Sager oversea purchase

I based in UK, and plan to buy a Sager notebook from their website, the sales agent told me that the only option they have for oversea purchase is via bank wire money transfer. I actually a bit concerned about this type of transaction, as it's not very secure and seems no protection for buyers.

The question I want to ask is, whether Sager a trustworthy company? and has anyone done a bank wire to them before?

thanks

 

Sager is a trustworthy company, but why don't you buy your computer from one of the resellers on this forum?

They are cheaper, offer other options for payment(possibly), and offer extra services?

 

thanks Ryan, and how do I buy from this forum?

 

There's a list of resellers here http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/592609-clevo-guide-v3-0-faq-reseller-info-read-before-posting.html

I don't live in the UK but some of the resellers have international shipping and they should let you pay by credit card or paypal I believe. I used paypal for Malibal, which I bought a laptop from a couple weeks back.

 

Each person will recommend whoever they bought the laptop from,

so I will recommend LPC-digital

Their prices cannot be beat, and they do price beat resellers I think.

Contact Larry, the representative at [email protected].

 

Also, for UK resellers, this may help: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...reseller-info-read-before-posting.html#europe

 

Yes, if you search around, you can find some companies who will offer other payment options for international customers, including Paypal and/or credit card. We offer all three for international customers - including those in the UK.

 

thanks guys, but I just realise, that the UK VAT will kill me, once the package arrives

 

You could always PM the resellers and ask them about it.

I *shouldn't* have to pay brokerage fees (I believe that's what VAT is correct me if I'm wrong). It all depended on the delivery method ie carrier type/standard/priority and so on.

 

The UK VAT is like 20%, however - you will pay this even if you purchase a laptop within the UK. It's not an import tax.

 

No VAT is not import tax but you will pay that too if you buy outside the EU. The other consideration is shipping it back for any warranty repairs. PC Specialist in the UK sell Clevos (which is what Sagar are) and they have a very good name. Read the Kobalt thread for when it all goes pear shaped... but PCS get rave reviews and fast deliveries......

 

Oh yeah and whoever you buy from pay direct by credit card only!!! (Like I said see Kobalt thread for the flip side) Clevos are fab machines without a doubt!

 

I am new here, could you tell me where is that Kobalt thread please?

 

well, maybe not, if I have a friend in US want to send me a Christmas present, then that package should NOT be charged for any sorts of tax, including VAT, no?

 

If it's marked as a gift, then I don't believe you have to pay the VAT.

 

If you are in the EU, there are on extra VAT's on computers outside the EU (unlike other items like jewelry where u have to pay 20% of their price inside the EU.. e.g. I ordered a watch from canada and had to pay 80€ custom duty.. for computers there is no such thing).

I ordered my "Sager" from MALIBAL. Its a different name but the same laptop. They had the cheapest price, great support and more importantly they had the EU power cords & keyboards for a very cheap price. Also for some extra money you can buy EU warranty.

@edit: the "customs" (I hope thats the right english translation.. the guys from the shipping that check your packet to see if you have to pay VAT) often randomly check packets that come from outside the EU. I had luck with some items from china which went through the customs without any problems.. then for example with the watch from canada I had bad luck. They simply opened the packet, saw its some new watch and called me that I had to pick my packet from the customs and pay the customs duty/VAT. That's why many shop write on the packet that the item is getting sent back from repairing altough its a newly bought item.

 

UK Customs and Excise are hardly like to believe that!! And they won't release the laptop until you have paid both import duty and VAT. They have seen it all before. Also, what will you do if it has a problem under warranty - you will have to pay for the shipping there and back. Buy in the EU at least. Also most warranties are continent specific not global.

Sagar sell Clevos which we all think are amazing in this forum at least but you can buy them in the UK too. You just have to identify the model numbers and that is easy. Have a look at PC Specialist in the UK they sell Clevos.

The Kobalt thread is in the forum for Reseller Feedback under Clevo/Sagar. It is just about a Reseller going bust. Hence my advice to only pay by credit card wherever/whoever you buy from....

Hope that helps..........

 

Thanks Lucia, I will do more research

 

so, you saying the best bet is to mark is as "sending back from repair"?

