Price Difference between Kobalt and XoticPC...LOL!

Out of curiosity, I was comparing like-4-like the NP5796 vs Kobalt Mojave to get a rough idea of price difference. I didn't like what i saw (given that I live in the UK =D).

The equivalent of the below costs about £1850 (= $3700) and at xoticPC it is $2650...that $1k difference! I am really wondering whether its worth it ordering in the US and just paying for the $200 shipment as I'd still be saving $800! Only issue would be if ran into troubles with the machine later, I'd have to send it back to the US...


Here's the system I was comparing:

1x Sager NP5796 Custom Notebook (Built on Clevo M570TU)
- Display: 17" WUXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1200)
- Arctic Silver: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Dead Pixel Policy: Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- Processor: ~Intel® P9500 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.53GHz w/6MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- Video Card: 1,024MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 9800M GTX DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable) (ETA Early August)
- External Monitor Video Adapter: None Standard
- Ram: ~ 4,096MB DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- Intel® Robson Turbo Memory: None Standard
- Exterior Finish: NP579x Orange Frame Trim Color
- Optical Drive: ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- Primary Hard Drive: ~ 200GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- External Hard Drive (Back Up): None Standard
- Floppy Drive: None Standard
- Memory Card Reader: Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR
- Wireless Network: Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link
- Wireless Network Accessories: None Standard
- Camera: Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- TV Tuner: None Standard
- Sound Card: Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included

 

Don't forget that you'll be paying 17,5% import taxes + you'll have to pay international shipping for your warranty.

 

^Still cheaper

 

Yea, though still cheaper, we're getting there...kinda. Thing is that for any issue, having to send it back to the US would be a complete nightmare. It all boils down to: is $800 upfront premium worth the gamble of hoping nothing will ever happen? I'm essentially selling highly leveraged call :S.

On a side note, 15.4 inchers aren't 9800gtx capable right?

Cheers!

 

XoticPC:
$2650 x 1.175 = $3114
+ $200 (dont know if thats true though)
= $3314

Kobalt Computers:
$3700

Difference = $386

Whats so LOL about that? You live in the uk, Kobalt is based in the uk. If something happens to your computer, you had to ship it to XoticPC. That means longer time without your computer, $200 extra in shipping, and whoila, you have paid almost as much as you would have to Kobalt.

 

I pity you guys. 17.5% tax is just crazy! Luckily it's tax free here (including 0$ income tax, 0% import tax) in the gulf!

 

Question:
What is VAT and why do we need to pay it? Are there any exceptions? With my Nexus from Kobalt, VAT is £268 ($536).
Total price = $3495

HOLY **** :/

 

Being in europe, I was at one point considering purchasing a 9262 from Kobalt, even with the tax rebate 17.5% because I'm outside the UK, the Kobalt computer was still much more than the equivalent from XoticPC.

 

Extract from the VAT wiki page

Value added tax (VAT), is tax on exchanges. It is levied on the added value that results from each exchange. It differs from a sales tax because a sales tax is levied on the total value of the exchange. For this reason, a VAT is neutral with respect to the number of passages that there are between the producer and the final consumer. A VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected from someone who does not bear the entire cost of the tax. To avoid double taxation on final consumption, exports (which by definition, are consumed abroad) are usually not subject to VAT and VAT charged under such circumstances is usually refundable.

If I purchase a good in the UK from another country, I can ask to pay only for the good without the VAT price. I will then have to pay my local customs, our own tax, which is 7.6% for normal goods in Switzerland.

 

VAT= value added tax.
you can purchase the system under your name & a company so that you get your tax return later in the year. hope you have a family company

 

Forgot to add VAT previously since I'm used to have the prices include VAT. Agreed, not such a huge difference.

 

Norwegian tax is 25%, and the VAT with Kobalt is just about 15%. From what ive read is that you can choose to pay the VAT in the country that shop you purchase from, or you can pay VAT in your own country. So that means its smart to pay VAT from uk.

