Importing tablet from us..

patjunfa

Hi all

I've been waiting on the archos g9 250gb since sept n am giving up as there are no signs of it unfortunatly ..
The Motorola Xoom looks good, refurbished models are available on eBay and woot for the us for around e250 n around e30 postage..
Does anyone know how much wud ye get shafted for import duty and is there a way arou d this? Send to a friend in us and get them to send as a gift? Mark a lower value on it?
Wud there b any issue with a us model? It's got a usb2port so thinking cud use a dongle for 3G perhaps?

Tnks

P

pickarooney

It's always a risk with the customs; there's no sure-fire way of avoiding it. If you can get someone to bring one back (opened) maybe...

patjunfa

hmm, so its a gamble...unless I can get someone to carry it over for me. Is it a 50% chance get it tho without customs.. If they do charge me, how much do they charge? if its €260 or so value on it but its €400 cheapest here..
Such a difference, hard not to want to get the US option to work..

macplaxton

Budget for customs charge always.

If it somehow gets missed then it's a bonus, but always plan on the taxes getting correctly collected.

I got a Droid 3 from the US last month. As expected, it was VAT'd at 21%. There was no import duty, just VAT. Before I bought it, I looked up the Revenue currency exchange rates (They are set for the month unless the rate is volatile). VAT is then calculated on the landed cost, so that's everything including shipping and insurance which should be declared on paperwork. Parcel was sent by USPS which is handled by An Post this end. An Post add a fixed €6 on top of the VAT. Other carriers may charge a similar or higher customs handling fee.

Here's a breakdown.

Droid 3 US$479.99
P&P US $48.00
Total US$527.99.
Amount charged to card (@PayPal rate 06/11/11 of 1 Euro = 1.34173 U.S. Dollars) €393.51

Actual postage = US$39.50
Actual insurance = US$3.70
Declared total amount = US$525.00

Revenue US$ / € rate for November 2011 = 1.3828

US$525.00 / 1.3828 = €379.66 (only whole Euro taken into consideration, cents ignored)
21% of €379.66 = €79.59
An Post handling fee = €6.00

Payable to An Post = €85.59.

Total cost to me = €479.10

The exchange rate is lousy at the moment:
PayPal (as of now): 1 EUR = 1.30492
Revenue (for Dec): 1 EUR = 1.3387

Same item bought now and landing this month would cost me €492.94 all in - nearly €14 more. Next month (if the exchange rate is the same), it'll be 23% VAT and cost €500.78. Near enough €8 more.

Top Tips: (in order of preference)

• If it's available in Ireland, buy in Ireland. It'll work for sure, and if it doesn't you can take it back etc.
• If it's in the UK, then buy there. It'll work for sure, and if it doesn't, it's not too far away to send back. Plus the mains plug is the same.
• If it's available in Europe, buy in Europe. No messing with exchange rates in the Eurozone and can be sent back if push comes to shove. It'll have a funny plug on it but at least the voltage will be the same. Just watch out for weird keyboards/language issues.
• If you have to import from outside the EU, make sure the item WORKS under Euro standards (Correct GSM/UMTS bands, keyboard, languages, power adaptors, etc.)
• If you have to import from outside the EU, don't expect much (if any) warranty.
• If you have to import from outside the EU, do ALL the maths.
• If you have to import from outside the EU, you may not know what the exact final cost is until it lands (hopefully in the same month) as the Revenue rate for calculation changes on the 1st of the month.

Hope that puts things into some sort of perspective.