Sony Reader outside US - Page 12

Leaping Gnome · 06-12-2007, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is one choice, find someone on the forum (who lives in the USA) whom you feel you trust enough to buy a Reader for you and send it over. The person on the forum is probably not going to be out to make a profit.

At say $299 with 5% tax and $85 to ship, the reader would only cost $398.95. And that's without making any profit. And the person who purchased the reader would have the receipt and if it broke, you'd be able to send it back to the purchaser to send to Sony for warranty repair.

But again, you do take a risk that said person is not going to run away with your money. Of course if you want some recourse, have that person put a bid up on ebay for the reader and then buy it there and you will have some recourse just in case.

The average sales tax rate in the US is 5.4%. And you forgot the 3.9% paypal fee. Take your numbers - $299 for the Reader and $85 shipping. Add 5.4% tax to the Reader plus 3.9% paypal fee to the whole amount. You come up with $416. Yeah, that $413 on eBay is a real scam. We didn't even count the eBay fees or that many people on eBay will offer you a receipt if you ask for one.

I have sold items on eBay for 8 years AND I have shipped a Reader internationally for a member here, so I know both sides of the fence. Can we stop with the broad generalizations now like "all eBay sellers are trying to scam you" or "there is only one choice, buy from someone on this forum"?

JSWolf · 06-12-2007, 11:48 PM

Nobody ever said all eBay sellers are trying to scam you. But when you have an item priced starting higher then it can be purchased in the country its being sold from, then yes, I feel that's a scam. Just like the PS/3 scam on eBay. Now if the bidding goes higher for the item, that's one thing. Please don't take what was said out of context.

mogui · 06-13-2007, 12:21 AM

I'm sure there are people in the US who, if they could earn a fee for shopping, might be willing to buy for those outside the US. What is reasonable? $50?

PS, I am not in the US.

JSWolf · 06-13-2007, 12:28 AM

As long as it did not cost me anything, I'd be happy to purchase and ship a Sony Reader. As far as getting the money to me, PayPal would be the best way to do it, but it would also cast the PayPal fee as well. And once you figure out how you want it shipped, you'll need to get a price on that to inclue that as well. But to be honest, your best bet if you can do it is to go to B&H and buy it there.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Leaping Gnome · 06-13-2007, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogui

I'm sure there are people in the US who, if they could earn a fee for shopping, might be willing to buy for those outside the US. What is reasonable? $50?

Just to give you an idea, I did it for less than twenty bucks, mostly to cover the gas on my car and give me a little incentive to go stand in line at the post office for half of my lunch hour. I don't mind doing favors for people at all, most of you know I do the gift card exchanges for free so our foreign members can purchase Connect books, it's only a few clicks and doesn't cost me any gas.

It is not as simple as "here's $350, ship me a Reader please", there is sales tax, paypal fees, shipping, insurance, it all adds up.

For example, I'm not sure if there is anywhere around me that has the $299 price, I know the local Borders has the $349 price, so let's assume that. $349 + 6% Kentucky sales tax = $370 + $46 2-3 day European shipping with insurance = $416 + $3 packing supplies = $419 + 4% paypal fee = $436 total. Round it up to $450 to compensate for my time and gas. There you go, at least an extra $100 over the MSRP to make it worth it for me to ship one internationally. If one can be found locally for $299, drop it to $400. If you can find someone in a state without sales tax, you can save another $20 or so.

If the stars all align and you get someone that has one local for $299, in one of the five states with no sales tax, and they don't mind doing it at a cost to themselves (time and gas), you can squeak in right around $363 shipped.

HarryT · 06-13-2007, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leaping Gnome

It is not as simple as "here's $350, ship me a Reader please", there is sales tax, paypal fees, shipping, insurance, it all adds up.

For example, I'm not sure if there is anywhere around me that has the $299 price, I know the local Borders has the $349 price, so let's assume that. $349 + 6% Kentucky sales tax = $370 + $46 2-3 day European shipping with insurance = $416 + $3 packing supplies = $419 + 4% paypal fee = $436 total. Round it up to $450 to compensate for my time and gas. There you go, at least an extra $100 over the MSRP to make it worth it for me to ship one internationally. If one can be found locally for $299, drop it to $400. If you can find someone in a state without sales tax, you can save another $20 or so.

If the stars all align and you get someone that has one local for $299, in one of the five states with no sales tax, and they don't mind doing it at a cost to themselves (time and gas), you can squeak in right around $363 shipped.

