Buying hardware internationally?

[AN O'Nymous]

Any opinions on buying hardware internationally? By this I mean either
getting a foreign supplier to post the stuff to you, or bringing back
the stuff whilst on holiday. It seems that hardware in general is
cheaper if one buys directly from some Asian countries.

During my brief stopovers in some countries, I checked the prices of
the hardware there.
E.g. Foreign price: AMD 939-pin 3200+ £103 incl tax; UK price £122
incl. VAT

Foreign price: AMD X2 4600+ £385 incl tax; UK price £442 incl. VAT

The differences would obviously stack up the more pieces of hardware
you buy (either for a processor farm or even for a complete system)

I'm not sure about if & how much tax Customs would slap on for
importing such items for personal use...and whether bringing it in your
hand luggage or contacting the suppliers to post it to you would make a
difference.

Of course sorting out defective parts through international post
becomes a real pain. I'm uncertain about the US but in the UK,
consumers could probably use their credit card companies as a "buffer"
via the Consumer Credit Act (thus dealing with their CC company instead
of the retailer).

 

[Erick]

You need to be especially careful in situations like this due to import
tarriffs, security concerns (import/export of "encryption" software and/or
hardware), and counterfeit items.


Any opinions on buying hardware internationally? By this I mean either
getting a foreign supplier to post the stuff to you, or bringing back
the stuff whilst on holiday. It seems that hardware in general is
cheaper if one buys directly from some Asian countries.

During my brief stopovers in some countries, I checked the prices of
the hardware there.
E.g. Foreign price: AMD 939-pin 3200+ £103 incl tax; UK price £122
incl. VAT

Foreign price: AMD X2 4600+ £385 incl tax; UK price £442 incl. VAT

The differences would obviously stack up the more pieces of hardware
you buy (either for a processor farm or even for a complete system)

I'm not sure about if & how much tax Customs would slap on for
importing such items for personal use...and whether bringing it in your
hand luggage or contacting the suppliers to post it to you would make a
difference.

Of course sorting out defective parts through international post
becomes a real pain. I'm uncertain about the US but in the UK,
consumers could probably use their credit card companies as a "buffer"
via the Consumer Credit Act (thus dealing with their CC company instead
of the retailer).