ipod purchase from usa

[Alison_S]

hey all,

Been doing some research and on the whole, I found out that the ipod i am interested in purchasing is several �'s cheaper if bought from the US.But I was wondering if it would work fine over here? I see no reason why it shouldn't but thought I'd check and get feedback from people. I have a PC if anyone needs to know that.

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

[Ethel]

Don't forget you would be liable to pay duty - up to 40% including postage charges.

And if it develops a fault (and they can and do) the Apple service centres in the UK would not look at it.

[Buenchico]

There's no reason why an imported iPod shouldn't work in the UK.

Assuming that iPods attract the same duty charges as standard MP3 players, this is only 2% of the purchase price. (This is surprisingly low. The duty on CD players is 9.5%). If the duty comes to less than �7, you don't have to pay it

VAT will, however, also be charged, both on the purchase price and on the duty (if applicable). This will be at 17.5%

Additional, when the postman collects these charges he will also collect the fee, charged by Parcelforce Worldwide, for examing the package on behalf of HMRC. This is �8.

Perhaps an example will make this clearer. A 30 Gb iPod in the Argos catalogue is �219. Let's suppose that you find one in the US which is apparently a full �40 cheaper, i.e. it's advertised at the equivalent of �179. The duty is only �3.58 so (because it's less than �7) this is waived. The VAT, however, is �31.33. The postman will collect this when he delivers your iPod. However, he'll also want a further �8 customs clearance fee, so the total price of your iPod will be �218.33 (i.e. only 67p cheaper than Argos). All this, of course, is based upon the rather unlikely assumption that the vendor didn't charge for international postage. In practice, even an appararent saving of �40 will result in you paying more for your iPod.

Chris

[gary baldy]

Apple fix their prices to the retailer so there is no such thing as a 'cheap' i-pod (or any apple hardware for that matter).
There is virtually no way of getting a 'cheaper' i-pod (or everyone would be doing it wouldnt they?)

[sudu]

you can get ipods for cheaper from eBay (obviously only go for brand new ones) but the difference is not that big. i would definately not buy an ipod from the states, unless you have a friend/family member who could get it for you.