What is the VAT in US? XoticPC is based in the US isnt it?

 

VAT applies to the EU, I believe. And yes, XoticPC is US based.

 

That is not accurate.
If you live in the EU zone, as I do (Belgium), and I want to purchase something from the UK, then I'll pay the VAT (17,5%) of the UK. The customs of my country will say: "Oh, he has already paid taxes to our European friends in the UK, so we won't let him pay taxes to Belgium. After all, the UK are our friends."

But if you don't live in the EU zone (and Norway still is not part of the EU), and you wish to purchase something from the EU, I'm pretty sure you'll have to pay BOTH taxes, i.e. if you buy your system from Kobalt, you'll have to pay 15% UK VAT, but when the system enters your country, you'll also have to pay 25% Norway VAT, since it doesn't help Norway one bit if you pay your taxes to the UK.

HOWEVER, since Kobalt is shipping out of the EU zone, you can offset the UK VAT by asking them to send you a 0% VAT invoice (they are legally allowed to do this, however only when they're shipping outside the EU. [At least companies are allowed to use this VAT offsetting procedure, I'm not entirely sure about normal customers.]

Bottom line, you'll pay 25% Norwegian VAT if you play it right.

No VAT in the US

P.S. I hope what I'm writing is true

 

Ok, i didnt know that. Thanks.
That sucks. Norway sucks!
NO WAY im paying 17.5% first. and once it is shipped to my country i pay another 25%. HELL NO
But what about ordering from Dell. My father purchased a laptop from Dell that costed around $2700, and he didnt pay any VAT

 

Sorry, can anybody briefly confirm this from before? Cheers

 

Clevo and Sager do not support the 9800M GTX in the Sager NP8660 (Clevo M860TU).

 

Well, no 15.4" is getting the 9800M GTX yet though, right?

 

No, not a chance.

 

^absolutely so

 

Yeah, Norway sucks!!
j/k

If you order your Dell from a Norwegian Dell shop, you'll only have to pay 25% Norwegian VAT. Those are the taxes you pay to the Norwegian government.

You always have to pay VAT when you buy something, unless of course you offset it (companies/independants can do this). That's probably why your dad didn't mention it.

 

Compare our prices to Rock Direct and you'll be pleasantly surprised

There's nothing we can do with prices to be more competative, the UK is simply more expensive and there's nowt we can do about it. Buying from abroad can be worthwhile and, as I've mentioned before, you can get a good deal if you know what you're doing. As long as no one thinks that our prices are higher than Sager because we make $500 more than them on each notebook then it's ok.

Apart from higher living costs, office rent, wages, petrol (UK is double the price of US fuel) etc you also have this sort of problem:

Intel Q9550 Quad Core CPU - (US) Newegg £274
- (UK) Overclockers £387

That doesn't include VAT to ship it from Newegg to the UK as I'm roughly comparing the difference between what an American company could buy the CPU for compared to what we could - $200 immediately off the notebook because of the CPU alone

Anyway enough complaining for now. Regarding VAT, duty etc it's been covered quite a lot since I've been on this forum, perhaps it would be worth adding the info to the Clevo Guide.

- If you live in the EU and purchase a product from outside then you have to pay your country's VAT when it is imported.
- If you buy from another EU country you only pay the VAT of the country you are purchasing from.

If you live outside the EU e.g. Norway, Singapore etc then, as a UK VAT registered company, we can zero rate the sale so you pay us no VAT but you will still have to pay your country's VAT (however their system works).

 

Awesome, cheers Neil for the statement, and cheers to all for the info!

 

It all comes down to choice. I wouldn`t have probably bought from Xotic last year, because I mostly live in Europe, but their price was unbeatable, and still is among the best for the laptops they have.

