International Shipping

[CrispyPigeon]

Here in the UK hardware prices seem to be extortionate compared to the US. A high end graphics card seems to cost about £100 more than the US equivalent!
As I'll be building a new system shortly and these savings add up, do you think I should try and get my parts shipped from abroad or would the extra risk and cost of shipping outweight the premium i seem to need to pay to get it here.

If anyone else is in the UK knows a site or store that can compete with prices from places like www.newegg.com then I'd be very grateful. Or if anyone can give me any advice or experience about shipping parts from abroad I'd also be very grateful.

 

[Abhi]

Hmm ... i know that hardware prices are attractive in US, however, keep in mind a few things:

1) Does your country have a customs duty/tax levy on imports? If it does, your price advantage will vapourize by the time you recieve your order.
2) If you get a defective product, returning/exchanging it is going to be an expensive affair.

Try finding a person who is in USA right now, but will be returning to your country and ask him to get the stuff you want, after checking. IMHO, this is the best option.

 

[Mark R]

I've priced this up in the past, and it's not been worth it.

Shipping is invariably expensive. You will also have to pay 17.5% VAT (on the goods and the shipping) + a VAT collection fee (usually about £5-15) when the goods are delivered.

Then you have to consider what happens in the event of a fault - a small risk perhaps, but you won't be able to exchange it economically.

 

[Mem]

I can give you some good UK sites.


Ebuyer UK .

Komplett .

Scan .

Dabs .

CCL Computers .

Aria .

Overclock.co.uk .

OcUK .

Novatech .

Kustom PCs .

Micro Direct .

 

[Tiorapatea]

Hmmm, I've been looking into this as well but I haven't got as far as pricing the shipping costs.

A few tools that seem useful are:

www.resellerratings.com - this site covers both US and UK based companies (don't know about other countries)

www.extremetech.com - if you attempt to purchase a product, you are then able to filter the list of suppliers to include only those who ship internationally. This can mean Canada only but you can link quickly to the vendor site and check their shipping policy.

www.romulus2.com - specifically uk vendor ratings (for when you decide it's not worth it). Right now, kustompcs.co.uk is top of the charts - and it seems to have a better choice of parts than many other sites up there.

I've got as far as thinking that www.wiredzone.com might be a candidate IF US imports are at all viable.

On the whole, I'd have to agree with Abhi's entire post though :|, especially after reading a few horror stories on the ratings sites. Maybe you could just pay for a holiday in the US if you're buying a lot of kit.

Let's just hope newegg sets up in the UK (with a few competitiors) .

CrispyPigeon, what are you building anyway?

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: Tiorapatea
On the whole, I'd have to agree with Abhi's entire post though :|, especially after reading a few horror stories on the ratings sites.

I ve been burnt on this issue bro ....

Better safe than sorry...

 

[dpm]

It looks so attractive.. but you the above posters are right; you'll have to pay VAT, duty, and a 'handling' fee. On top of this the shipping gets pretty expensive, and if you get a dud you'll have to pay again to ship it back...

On the other hand, I bought my heatsink from the US, from sidewindercomputers. The shipping was expensive, but it was still cheaper than getting it from overclockers ( it was a SK-7) and because it was less than £18, I didn't owe duty or VAT.