Buying iPhone in US

munsterbear

I'm off to NYC this weekend and my daughter wants me to buy her the latest iPhone.

As I don't know a lot about iPhones, is there anything I need to be careful about. Will be going to the apple store.

Is it much of a saving?

Is there a way of getting tax back like when tourists get in Dublin Airport?

Many thanks in advance.

087brain21

ok it will be cheaper in the us to get the iphone because apple tend to look after the american market more than others (well that's what i think)

The new iphone 11 pro is $999 and in ireland it over €1100 that is roughly about $1300

Just make sure it unlocked to all networks but buying direct from apple they usually are unlocked

Do not declare it at Dublin or any irish airport they will more than likely tax you for importing

Creamy Goodness

087brain21 wrote: »

ok it will be cheaper in the us to get the iphone because apple tend to look after the american market more than others (well that's what i think)

The new iphone 11 pro is $999 and in ireland it over €1100 that is roughly about $1300

Slightly untrue. It’s $999 plus 8% sales tax for NYC, American pricing never have sales tax included as it differs from state to state. Apple don’t look after their US customers with regards to price. If you take that $999 price, add 23% VAT add import duties, convert to euro (using a more favourable rate to account for currency inflations cause let’s face it they don’t want to eat the currency exchange fees or have to keep changing the EU prices) and you come to about the same price in Ireland.

The most important thing would be to make sure which phone your daughter would like. There’s three iPhone 11.

iPhone 11 (cheaper, big 6.1” not great screen)
iPhone 11 Pro (flagship model 5.8” Oled screen much deeper blacks and much brighter)
iPhone 11 Pro Max (same as the 11 pro but with a 6.5” screen).

087brain21

But he could always order from the UK apple site and with the weak £-€ should save again and use a parcel motel or addresspal address

Last time i looked you could save about €100 but that could have changed with the latest iphone 11

Im happy buying refurbished iphones these days miles cheaper and loads of places use official apple batteries

Creamy Goodness

087brain21 wrote: »

i presume the 23% vat is irish vat?

That's why i said dont declare the iphone its a small object you get it in ok i have gotten a lot bigger things in my suitcase coming from outside the EU including the states

But he could always order from the UK apple site and with the weak £-€ should save again and use a parcel motel or addresspal address

Last time i looked you could save about €100 but that could have changed with the latest iphone 11

Im happy buying refurbished iphones these days miles cheaper and loads of places use official apple batteries

I wasn’t talking anything about getting it through customs. Just that comparing $999 to the Irish price isn’t as clear cut as you made it out to be. There’s plenty of ways to get an iPhone cheaper (Grey market on adverts, buying in different country, shipping from different country) but when you do the maths you then need to decide if it’s worth it.

Buying from the states and not declaring it at customs on return to Ireland is the cheapest will save €100~ depending which phone you get.


Uk is more expensive than Ireland now for an iPhone 11 Pro.

£1049 using Revolut is €1215. Same 11 pro (base model) is €1179 and that’s before you add parcel motel plus their insurance up sell.

Not trying to put OP off buying just showing the myth of Apple shafting Irish customers is just that a myth.

Gumbo

087brain21 wrote: »

apple tend to look after the american market more than others (well that's what i think)

You would be wrong to think that.
Don't forget to add the sales tax to the price you have quoted which is 8.75% in NYC. Then remember the Irish VAT rate is higher.

Apple actually sell the iPhone at the same base price here. Local Tax and VAT make it appear higher.

At the time of posting a Us iPhone priced at $999 plus tax is $1086.41 and that's about €1007 (using An Post).
So that's the current saving compared to €1179 here.

munsterbear

Many thanks for the advice folks.

Know nothing about iphones as prefer Android. Think its the iPhone 11 that she is interested in.

Creamy Goodness

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

I wasn’t talking anything about getting it through customs. Just that comparing $999 to the Irish price isn’t as clear cut as you made it out to be. There’s plenty of ways to get an iPhone cheaper (Grey market on adverts, buying in different country, shipping from different country) but when you do the maths you then need to decide if it’s worth it.

Buying from the states and not declaring it at customs on return to Ireland is the cheapest will save €100~ depending which phone you get.


Uk is more expensive than Ireland now for an iPhone 11 Pro.

