Tips for buying components

DesperateDan

Hi I just wanted to give out some facts to people buying from Hardwareversand.de who have never done so before as I finally got my parts today and had I known them myself the process would've went a lot smoother for me! If anyone has other useful bits of info about this or other shops then adding to the thread might be nice.

Hardwareversand Facts:
Hardwareversand is a German website that does seem to be one of the cheapest options for most components on the market.

You can only pay by bank account transfer, no Paypal, no credit card, no laser. (I learnt this the hard way but putting all my money on my credit card, only to be told by the bank I need to withdraw 700 a day and put it back into my bank in order to do the transfer.)

When filling out your address, most of the fields are in german. (Google translate helps!). My address was printed poorly and would not have reached me had I not rang the post office. Basically I live in an apartment block which has a door number and then a flat number. The house number was not printed, just the flat number, and the name of the steet was not fully complete either. It seems the "Straße" field (street) can only have a maximum of 20 characters. And with that my "Hausnummer" (house number) was not printed at all so I would try and include it in the street field aswell just to be safe.

When you complete your order, a cryptic email is currently sent to you in semi-english, featuring two very german bank account details and the amount you must pay. Just go for the first account, There is also a pdf attached with the company address you will need for the bank transfer.

When the order ships after they have your money, you can track it on the DHL website following their link. When it reaches these fair shores An Post's parcel service takes over and you can track on their website using the same numbers.

Postage is a flat rate €18.99, and that's all I got!

Scan.co.uk
I bought my monitor from Scan, which is a really nice website and they email you every shipping detail. The downfall was the DPD crowd that were to delivered it. I missed them the first time round, they left no calling card like they were meant to and I just waited for about 9 days like a fool! I finally got round to ringing them and got a pretty angry little guy on the phone that grunted "well when do you want it?" I got it the next day but the moral of that story is to ring straight away if you miss them and not just assume they'll try and deliver it again!

Monotype

I never got an email when I ordered from them, but you can find the info that you need by clicking on your order.

Scan are very fast and there's good deals on their today only page (the weekend is often a good time for a good variety, I've found). Their prices can be considerably cheaper for some items than HWV, but other times they're not. I think it really depends on how exchange rates are at that particular time. Prices are general cheaper ex VAT because of the higher rate there.

Skylinehead

Hardwareversand do accept Paypal, but there's a 3% charge for using it.

Monotype

^^ And a limit of ~€600.

Eboggles

Monotype wrote: »

^^ And a limit of ~€600.

There doesn't seem to be a limit enforced, I ordered parts totalling €900+ and I used PayPal (probably lost a bit due to the 3%).

Beaver1

how long does it take for the money to transfer from your account to Hardwareversand account

Monotype

2 or 3 days. I think it was less than 2 for me. I don't think any time after bank closure counts. Apparently it's quicker the second time.

garysully1986

Monotype wrote: »

I never got an email when I ordered from them, but you can find the info that you need by clicking on your order.

Scan are very fast and there's good deals on their today only page (the weekend is often a good time for a good variety, I've found). Their prices can be considerably cheaper for some items than HWV, but other times they're not. I think it really depends on how exchange rates are at that particular time. Prices are general cheaper ex VAT because of the higher rate there.

Bit confused by this, Have not yet ordered a PC, But I was always going to go with Hardwaresande as the VAt rates on the scan site seemed to increase prices a good bit. Do we not need to pay VAT or what way does it work?

Fluffy88

What MonoType is talking about is when you are buying for a VAT registered company and so can claim-back the VAT you pay on the order. HWVS have a lower VAT rate as they charge the German rate so if you claim back VAT from a hwvs order you will only be getting the lower 13.5% back (not sure is that the correct rate).

Whereas Scan are a UK registered company and so charge a higher VAT rate similar to Ireland, hence when you can claim back VAT it might be cheaper to purchase from Scan.co.uk or some other UK site.

garysully1986

Ah I'm With ya now, So if your just a regular Joe Soap ya have to include the VAT as the price?

Fluffy88

Each website can display the price what ever way they want so you might find some that don't include VAT until the checkout.

But hwvs include VAT in all their prices, so what you see is what you pay, for the regular Joe Soap
Scan display both the Ex. VAT and Inc. VAT prices on the site.

Tea_Bag

Beaver1 wrote: »

how long does it take for the money to transfer from your account to Hardwareversand account

the last few times I transferred, cash on Thursday afternoon and HWVS received and dispatched on the Friday at 6pm. the first order I made though took a solid 3 days.

Sols12

When I try and order I get two options
1)Cash on prepayment and
2) Pay by paypal. With an added option of selecting the trusted shops option.

Anyone know where I get the bank transfer details?

Tea_Bag

Sols12 wrote: »

When I try and order I get two options
1)Cash on prepayment and
2) Pay by paypal. With an added option of selecting the trusted shops option.

Anyone know where I get the bank transfer details?

select the first option. you'll get an email with all the details you need.

Monotype

Regarding VAT: What Fluffy said.
People often come one here asking about buying items ex VAT. Some things on scan are cheaper than HWV, often monitors and sometimes hard drives. Their high end PSUs can be good value too. What makes HWV so good is in cheaper builds when you can get access to Superflower's good quality+price lineup of PSUs and bulk items like cases don't change shipping costs. They'll assemble any machine too - not limited by form restrictions.