 

from my experience yes. But then again.. you won't pay any custom duty for computers that are coming from outside the EU into the EU. So it doesn't matter anyway?

And about buying in the UK: Also consider the price difference. I also thought about ordering in the UK's but its like 200-300$ more expensive than ordering it in the US (or even more). For that amount of money I could already ship my laptop back for a warranty case. So far I never had any warranty problems (except a broken HDD.. which was worth 40$). Also most resellers offer you to simply send you the broken parts and you build them into your notebook yourself. So if a HDD/RAM/Fan is damaged, there won't be high shipping fees for you. Also I wouldn't care much about the paying method.

For the last 7 years I never bought a computer/laptop inside the EU as it was always cheaper in the US (even with shipping included it was WAY cheaper.. not to mention that many high-end laptops aren't even available in the EU). Never had any duty/shipping/payment problems. And if you do enough research about the laptop you want to buy, you will want to make sure that its some good quality product which means that there is only a very very small chance for you to ship it back for a warranty case.

 

I may well just go for the pcspecialist, because their 17 inch series is essentially the same laptop as Sager's NP8170

 

I think this is in fact Sager NP8170, correct me if I am wrong:
PCSPECIALIST - VortexII 17 Laptops, VortexII 17 Gaming Laptops, Build Your Own VortexII 17 Laptop

 

make sure that you compare prices.. when I build the same setup on PCspecialist as I ordered on MALIBAL, then the PCspecialist build is like 400$ more expensive :/ As well as they don't offer the 120hz matte display. And I think they also didn't have any other keyboards/power cords except the UK ones.

 

I just priced up the same spec that I bought in the UK on the Malibal site and with an EU warranty... it was no cheaper than I paid in the UK and that was without shipping VAT and Import Duty... all of which are compulsory for buying a non EU laptop into the EU................ That was based on the Clevo 15.6 with i7 2830 8 gig ram Bluray writer and the stronger wifi not blutooth. EU keyboard and power cable and EU warranty........

 

that is because the EU warranty on the MALIBAL site is like.. 250$-400$ ? for 250$ you can already send the laptop back once (both shipping ways paid) so I didn't really bother buying the EU warranty and there for saved a lot of money. Never had to send a laptop back for warranty problems (so far only had Asus & Thinkpad).
Also: Did anyone ever asked pcspecialist.co.uk if that warranty covers the whole EU or only the UK ? Because "Collect & Repair" sounds weird for an EU wide warranty. Collect would be something like Asus does.. they call you and tell you when they come to your house and pick up the laptop.

From PCspecialist.co.uk:

So I wonder if an UK shop would collect a laptop from... let's say italy?


Then again, there is no import duty for computers when you order the laptop outside the EU.

On PCspecialist I see no option to change the keyboard layout or power cord ? On MALIBAL you have that option.. and it is pretty cheap as well.

So in the end you could buy the laptop from MALIBAL with EU warranty + Your-country-keyboard & power cord for the same price as it would be on pcspecialist with UK keyboard & power cord.

 

Hi Jin, yes the Vortex II = Clevo P170HM = Sager NP8170. Before buying my m17x R3 I was seriously considering buying from PCspecialist. They have very good buyer feedback, seem professional, and had very cheap systems with relatively low cost component add-ons, compared to Kobalt (which sadly has ceased trading recently).

I spec'd a Vortex II with 6990M + i7 2860 + 8GB Kingston hyper ram (1600Hz) + 2 years warranty for about £1500. I was very tempted. If you do buy from them, email them, or ask on their forum about their +3 warranty (for some reason it isn't an option on their config page - it's about £70 more than the 2 year).

 

Well, the may reason I was trying to avoid buying from outside uk is I absolutely do not want to deal with uk customs. I am not sure how certain you are regarding your point of they won't charge you import VAT on computers? And I am not sure I can afford to take that risk, we are talking about serval hundred pounds or even thousand pounds here. I had an experience before: I ordered some t shirt from jinx month ago, worth about £50, and once it arrives uk, it's been processed by parcelforce(uk's default parcel delivery company), they sent me an invoice of £11(import vat), plus £12 of handling fee, total of £23, which is almost 50% of what my net package value was.

