Buying a laptop from USA using www.viaddress.com

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hi,

I am thinking of buying a laptop from the US using this service.

http://www.viaddress.com/

They act as a virtual address for the buy and then they resent it to Europe for an adjusted price.

I never did something like that. The difference in the price is huge! OK, that laptop is not available here and won't in the near future.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...-series/y510p/

Thanks

2
I've used them a bunch of times and they're super quick but expensive. They use the dimensions to calculate the shipping vs weight, so if your laptop comes in a large box expect to pay $250 to send here.

3
250$!!! Crazy. They say 53$ to Europe.

Don't you know other possibility?

I've found the calculator and you are right. It gets easily over 200$.

Thanks

4
I have no experience of the importing service you have mentioned, however, I can say this.

Unless you are here short term or are only ever going to write in English, it might be better to think about getting a Notebook locally (even if the choice of model is more limited) so at least you get a Swiss keyboard (which is easier for writing accented characters) and maybe some service if it goes wrong.

5
You are doing the best thing by asking for advice.

Be weary, some folks dont use package forwarders to their best ability thus they are getting ripped off.

I use viaddress as well,

I shipped approx 21lbs and it cost me $121USD via FedEx 2day.

Key is to ask them to consolidate and break down the shipment, mind you i was shipping things that was easier to pack etc. Also I declared the value myself.

So, order a bunch of items, ask them to consolidate/break down the box further to reduce your dim weight.

I have another order coming, so far they are saying 600USD freight costs with DIM weight, but I suspect it to be around 200USD after its broken down further.

Good luck. Another tip, if you have a friend in the US just have them receive and repackage and send to you. That is a bit cheaper than Viadress.

6

Thats about 5lb dim weight, so to me and you thats approx 2-3lb actual weight.

DIM weight sucks as a factor to calculate but when you look at packaging space etc.. it makes sense for them.

7
For the sake of argument, let's say the OP has no intention of writing in any other language than English. Is that physically impossible on a non-QWERTY keyboard? Is it really that difficult to learn to type on a new keyboard system?

8
Depends on the layout, since it's really the IME that matters. A standard QWERZ keyboard is touch-typable for a QWERTY typer- it just gets funky when you're looking for special characters that are mapped differently in the IME than written on the keys.

9
I would be a bit careful with a FRAGILE item such as a computer. The original packaging was designed to protect the computer. If you ask them to toss all of the protective foam and put the computer in another carton with "some" protection, my guess is that you will be taking some risks that the computer arrives in CH damaged.

Since this stuff is sent by air, their costs (and yours) are always a combination of weight and cube. The "worst" of the two is what you end up paying.

10
I would recommend that you shop around more in CH before you go with this. For instance, use toppreise.ch. My experience is that, when you take into account that Swiss prices are tax-inclusive and US prices are tax-exclusive, the extra shipping costs (possibly including a treat from the Swiss Post) that the price difference is surprisingly small, and then once you roll in needing power adapters, services issues, language stuff, etc. it really winds up being not worth it.

For instance, I went through this exercise two years ago when I bought my wife a MacBook. With the larger Swiss Black Friday discount, it was actually CHEAPER to get one locally.

In general, with electronics the "swiss premium" is pretty small, and, when the cost of trying to beat the system is included, you wind up not really winning. Of course there are always going to be exceptions, but it's not like buying food, where a short hop over the border can easily halve your bill. Now, if you are flying to the States, and can pick something up in the store (thereby sidestepping the shipping, and, presumably, the customs costs) it might work differently.

11
The problem is that many needed characters aren't easily available on non-US keyboards, so I normally set non-US keyboards to US-layout and don't worry about what's written on the keys.

Tom

12
So, including tax and shipping, how much do you think you will save overall?

Yes, it makes a huge difference especially for the special characters used in coding etc. UK/US keyboards are much, much more convenient for people experienced with IT who only write in English.

13

+1 for that, its really cheap now a days for a laptop, even in CH.

I got one for 500 CHF and its still holding up well basics etc..

Also please consider the warranty, if you mess something up or something goes bad, you have to ship it back to the region in which you bought it.

14
I think I am not going to but it by now. It looks like there's a big risk and it could get very expensive. The questy keyboard wouldn't be a problem for me.

Perhaps is this model available later in the year for a better price.

And thank you all for the information.

15
It would for me...

16
Most people on here would simply ask why you would want to buy a laptop in the USA and spend a small fortune on taxes and shipping. Laptops are slightly cheaper in CH compared to most countries.

If you're living in Switzerland for a while, you may find the qwertz keyboard, with all the extra characters, really useful. You can of course change it yourself to a US keyboard.

17
I never have, and I've been here nearly 30 years!

Tom

18
I am not swiss and I work better with qwerty.

Regarding what you say about the cheaper prices: could you please find me a notebook with:

- 15'

- i7 Haswell

- 8GB RAM

- Nice design with good materials (Alu for example on the covers)

- SSD or HDD (i would change it to a SSD)

lenovo store USA has it for 750CHF http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...-series/y510p/

I have looked for computers here more or less like that for aprox. 2000CHF

19
You never have to write letters or emails in languages other than English?

20
[QUOTE=Jonesy;1979751]I am not swiss and I work better with qwerty.

Regarding what you say about the cheaper prices: could you please find me a notebook with:

- 15'

- i7 Haswell

- 8GB RAM

- Nice design with good materials (Alu for example on the covers)

- SSD or HDD (i would change it to a SSD)

lenovo store USA has it for 750CHF http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops...-series/y510p/

I have looked for computers here more or less like that for aprox. 2000CHF[ /QUOTE]

One idea?

http://www.microspot.ch/msp/product/...50A/detail.jsf