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Where to buy?

I’m not sure what is cheaper and better really, there are several factors to take care off:

Do I buy everything in the States or in Chile?

It seems that computer items are more expensive in Chile than in USA. At the same time, transporting and paying Customs taxes can be equal to buying everything within the country.

When you buy something from USA being in Chile do you have to pay VIA as well? How much is your VIA, 18% perhaps, like in Chile? Cheers.

Nobody? ...

If you buy in the States, aren't you worried about support?

At one stage I was going to buy a second Pulsar card from Subhuman. It turned out that importing it from the US to Australia was free of any taxes or import duty if the total of the shipment was less than Aus$1000. The Pulsar was more than that, so I would need to pay duty. Basically customs impound the gear, I receive a note saying it has arrived and how much I need to pay to release it.

Of course I don't know about Chile, but perhaps there is something similar ? If so then the only way around this might be to import all the parts bit by bit over a couple of months.

And what if things get damaged in transit ?

I would buy local.

i'm in italy and bought a lot of things on german ebay.
is much more cheap than buying used thing in my counrty, and shipping costs are not so high.

but it must be said that germany+italy are in EU. So no customs between them.

Considdering, that you probably can not afford to buy new stuff, if the old stuff breakes, I would recomend you to buy at a local dealer ... unless the price is too much higher. If you save enough money to buy a second CPU and harddrive if stuff breaks, then I would recomend you to buy "outside" - you still need to have those money in your bank account though, so you will not have to go thru a nightmare to raise funds for i.e. a new CPU soon after buying a new PC.

Well, my question is new for me too cos I’ve been living in Europe almost all my life. Now that I’m in Chile everything is new to me so I don’t really know the how, I’m starting to learn its rules and social mechanisms in maters of culture, politics, customs and all the rest…

Not really Paul, I’m not so concerned about support cos the support. I’m going to build my system myself. Nevertheless, to buy from abroad does not mean you are losing your guaranty.

Yes Spirit, I think it’s quite similar… In fact, what I’m going to do is to call customs to ask them the exact limit and how much does the duty costs, and this depends on the articles branches. Of course, I myself would love to buy everything locally, but the choices are extremely few in here, there is not much to chose from… there are about 10 big stores in Santiago and that’s it, no more. They bring to the country enough to cover the business market, and if you want something special like a Asus PEP4, you need to sort yourself out by other means, you see what I mean?

Cheers Bosone, but I’m not buying second hand. Perhaps some instruments would be nice from second hand stores, but not computer items, unless you know the person you’re buying from.

Exactly Micha, terms and conditions are completely different here in Chile, this is certainly NOT Europe!

I completely agree with you Immanuel, as I said, I prefer to buy everything in Chile, but… what can I do if the items are not served? Buying abroad! For instance,

http://www.ncix.com/usa/productdetail.php?sku=8420

this is the case I want, and I would have to ask for it to the States.

I think the best would be to buy most of things here, particularly those you know may need more attention, like a screen for instance, and other things like RAM, the case, etc., from the States.

I’m going to keep you informed about what the Customs Officer tells me tomorrow, and will post it here. Thanks very much to everybody.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nestor on 2003-05-06 03:01 ]</font>

There is another option available. Though less secure than buying locally you can consider it: if you have a family (or a close friend) in Europe you can ask them to buy things for you (and transfer money using one of existing methods like Western Union or other). Then you can ask the person to send it to you to Chile and fill the invoice or border documents with lower sums you paid for an item to have lower taxes (or even no taxes in particular situations).

if possible don't send computer parts and other electronic or high tec stuff in cases where you can guess the contents !
Those are the most appreciated targets for theft

cheers, Tom

or send them using a renowed messenger service like UPS, DHL, Fedex or best - a local post package messenger service (here in Poland it is EMS-Pocztex - cheap yet safe) - forget abot a normal post due to the things Astro mentioned

I don't know, how it will be, when you import to Chile, but if I buy electronics in EU, I get 2years waranty.