How to order from dell US for non US citizens

Hi again, mfractal! =D
Interesting that you paid pretty much the same amount directly from dell then you would with hidevolution, and paid less in shipping, however, do you know if MYUS offers the option of declaring a lower price for the package?
Thanks!

 

Hey. I think that myus can declare any value you decide on.
When the package arrives there they email you and you need to go and fill a for on their website with the forwarding address insurance value etc. One of the fields is package value. You can also ask them to open your package and remove the original invoice in case customs open your package. I personally would not do it because I want my package do be insured but it is an option.

 

Just wanna if anyone has used this method for buying stuff off US alienware and shipping it to UK. Does the total cost end up cheaper than if I were to buy from UK (including tax and vats)?

 

Well i noticed that the M17x-R1 was very expensive in belgium compared to the US but the M17x-R2 is actually the same price if not cheaper for belgium. Anybody has an explanation for that?

 

So, are there any freight forwarding companies in belguim that people around europe could use ?
If you say it's cheaper than us, why would UK people for instance not order from belgium ?

EDIT : ok, after going to beligum website couple of things :
1. They don't have the RGBLED screen.
2. They DO have the blue ray option
3. NO Intel 6300 wireless card
4. My config (without epp discounts) is about 3500 USD, when i build it on beligum website i got to 4100 USD so it is more expensive.
Plus there's no EPP and such, correct me if i am wrong...

 

I may have jumped to conclusions, forgot about USD vs EURO. But still, my old system cost me 3400 euro for a T9600 that was on sale and sli 260M and dvd burner. Now when i configure a core i7 820 with ATI 4870 XF and blu ray burner i get around the same price.

Only thing i am confused now is that the rep told me i get RGB LED but i see they still sell the old screens and no RGB LED so it makes no sense to give me a RGB LED thats unavailable as a free upgrade.

 

added some info to the first page...

 

great thread!

 

Great info, but they are some things that i cant just do, first i have no credit card, nothing at all of that, and, im still worried about the warranty, you said tat getting complete care by three years will get support abroad, well, i should try; what i can do is transfer the money to a friend of mine that actually lives on USA and then he can send this to me, but, i dont know how much this will cost, and how much time this mean . . .

 

how would you pay in your country without a credit card ?
about sending it to you : one of the benefits of using a freight forwarding company is that they have awesome deals with carriers such as fedex and dhl.
just to give you an example, i got a quote for sending my m17x to israel through dhl (fedex is the same give or take 5%) of 560 dollars including insurance.
Same shipping option through myus is 270$, that's more than 50% off.
So if your friend is going to buy that for you it might be worth asking him to send it to your virtual us address and forward it from there to your country.

 

I can buy by bank deposite, just that way; if I decide to get this from USA what I need to do is another deposite of money to my friend and he will pay with his card ...

 

ok.. so like i told you, sending it to your country will be cheaper with freight forwarding company.

 

Thanks for help, I need to do some research about it before get inside deeply

 

rep+ added.
Do not you think if possible (as I work in IT industry I found many friends visiting USA frequently) below is the preferred option to buy a Dell lappy from USA ?

1. find a friend who is returning from USA with in a month
2. Configure your Dell laptop online
3. Chat with a Dell sales representative and ask for more $$$ discount on your configuration (to save $ on phone call)
4. Give your shipping address (including your friends name) as your friends current address at USA
5. Ask your friend to login to your Dell account and pay from his USA credit card
6. Dell will ship the laptop to your friends address
7. Your friend will bring it to your country and give it to you
8. Apply for ownership changed application online and change the owner/address to you (this will required to continue with your warranty)
9. and DO NOT forget to give the equivalent local money to your friend against the $$$ he has spent for you

This way you can save on excise/import duty/tax as many countries allows carrying 2 laptops for each passenger.
Do you think its a better way IF YOU HAVE ANY FRIEND AT USA ? or is there any other best cost effective way ?

 

That's a good way to go about it. I guess if i had this kind of friend i wouldn't be making this thread

One thing that you can not do following this procedure is later on, get a refund for your system.
Dell will just refund the original buyer, and if you do the service tag transfer you will not be able to receive your money back (in case you need it).

 

Yeh...That is not possible to get a refund.
So its up to your luck to get a good condition laptop on first chance.
Again, in your ordering path too...You can not get the refund as the shipping address at Dell is your mail forwarding service's address

 

Shipping address is not a problem.
You just ship the laptop back to them,and they refund your credit card.

