Great 'Buy now from the US' Hunt.

funky04

Art wrote: »

it depends on what you're interested in. Best take a list of what you would like and know the cost of the items back here in the UK.

Also remember that officially you are only allowed to bring back £145 worth of goods duty free. You also get the standard allowance of tobacco, spirits and perfume in addition to this limit.

Regards,
Art.

Is the £145 limit on all goods purchased in US or just duty free items.......I am planning on spending say £500 on gifts and items for personal use......will I not be able to do this?

Art_2

funky04 wrote: »

Is the £145 limit on all goods purchased in US or just duty free items.......I am planning on spending say £500 on gifts and items for personal use......will I not be able to do this?

Officially it's on all goods brought back into the UK. If you buy items for your personal use it's a good idea to use them in the US so they don't look new when you return.

You will be very unlucky if you get stopped by Customs when you return. They're not interested in the genuine tourist returning home. They are more interested in drug smugglers and anyone looking suspicious.

Have a good trip.

Regards,
Art.

opticyclic

I cant seem to find any US sites that sell CPUs and ship to the UK.

rosbif

I go to the US pretty much every week and don't come back with masses of shopping each time to be honest. Although we complain about rip-off Britain there are few things that are cheaper - most things, when you take sales tax (don't forget that US sticker prices in shops don't include local sales tax which varies state to state from around 5% to 9%) and import tax (that's if you declare what you have bought - any goods total over the value of £145 must be declared - you will pay around 22% import duty on most things) into account prices are broadly similar.

However, things that I do buy regularly:

* Make-up - always have a Clinique shopping list - it's dollars for pounds, sometimes better than that
* Clothes - a pair of Levi 501s for instance can be had for $40 in Sears
* Nintendo DS games and PSP games (not films) - not region locked - currently going for $29.99 in most stores

Remember, most PC parts and software are the same price or cheaper online in the UK. Playstation, Wii and XBox (I think) games are region locked. Camera bits are cheaper online in the UK. Some toys are cheaper, but tend to be too bulky to carry home. CDs are usually $15 or so - cheaper online from CD-WOW or the like. DVDs are around $18 - region coded and often cheaper in the sales in the UK.

There are other bargains to be had - but you need to remember that not everything is - if you go knowing the UK price then you can't go wrong, and you won't end up carting stuff back accross the pond unnecessarily...

Have fun!

tiff

I dont think PS3 games are region locked are they?

traleegirl

tiff wrote: »

I dont think PS3 games are region locked are they?

No they're definately not, my son bought some preowned games from a store in Florida Mall for $6 each and they all worked perfectly:j

tiff

Ooh, I'm liking that idea traleegirl. My DH goes to the States regularly on business. £3!!

ka7e

I love www.despair.com, the great demotivational website!

All parts of the site are hilarious and the products are really original. It's worth subscribing to the newsletter just for the wise words of it's founder, Dr E.L. Kersten.

They are running a free shipping promo for US orders, but "foreigners" are advised to check out their Special International Promotion.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ** International customers- fear not! - Though we're not extending this particular promotion to those living outside the United States, we've nevertheless engineered- with the help of the Federal Reserve and the profligate deficit spending of the US Government - an exciting discount opportunity! For the foreseeable future, we've arranged for your foreign currencies to be greatly inflated in purchasing power against the US Dollar! That's right, no matter whether you hold Euros, Canadian Dollars, Kiwis, Rubles or even the wimpy little Slovakian koruna- you can buy unprecedented amounts of American made junk, thanks to the amazing benefits of the Henry Poulson's Flaccid Dollar Policy. So go ahead, indulge to your heart's content- knowing all the while that you're saving a fortune, even while those of us in the states are hoarding food, gold and lead and preparing ourselves for hyperinflation! Like we didn't have enough to worry about! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
[/FONT]

Bahney

anyone know a US site that would ship external hard drives 500-750GB size's or any other pc equipment ?

thanks

Art_2

Bahney wrote: »

anyone know a US site that would ship external hard drives 500-750GB size's or any other pc equipment ?

thanks

A simply way is to use a US address and have the hard drive sent there for onward posting to you. A company that offers US addresses is:

http://www.borderlinx.com/

Regards,
Art.