Ordering from Amazon US vs UK

[Redrock]

Greetings,

I've been wanting to order a SHIELD Tablet for quite a while now but have been going back and forth on what the best way to get one here is.

Has anyone had experience ordering hardware or tablets/phones from Amazon and if so, which did you use, US or UK?

I've noticed that the UK pricetag is a little more on the SHIELD tab in the UK than in the US but maybe it balances it out in terms of shipping.

Also what have been your experiences with customs charges on these types of things?

Any and all feedback is welcome Thanks

[Glordit]

Greetings,

I've been wanting to order a SHIELD Tablet for quite a while now but have been going back and forth on what the best way to get one here is.

Has anyone had experience ordering hardware or tablets/phones from Amazon and if so, which did you use, US or UK?

I've noticed that the UK pricetag is a little more on the SHIELD tab in the UK than in the US but maybe it balances it out in terms of shipping.

Also what have been your experiences with customs charges on these types of things?

Any and all feedback is welcome Thanks

Firstly check that it can be sent to SA, a lot of people resell on Amazon and refuse to ship to SA, so unless it's stocked and sold by Amazon you are out of luck.

Checked out the .co.uk site, Payment Total: ZAR 5,947.57 incl. Import Fee's and Postage.
.com Order total: ZAR 4,358.37 incl. Import Fee's and Postage.

Also remember a lot of imported items do no carry warranties in other countries.

I use amazon.co.uk and sometimes .com to get all of my Anime DVD's and Blu Rays, no problems yet. UK does charge more for postage since they stopped using SAPO and now send it via air freight. Have not uses .com in a while so not too sure who they are using for postages but I can assume it is the same.

[Redrock]

Firstly check that it can be sent to SA, a lot of people resell on Amazon and refuse to ship to SA, so unless it's stocked and sold by Amazon you are out of luck.

Checked out the .co.uk site, Payment Total: ZAR 5,947.57 incl. Import Fee's and Postage.
.com Order total: ZAR 4,358.37 incl. Import Fee's and Postage.

Also remember a lot of imported items do no carry warranties in other countries.

I use amazon.co.uk and sometimes .com to get all of my Anime DVD's and Blu Rays, no problems yet. UK does charge more for postage since they stopped using SAPO and now send it via air freight. Have not uses .com in a while so not too sure who they are using for postages but I can assume it is the same.

Ok, thanks for the info. I'm probably going to do a smallish order (a friends wants a "cards against humanity set") on the .com site to see what the shipping charges are like or just to get a bit more info on the process. The .com site has the tablet for $299 which roughly R3400 but it may work out to be the same price as the co.uk site when you add shipping and customs charges (Heard they can be around $50 for this kind of thing)

[Glordit]

Ok, thanks for the info. I'm probably going to do a smallish order (a friends wants a "cards against humanity set") on the .com site to see what the shipping charges are like or just to get a bit more info on the process. The .com site has the tablet for $299 which roughly R3400 but it may work out to be the same price as the co.uk site when you add shipping and customs charges (Heard they can be around $50 for this kind of thing)

It's R 1500 less if you order from the states, as opposed to the UK, and that is just the Wifi model.

Create an account, then add stuff to your cart (going to have to put CC info on the site too) and then you check out. Before you pay it gives you a breakdown on the pricing of the item postage and VAT.

*edit*
and example of what it looks like, I chose 10 - 12 day global shipping:

[The_Imp_ZA]

Just letting you know, Raru has added US imports today. It may be a bit easier to order from them?

[brendanvb]

Just letting you know, Raru has added US imports today. It may be a bit easier to order from them?

Raru is run by the guys had used to own Takealot back in its Take2 days, right? Back when Take2 used to have Amazon imports. Hopefully this will work the same way.

[The_Imp_ZA]

Raru is run by the guys had used to own Takealot back in its Take2 days, right? Back when Take2 used to have Amazon imports. Hopefully this will work the same way.

Yeah, it's the same guys. IIRC, they sold Take 2 and couldn't work in the industry for a while, per the agreement they signed. Then they started Raru after that window had passed.

Flippin' genius.

Although originally, I thought the agreement between Takealot and Amazon was ended because Amazon wanted to expand to SA. I guess not...

[brendanvb]

Yeah, it's the same guys. IIRC, they sold Take 2 and couldn't work in the industry for a while, per the agreement they signed. Then they started Raru after that window had passed.

Flippin' genius.

Although originally, I thought the agreement between Takealot and Amazon was ended because Amazon wanted to expand to SA. I guess not...

On mobile so only checked out the imports on the mobile site but didn't see a link for the feature they used to have on Take2 where you could paste a link from an Amazon site and have the price and all converted to rands (including customs etc). You know if that feature is available on the full site?

[The_Imp_ZA]

On mobile so only checked out the imports on the mobile site but didn't see a link for the feature they used to have on Take2 where you could paste a link from an Amazon site and have the price and all converted to rands (including customs etc). You know if that feature is available on the full site?

I don't think they have that anymore. It seems that they use a system where they mirror Amazon, but use an API that automatically calculates shipping costs based on weight, import tax and whatnot, the current rand value and adds that to the price that they display on a product.

You could always send them a message. Keenest on the Sagamer forum is a co-owner of Raru, so you could also PM him if you have an account there.

EDIT: [MENTION=13400]brendanvb[/MENTION] Wait, you kinda can. Take the Amazon ASIN number (usually in product details, or just CRTL-F "ASIN") and paste that into Raru's search. It worked for me, and showed the item I wanted.

From a reply I got on the Sagamer forums, the UK version is coming soon (hopefully).

[Duiwel]

Amazon would like to come here, the problem is they reviewed the import taxes ect. & found it not profitable.

In my opinion this has screwed us, they should allow companies like that to not pay import taxes, they already get VAT for it I mean...