Great 'Buy now from the US' Hunt.

Viking_Man

For used books this site http://www.powells.com/ claims to be the biggest used bookstore in the world. Although second hand, the books are usually in excellent condition. You can find used books which are out of print or unavailable on Amazon. They will ship by surface mail and it's free for orders over $50.

samspain_2

Does anyone know if I book travel from a web-site quoting me in US dollars can I pay for it using my nationwide debit card and not have to pay any charges thereby getting a good rate of exchange

RDA

Absolutely. It's a Visa card and it'll be charged at the current bank rate.

Some US web sites such as Orbitz insist on a domestic address to send tickets and confirmations to.

yankee_rower

UltraCheap wrote:

Another great place to shop is REI for outdoor gear including hiking, camping, skiing, running, cycling etc. The store started out of Seattle and now you can find them nationwide. It is a co-op, so if you become a member (a one-time lifetime membership of something like $20) you will receive a percentage of your spending back in vouchers each year. REI also carries a 100% guarantee on all of their products, so if the item breaks (and so many things do these days) you can take it back for a full (no hassle) refund.:j

http://www.rei.com/

REI is awesome! I believe they ship internationally as well. Keep in mind that if you order from the website, you will have to pay 8.8% sales tax on the whole purchase, including the shipping. Washington (where REI is based) is one of the states that charges sales tax.

Husband was over there and picked up a pair of Keen sandals on their sale for $60, they are £70 here.

If you wanted to avoid sales tax, best practice is to shop in one of the 5 states that doesn't charge sales tax - Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Sales tax isn't like VAT, you can't claim it back when you leave, you only avoid sales tax if you are a resident of one of those states and can prove it. In Canada the best province to shop would be Alberta as they don't have a sales tax either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_without_sales_tax

RDA

Many states don't charge sales tax on clothing. One of these is Pennsylvania, which is easy to reach from New York and New Jersey.

There are some great outlet malls in PA, including Franklin Mills and King of Prussia which is a regular mall with over 400 stores.

Wakey_Tim

stumcgoo wrote:

So if I bought a camera worth $100 USD that weighs 2kg ($33 USD p&p) how much can I expect to pay in duty, tax and handling charges?

Right, as far as I can work out, you wouldn't pay any duty on the camera if it's digital but you would pay 17.5% VAT (which would, I presume, take in the shipping costs as well). If it's a film camera you'd pay 4.9% duty on top of the VAT. That's on the basis of this note published by HMRC on common goods purchased over the internet. Some goods imported from the States are subject to an added 15% 'ad valorem' duty level owing to an ongoing EU/US trade dispute. The list of these items mostly consists of items of clothing and can be accessed here.

Hope it's of use!

T.

Sneaker

http://www.caiman.com are very good for DVDs and CDs. Excellent on some of the rarer and more obscure stuff-£6 delivere for one that I couldn't get cheaper than £24 here.

jap200

My husband is flying off to Hawaii for a job interview tomorrow - Yes really!! -Well, assuming he can actually get there considering all the secuirity problems.

Does anyone know of anything that I should ask him to bring back from there? I believe that Hawaii is more expensive to shop in than the mainland US because virtually everything is imported, but there might be some specific items that Hawaii specialises in - does anyone know of any?

Hawaiian shirts spring to mind of course - do they really actually wear them there?

By the way, he's been told not to dress up for the interview as the only time anyone in Hawaii wears a tie is to appear in court!

Ruble_Stretcher

Slightly out of left field perhaps, but for those with a sense of adventure, you may perhaps consider now as a good time to pay a visit to Russia. Given the historically volatile nature of the rouble, many businesses, particularly tourist facing businesses, quote prices in dollars.

I have been seconded out to Moscow for 6 months and can certainly recommend a visit for those with a sense of adventure. Unfortunately my sister was due to visit today but had her flight cancelled due to the security alert.

z0001407

Nuts! Macademias especially maui onion are very nice.
http://www.maunaloa.com/ are sold all over the island and buy these every year.

Hawaiian shirts are worn by some, but loud and garishly by tourists. Formal hawaiian shirts look like they are turned inside out (not literally)
Look out for 'tommy bahama' hawaiian shirts these are quality shirts (search for designs on the web) often in silk. I got married in a church there in formal shirt, white trousers and leather flip flops and was not out of place compared to the tourists (guess which country) wearing tuxedos.

If you have a costco card, buy everything.

http://www.nahoku.com Finally get him to locate this fine and original design Jewelry shop for your mandatory present!