Then, one has to bear in mind that if the recipient is in Europe, with average rates of VAT at around 20%, plus import duties, it's going to cost the recipient probably around another $100 to actually get their hands on it when it arrives. It all does add up! That person charging $600 for a Reader in Moscow is probably not making as much of a profit as one might initially think

.

astra · 06-13-2007, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

That person charging $600 for a Reader in Moscow is probably not making as much of a profit as one might initially think

.

The readers are already in Moscow. Most likely someone(a friend on a business trip/or sellers themselves, it is not like there is only one reader is for sale..) buy/bought them and brought from the USA bypassing tax costs. So, they charge you 600 instead of ....lets say 400 if we assume that delivery within Russia is included in the price.

I would not trust them one bit.

JSWolf · 06-13-2007, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leaping Gnome

Just to give you an idea, I did it for less than twenty bucks, mostly to cover the gas on my car and give me a little incentive to go stand in line at the post office for half of my lunch hour. I don't mind doing favors for people at all, most of you know I do the gift card exchanges for free so our foreign members can purchase Connect books, it's only a few clicks and doesn't cost me any gas.

It is not as simple as "here's $350, ship me a Reader please", there is sales tax, paypal fees, shipping, insurance, it all adds up.

For example, I'm not sure if there is anywhere around me that has the $299 price, I know the local Borders has the $349 price, so let's assume that. $349 + 6% Kentucky sales tax = $370 + $46 2-3 day European shipping with insurance = $416 + $3 packing supplies = $419 + 4% paypal fee = $436 total. Round it up to $450 to compensate for my time and gas. There you go, at least an extra $100 over the MSRP to make it worth it for me to ship one internationally. If one can be found locally for $299, drop it to $400. If you can find someone in a state without sales tax, you can save another $20 or so.

If the stars all align and you get someone that has one local for $299, in one of the five states with no sales tax, and they don't mind doing it at a cost to themselves (time and gas), you can squeak in right around $363
shipped.

It actually won't cost me any gas if I just walk up to the post office (as long as it's a nice enough day out). Good chance to get out and get some exercise. I could order one from B&H for example and get it at the $299 price + shipping which would be cheaper then the $349 price. Yes there are some other costs associated with this like the PayPal fee, the shipping cost, any import tax and what not. But it's still cheaper then buying from someone on ebay charging $416 for the unit without any other fees. Because $416 is just the unit itself and then there is shipping to be added on top of that.

mogui · 06-13-2007, 10:03 AM

I think Fry's is about $280 now.

JSWolf · 06-13-2007, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogui

I think Fry's is about $280 now.

Their website shows $299.99 and says they are out of stock.

mogui · 06-13-2007, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Their website shows $299.99 and says they are out of stock.

Mrs. Jones went into the butcher shop and asked the price of chicken. The butcher said it was $1.99 a pound. Mrs. Jones complained that the other butcher shop had it on sale for $1.49 a pound. The butcher asked her why she didn't buy it at the other butcher shop in that case. She replied that the other butcher shop was fresh out of chicken. The butcher exclaimed, "Why, when we are out of chicken ours is only 99 cents a pound!"

JSWolf · 06-13-2007, 12:48 PM

But B&H shows it for $298 (or $299) and says it is in stock.

HarryT · 06-13-2007, 12:52 PM

B&H is certainly where I'd buy one if I wanted another.

The reason, BTW, that I was happy to pay "over the odds" for mine is that when I bought mine (early December) there was a month+ wait for getting them from Sony (not that I could have bought one from Sony, anyway) so lots of people were buying them and selling for a profit, just as happened with the PS3 initially. Nothing wrong with that - just supply and demand.

g4eqz · 06-15-2007, 02:25 AM

I bought mine from B&H New York. Cost me ~ £202 delivered but also got hit for another £42 for duty which I had top pay the delivery guy. Other than that very happy with the product. Hope you enjoy yours. Incidentally, once you have used your free books my advice is buy new ones in Microft Reader format, remove the DRM and convert to Sony .lit format. Gets around the problem of needing a US credit card to buy books and also future proofs your purchases as you can then convert them to any of the popular formats. See posts in this excellent forum for how to do it.

Cheers .. Keith

uk66 · 06-15-2007, 08:29 AM

I will get my Sony PRS500 this evening. I ordered it from B&H Photo on tuesday. Today, friday I saw in the tracking information that UPS made a delivery attempt. As I was at work this attempt was not successful. So I arranged with the UPS hotline that I can pick it up myself at the local UPS location this evening. I'm so excited to get my hands on it.

