes duty, usually it doesn't and that can be quite a bit.

A US Amazon account does not require a US based credit card to work, just a US address; there are countless parcel receiving companies that work.

 

I know it does not require, but it may speed things up in worst case scenarios like receiving a faulty card or a damaged during shipping card. In such cases, it may be faster to process a return and get your money back if a US citizen orders it (even better if that citizen has prime or some history of ordering products from Amazon/Newegg) or if the address is US one.  In some cases, you may even get your money back before the product actually gets back to their warehouse.

 

Or if you have to leave the states before the refund is processed the folks that ordered the card for you could just give you cash back and they'll get their money back on their credit card. 

 

[dizmo]

9 minutes ago, mariushm said:

I know it does not require, but it may speed things up in worst case scenarios like receiving a faulty card or a damaged during shipping card. In such cases, it may be faster to process a return and get your money back if a US citizen orders it (even better if that citizen has prime or some history of ordering products from Amazon/Newegg) or if the address is US one.  In some cases, you may even get your money back before the product actually gets back to their warehouse.

 

Or if you have to leave the states before the refund is processed the folks that ordered the card for you could just give you cash back and they'll get their money back on their credit card. 

 

Not really. I've returned quite a few items and I've never had any issue whatsoever.

You technically would have a US address; the one you got the item sent to in the first place.

Worse comes to worse you could explain it to Amazon and they'd probably let you return it to an Amazon.in warehouse.

The things I've tried to return I've just been allowed to keep, receiving a full credit. Amazon will do anything to keep it's customer base.

[Vishvas Sudarshan]

@dizmo @mariushm @Xanthe_2871 @rn8686

 

What about buying from amazon.com and having it shipped to India by amazon. I know I need to pay for that.

I can buy a 1060(3G) in India or a 1060(6G) on amazon.com for the same price (Tax and shipping included)

Is this a better option?

[Xanthe_2871]

1 minute ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

@dizmo @mariushm @Xanthe_2871 @rn8686

 

What about buying from amazon.com and having it shipped to India by amazon. I know I need to pay for that.

I can buy a 1060(3G) in India or a 1060(6G) on amazon.com for the same price (Tax and shipping included)

Is this a better option?

If it will work, then I say go for it. 

 

Amazon is a large enough website that they should block your attempt to buy it if it were illegal for you to do so.

[mariushm]

You should also see what happens if you login into http://amazon.co.uk or http://www.amazon.de (though language may be an issue) ... make sure the shipping address is your Indian one, to get shipping costs for India, not the "free shipping to UK"

Shipping may cost less since the products would be shipped from Europe instead of over the ocean in US, and check the prices on checkout because the ones listed by products may include VAT which maybe you don't pay (or the amount is different for India)

 

[Tim Serious]

2 hours ago, Vishvas Sudarshan said:

@dizmo @mariushm @Xanthe_2871 @rn8686

 

What about buying from amazon.com and having it shipped to India by amazon. I know I need to pay for that.

I can buy a 1060(3G) in India or a 1060(6G) on amazon.com for the same price (Tax and shipping included)

Is this a better option?

u won't get a warranty i belive ...... only evga provides international warranty and also they don't have service centre in india ...... i would recommend u to check r/IndianGaming on reddit its a community of Indian gamers and many will be able to help u ...