 

great investigative work mfractal!

I was thinking of doing it this way because the US dollar is weak against the Australian dollar at the moment.

But luckily i found 3 ways that saved me $750 AUD on my m15x:

For all Australian customers, and if you have a full time job, the following can be done:

1. Salary Sacrifice: Takes up to 6 installments of your GROSS income, which saves you on salary tax.

2. GST: You can save the 10% Goods and Services Tax by purchasing through a company. This is included with the below option...

3. Company Savings: If your company has a contract with Dell, depending on the size of your company and the level of 'commitment' your company has with Dell, you get company savings. I configed a $2750 m15x and it went down to $2400 just from this alone.

Total = $2000.45 AUD

So yes, you need to be in a very limited set on circumstances, have good contacts (i work in IT) and 'convince' you use your laptop for company use.
This probably wont help most people, but im assuming a lot of people who buy Alienware work in IT.

My message is to basically think outside the square

 

Come on Ive ordered before from Dell USA without a single problem, I live in Mexico (non US citizen nor resident), and I have many friends at the states, I used an international Golden Visa credit card with ultra clean records, placed my order via internet, and sent the laptop (m1330) to a friend´s house. They never called me nor tried to contact me, they never cancelled my order, no nothing, not even weird emails. Days later one of my mates came to Mexico and gave me my m1330, also the US warranty is valid here so it was like a no-brainer for me!

Months later I ordered some cameras, some videogames and a backpack and no problems...

Ill order my m11x soon (The base configuration for the m11x @ Dell Mexico is $16000 mexican pesos = $1250 USD , thats why Ill order it from Dell USA)

 

I am glad this worked out for you.
However, it is impossible to order from US website with a foreign credit card. There isn't even an option to choose an issuing country when you fill in your credit card details, just the state in US.
Having a friend in US sure helps but not everybody have such friends.
You sound dismissive of the info here but some don't have another option and it might help them.

 

Well... I put "fake" card details, just gave my true billing details but in California LMAO!!. So in my case it is more than possible with that credit card.

What do you want to know guys? maybe I could help, at least they accepted all my orders without problems . And Im more than 100% sure they would accept more orders..

 

hey I was looking for ages trying to find something like this guide, great job! Has used the www.hidevolution.com site? cos this could be a lifesaver as I'm Australian so can't buy an Alienware M15x from the US site. was also wondering about the credibility of the hidevolution site, and anyone has used them and can recommend that they aren't gunna run off with my money
Thanks

 

i have never used www.hidevolution.com but i know that people around here recommend it.

 

Question for you mfractal:

I signed up for myus.com and now have an address in Bradenton, FL. I am trying to get a number there through sendmycall.com but there is no option for a virtual number in Bradenton (closest is Miami). Should I still get a number in Miami or would that be suspicious to Dell?

 

hey. Wait with sendmycall. I had a not so good experience with them couple of days ago. I will update my first post today. Now I am using skype number. I will explain the whole process soon. I am on my iPhone now. Give me half a day.
But basically all I did is bUy a number from skype in Tampa ( it's close to brandenton ) forwarded it to skype and forwarded skype to my cellphone. I will write details soon.

 

Ok thanks, looking forward to the details.

 

i just got my M17x-R2
i am so freakkin exited!
Well i guess this is the best proof that the system described here works

 

Hiya,

I've been reading this thread but wonder if someone living in the UK have been hit with the taxes and customs?

What is the best way to place an order as I see hidevolution to be the easiest option, certainly not the best one though.

 

Done in the first page..
Hope it's clear enough, if not feel free to ask

 

i'd call your customs service (or even dhl or fedex) and ask them. In israel it's just 16% VAT and no customs. But i don't know about UK...
hidevolution is definitely an option, though not the cheapest one around.
There are a lot of tips on how to apply discounts (see my sig) with dell us....

 

Awesome thanks. Im just curious, why did you get your online number in central Tampa? Theres an option on skype for Bradenton. And how much did the advanced warranty (for international coverage) cost you and how does it work? If one of your parts needs replacing you send your laptop to Dell in the US or do you have to have a Dell branch where you live? Personally, I'm trying to order the m11x which is going to go to Canada through myus.com and then a relative is bringing it here to Lebanon. I'm not sure if there's a Dell center here :/

 

Just thought I should mention that they don't need a credit card issued in the states. I used my credit card and I am from the middle-east.