£1049 using Revolut is €1215. Same 11 pro (base model) is €1179 and that’s before you add parcel motel plus their insurance up sell.

Not trying to put OP off buying just showing the myth of Apple shafting Irish customers is just that a myth.

You will save a lot more than 100 euro. At least 200 and more if you happen to be going to a lower or no tax state.

I saved nearly 100 euro on an Apple Watch, sales tax was 4% where I bought it.

That on post rate is shocking too, you need Revolut to be getting the most out of these type of US or other non-euro purchases.

Creamy Goodness

Dimitri Breezy Twerp wrote: »

You will save a lot more than 100 euro. At least 200 and more if you happen to be going to a lower or no tax state.

I saved nearly 100 euro on an Apple Watch, sales tax was 4% where I bought it.

That on post rate is shocking too, you need Revolut to be getting the most out of these type of US or other non-euro purchases.

€100~ means roughly that. It didn’t give specifics because currency fluctuations happen on a day to day basis and I used Revolut on some of me calculations. Also the OP said latest iPhone, that could mean the iPhone 11 where the saving wouldn’t be as big. It’s up to the OP to use their currency fx app or method of payment of choice to figure out the cost savings.

The OP mentioned they’re going to NYC where the tax is 8%. No point quoting 0% sales tax states if they’re not going to be there.

munsterbear

Home from New York.

Bought the iPhone 11 there. Cost €680 compared to the €829 here. Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Only downside was the wait in the store. They don't do counters where you can just walk up and say what you want, pay and leave.

They have to take you name and you wait for an assistant. Which was over 20mins, and then had everything done within three mins.

54and56

munsterbear wrote: »

Home from New York.

Bought the iPhone 11 there. Cost €680 compared to the €829 here. Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Only downside was the wait in the store. They don't do counters where you can just walk up and say what you want, pay and leave.

They have to take you name and you wait for an assistant. Which was over 20mins, and then had everything done within three mins.

I'm in a similar boat. Looking to buy an iPhone 11 (the standard non pro model) and wondering if I can expect any Black Friday deals on either the Irish or UK Apple Stores? Anyone know if Apple does Black Friday deals? If not I might get my sister who lives near New Hampshire to buy it for me there as they have 0% sales tax and post it to me but I guess the risk with that is it gets stopped by customs and I get hit with the import tax which would make the effort a waste of time!

Gumbo

54and56 wrote: »

I'm in a similar boat. Looking to buy an iPhone 11 (the standard non pro model) and wondering if I can expect any Black Friday deals on either the Irish or UK Apple Stores? Anyone know if Apple does Black Friday deals? If not I might get my sister who lives near New Hampshire to buy it for me there as they have 0% sales tax and post it to me but I guess the risk with that is it gets stopped by customs and I get hit with the import tax which would make the effort a waste of time!

On the phones, generally no deals.
If you are in the states now, then you will never get it cheaper.l than where you are now.

babi-hrse

I would be careful as the us have two funny carriers that use radio bands that are uncommon and you might have an issue with the home network.
Alot of the phones they sell for the European market generally tend to have common enough bands.

54and56

kceire wrote: »

On the phones, generally no deals.
If you are in the states now, then you will never get it cheaper.l than where you are now.

No, have a sister living close to New Hampshire with a quite techie (also Irish) husband (works full time installing and supporting very large corporate networks etc) so I could get him to buy it and he'd be savvy enough to know what bands are required for working here.

54and56

So assuming there's no Black Friday deals, I don't want to risk getting the wrong phone or hit with customs by buying it from the US and I don't want to buy from a carrier here and get stuck paying a large monthly plan for 24 months is the only logical place to buy https://www.apple.com/ie/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-11/6.1-inch-display-128gb-purple where the 11 with 128GB costs €879?

Gumbo

Some eir plans are only 12 month contract.
My father got the 11 pro for €699 on a €39 per month for 12 months contract last month.

djdunny

Had a quick skim over this thread and haven’t seen a mention of repair option or consumer rights if purchasing in the US.

If your phone becomes faulty then the only option for you is to bring it to an Apple store (Belfast being the closest to the ROI)

Also if your phone does develop a fault outside of its 1 year manufacturing warranty then it would not be eligible for consumer law which covers up to 6 years in Ireland.

Just something to consider when weighing up the savings versus aftercare support.