 

Zero rating also means that Kobalt does not actually suffer by not charging VAT on the export outside the EU. It can still recover all of its 'input' VAT (ie the UK VAT that Kobalt paid on purchasing CPU's, HDD's, etc) by offsetting against the VAT that it does charge to other UK customers. The loser of course, being the UK taxman, here.

The only way you could get a double VAT charge that some of the earlier posts were mistaken about, would be if you imported it into Norway, paid Norwegian VAT, threw away all the paperwork, and then went on holiday to the UK ... with the machine still in its box and bubble wrap. Then you might be asked to pay UK VAT too. Ouch!

 

YOU THINK THATS BS? the HDX is about 3-4k difference between australia and us at the same config. i can imagine its the same for you

 

Many European vendors have the same prices.

I found www.notebookguru.de and for the specs in my signature it was also a good ~1K less than the other European vendors!

And notebookguru.de is in Germany in the EU so there wouldn't be any customs problems. My notebook arrived within a week, packaged very well, safe and sound and in excellent working condition.

 

I got mine shipped to australia for summer break, and I didnt get taxed.
I also heard the same from someone in Canada.

Just cross your fingers and order from Xotic

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=275758

Here is all the info i gathered on importing from the US to the UK.
I've decided to order the NP8660 form xoticpc.com next week.
I shall provide all the information i get from the first hand experience of importing...Hopefully it will be a good experience.

 

Importing Process:

1) Order Laptop from Reseller
Order only what you need as the more expensive your configuration
2) Claim Discount (if any) eg. 3% rebate for specific payment methods (bank wire, PayPal e-check)

3) Pay international shipping cost. If your ordering from xoticpc.com thats; $223 without tracking info and $240~ with tracking info.

4)Laptop delivered and VAT is paid on the cost of the laptop as well as the shipping. (made a mistake had to edit)

5) Enjoy the laptop

 

Thumbs up for notebookguru!

If not for their low pricing, I wouldn't have the notebook in my signature. It's by no means cheaper than buying in the US, but the buyer could only make the purchase in Germany and notebookguru was by far the cheapest place to buy the Sager.

 

I think you guys jumping on the 9800m gtx bandwagon should wait until theres some solid benchmarks before spending another 400 bones.... seems like alot if theres not much performance increase

 

I called the HM revenue service in the UK and rang the number i was talking about in the Sager Import: Customs Duties thread and confirmed with them that there are no customs duties whatsoever on laptops.
That basically means that you have three payments;
1) To the reseller for the Laptop
2) For the delivery/ Shipping
3) VAT

unfortunately the guy confirmed that VAT has to be paid on the overall cost of the laptop including shipping and not just the laptop cost itself.

This is not what i was hoping for because this means that you have to pay another 17.5% of the shipping which is £110 (roughly) Another £20

I know it sounds cheap that im upset about a measely £20 but all the little costs add up and that is why im now paying £1250 for a laptop that only costs £1000. I absolutely hate TAX. I hope iTAX gets stabbed with AIDS and Herpes simultaneously.

!FCUK!

 

Mainly Clevo prices in the EU are higher (without VAT) simply becouse Clevo sales volumes are lower (you know selling 10k laptops is not the same as selling 1K).

A lot of tech in EU get the same price as in the US. Some of them are actually cheaper. Take for instance RAM and HDDs.

Trance

 

Short Note:

I've seen false information being written on this topic more than once, so lets get things straighten up.
If you live in a country that is a member of the EU and you are from another EU member country, the VAT should be charged according to your country's tax value, so if you live in the UK and you are buying from Portugal (which has 20% tax) you should only be charged 17,5%.

Though, people usually look up into buying stuff from countries in which VAT is lower, so in the case someone from Portugal buys a laptop from the UK, and the charged VAT is UK's 17,5%, there shouldn't be any problem, as customs don't control EU packages as much as they do international packages, still if this gets detected, I've been told that it becomes a problem between the retailer and the customs, because it is the retailer obligation to charge it properly, not yours, ofc, though i'm not completely sure of this last part, but it's what i've been told.