 

oops. my bad, i did choose Bradenton i guess just forgot about it...
One thing you could do is request parts dispatch instead of a tech support guy and have it sent to you to lebanon. you replace the part by yourself and send back the faulty part.

they don't but you have to do it over the phone since, if you try to pay online when inputting your credit card, there's no option to choose the country of issue, just a state.. so it won't pass

 

Yeah that is correct. I did place the order on the phone. Skype ftw? Just use Skype and I am sure you guys must have some sort of mail forwarding service? Like for example here in Kuwait I ordered my m11x through skype, gave em my credit card number, and then gave them the mail forwarding address. Did that with an XPS before aswell.

 

I'm going to be doing the same but I have a quote already set with my specific config and address. I tried to order last month and things didn't work out so the rep gave me a quote number that I can just call and give to any rep whenever I'm ready to order. I'd just like to how much the international warranty is and if its worth the (most likely) high cost. Since this is a machine I'll have for a while I'd like to take good care of it and be able to fix any problems I enounter with it.

 

i think it's totally worth it. For a 3k+ machine i'd want to have a complete care and international warranty. I am notcsure about te price. About 200 dollars I think. Why can't u just assemble it on dell website and see how much is it?

 

Oh I didn't realize warranty options on the config page. I'll check em out and ask my rep about it when I order.

 

fixed some explanations on the first page.

 

I was wondering when I give my address in the states (myus address) should I say it is my address or a friends? Which is less likely to give me problems or make things sound fishy to them?

 

Why would they need to know? Is someone asking you who's address it belongs to?

Isn't the point of this so you can have a US address? So you would tell them it is your address?

Although, getting back to my first point, who is going to ask?

 

. They actually did ask me. And I told them it's a freight f/w company. They wanted to know the name even... Feel free to tell them, looks like they know it.

 

Well, the thing is they ask for a phone number at that address to contact and you also have to have someone sign when it's delivered. So I guess I'll just get an online skype number over there (same area code as address) and then tell them to contact it. Should I pretend like I'm living over there and will be the one signing for the package? Or should I tell them I have a relative at that address and I'm sending it as a gift to them? If I remember correctly, last time I was on the phone with them trying to order they asked some questions that I sorta stumbled on...

 

Man. Just tell them the truth. They won't have a problem.

 

Oh, but they ask you if the laptop will be leaving the country (which in that case I think you have to pay some sort of fees). I was planning on not telling them it will be shipped out of the US.

 

They asked me the same question, and I made a purchase in the USA (with US shipping address, card, etc.). I said "No". None of their freaking business what I'm doing with it. Unless they plan to take out the tax, which they weren't.

 

I actually told them it'll leave us. They didn't charge anything extra for it. Just filled some sort of export document.

 

The only thing extra you need, as far as I know, when sending something outside US (since I already sent some stuff) is customs declaration form. This needs to be attached outside on the package. It says exactly what's inside and what is it's value. I just made some stuff up for the values since what I was sending wasn't that expensive anyway. In some countries (or all?) I think they'll "estimate" the value if you don't declare it in advance. At the end you'll be ending up paying taxes in both countries for 1 item...

So I guess it was either that or something related to it.

 

Alright. When myus ships the package can you tell them to ship it as a gift in order to avoid customs in wherever its shipped to from the US?

 

yes you can, although i doubt it will help, in my experience custom agents will not tend to believe a 3K$+ gift, but guess it's worth a try.
you can also tell them to adjust the price of the laptop when it's there,mine was around 3200 in price, but they've priced it as 2100 when it came in.
I wanted to have full insurance so i sent them the invoice and they've adjusted, but i have a feeling you want to adjust it the other way
Keep in mind that the package is insured only for the declared value.

I also upgraded to their premium membership since shipping prices go down with it and for me it was worth it.

 

Yeah, mine will be around 800 dollars so I'll have them put down around that much and mark it as gift. If anything, I'm sure customs to Canada won't exceed 100 bucks. Thanks for the tips. Also an unrelated question..if the laptop dies and cannot be repaired by just replacing a part, how exactly would you get it fixed? Would you send it by mail to dell US?