The price I ordered it for was 298$ plus 42$ for shipping. Import taxes will be additional 56 EUR (which equals the VAT of 19% here in Germany). There will be no additional customs fees (not for computer devices).
Because of the current weakness of the dollar compared to the Euro the price seems ok to me.

I was thinking about waiting for the Hanlin ebook reader (there will be a store in Paris/France soon). But I got too impatient and when the prices for the Sony reader dropped I placed my order.
Actually I first placed an order at Frys after I checked that they will also ship internationally (price at B&H was still 349$, Frys 299$). I was pretty disappointed when I got an email from the customer service at Frys which said that they had to cancel my order because they can not ship the Sony reader outside the US.
Others can. So when I saw that the price at B&H was also reduced I made a second attempt at B&H. No problems so far and very fast. Only 3 days from the US to Germany.
This evening I will hold it in my hands..

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06-12-2007, 11:48 PM	#167
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,714 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Nobody ever said all eBay sellers are trying to scam you. But when you have an item priced starting higher then it can be purchased in the country its being sold from, then yes, I feel that's a scam. Just like the PS/3 scam on eBay. Now if the bidding goes higher for the item, that's one thing. Please don't take what was said out of context.

06-13-2007, 12:21 AM	#168
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	I'm sure there are people in the US who, if they could earn a fee for shopping, might be willing to buy for those outside the US. What is reasonable? $50? PS, I am not in the US.

06-13-2007, 12:28 AM	#169
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,714 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	As long as it did not cost me anything, I'd be happy to purchase and ship a Sony Reader. As far as getting the money to me, PayPal would be the best way to do it, but it would also cast the PayPal fee as well. And once you figure out how you want it shipped, you'll need to get a price on that to inclue that as well. But to be honest, your best bet if you can do it is to go to B&H and buy it there. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

06-13-2007, 10:03 AM	#174
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	I think Fry's is about $280 now.

06-13-2007, 12:48 PM	#177
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,714 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	But B&H shows it for $298 (or $299) and says it is in stock.

06-13-2007, 12:52 PM	#178
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	B&H is certainly where I'd buy one if I wanted another. The reason, BTW, that I was happy to pay "over the odds" for mine is that when I bought mine (early December) there was a month+ wait for getting them from Sony (not that I could have bought one from Sony, anyway) so lots of people were buying them and selling for a profit, just as happened with the PS3 initially. Nothing wrong with that - just supply and demand.

06-15-2007, 02:25 AM	#179
g4eqz Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Stoke, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, Palm T\|X	I bought mine from B&H New York. Cost me ~ £202 delivered but also got hit for another £42 for duty which I had top pay the delivery guy. Other than that very happy with the product. Hope you enjoy yours. Incidentally, once you have used your free books my advice is buy new ones in Microft Reader format, remove the DRM and convert to Sony .lit format. Gets around the problem of needing a US credit card to buy books and also future proofs your purchases as you can then convert them to any of the popular formats. See posts in this excellent forum for how to do it. Cheers .. Keith

06-15-2007, 08:29 AM	#180
uk66 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 13 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Heidelberg/Germany and Zurich/Switzerland Device: Sony PRS-500	I will get my Sony PRS500 this evening. I ordered it from B&H Photo on tuesday. Today, friday I saw in the tracking information that UPS made a delivery attempt. As I was at work this attempt was not successful. So I arranged with the UPS hotline that I can pick it up myself at the local UPS location this evening. I'm so excited to get my hands on it. The price I ordered it for was 298$ plus 42$ for shipping. Import taxes will be additional 56 EUR (which equals the VAT of 19% here in Germany). There will be no additional customs fees (not for computer devices). Because of the current weakness of the dollar compared to the Euro the price seems ok to me. I was thinking about waiting for the Hanlin ebook reader (there will be a store in Paris/France soon). But I got too impatient and when the prices for the Sony reader dropped I placed my order. Actually I first placed an order at Frys after I checked that they will also ship internationally (price at B&H was still 349$, Frys 299$). I was pretty disappointed when I got an email from the customer service at Frys which said that they had to cancel my order because they can not ship the Sony reader outside the US. Others can. So when I saw that the price at B&H was also reduced I made a second attempt at B&H. No problems so far and very fast. Only 3 days from the US to Germany. This evening I will hold it in my hands..

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