Imagine I ordered a £2000 laptop from u.s, and then uk custom put a £1000 on top of it, jeeeezzze. Won't dare to try that. Unless you are 100% sure, and there is law been put down like this on the paper you could show me?

 

thanks for the advice

 

I bought the system my sig just over 4 years ago from The USA. At the time the exchange rate was £1 = $2. So it was worth it even with VAT at 17.5% (then), but more importantly there was only one laptop company (ROCK) in the UK selling the system I wanted. However, they were selling a lower config for almost 2x more than in the USA.

At the moment it definitely isn't worth buying from the states as the exchange rate is £1 = $1.5, VAT is now 20%, and there are now plenty of options for getting a high performance laptops in the UK or Europe (with no UK VAT added for the rest of Europe - already added when you buy).

On top of that, if anything goes wrong with your system you'll have to send it abroad to get it fixed. Which means you'll be without your laptop longer, and usually have to pay shipping + insurance both ways. Totally not worth it right now. I would go so far to say it would be an illogical choice, unless you wanted a Clevo x7200 (xfire/SLi system) which is in short supply since Kobalt shut down. If I wanted a Dual gfxs config I would buy a m18x alienware refurb (very cheaply) from Dell UK or Ebay.

 

That is because on shirts you will pay the custom duty/VAT additionally you will pay the VAT/custom duty according to the price of the t-shirt in your country.. E.g. I once ordered a jeans from "Diesel" from the US. It was 160$ and in my country it would be 300$+.. unlucky as I'm, the customs checked my packet and then called me to pick it up + pay the custom duty/VAT which was % based on the price in my country. it was like 30%-40% of the jeans price in my country (so from 300-400$ :S).

I don't really have any site that states the law right now. But when I ordered my first computer outsite the EU I called the customs here in Austria, checked the internet (and found serveral sites) + friends/family order a lot of computers outside the EU (my father must have ordered already 10 mac books for friends)
However, first google hit was this:
No customs into eu? (Page 1) / Eee PC 70x Prices, Preorders, and Where To Buy / EeeUser Forum

And then again.. even with custom duty you will be cheaper when buying it from the US. just compare prices.. my notebook from MALIBAL is like 400$ cheaper (or even more).. besides that they offer 50% less hardware for customizing that notebook.

I just read you are from the UK.. so getting the notebook from pcspecialist + the 1 years collect warranty (make sure to upgrade to the 2nd warranty for 5$ more) might be worth it. Shipping will be cheaper & faster (for me, the shipping to austria was like 130$.. but if you ask nicely, MALIBAL might give you a nice discount on shipping .. but I guess it still won't be as cheap as "shipping" inside the UK) + you have the easier/faster warranty. But on the other side its way more expensive and I never had any warranty problems with any laptops so far.

To make this easier, here is my pro & con list

Pros for US:
Way cheaper (even with shipping.. there is no custom duty I'm sure)
More options for customizing the laptop (check malibal.com / xoticpc.com)
Have EU-wide keyboards & power cords (MALIBAL) - maybe not important for u as u are from the UK

Cons for the US:
Maybe needs longer to ship
In case of warranty you need to ship it back to the US

However, for the amount of money I saved with MALIBAL (compared to pcspecialist) I could ship it back once (2 way) and have the same price I would have on pcspecialist.

 

Thanks guys, but does anyone know any UK retailer actually sells Clevo P170HM in physical store, the reason I ask is because I plan to leave UK in the next 3 months, and I know you could claim the VAT back at the airport, it's called something like tourist VAT refund, but only available in the retailer stores? Anyone has any idea? For the Clevo system I configured, if I manage to get VAT back, I could save up to £500, which is a big deal

 

Clevos are not usually sold in stores. If you are leaving the EU have you asked PCS about the VAT?

 

did you mean this one: Public and Commercial Services Union - PCS

do I just go to the contact us section and ask them over the phone?

 

I believe he meant PCSpecialist.

Just a suggestion, if you're leaving the UK in 3 months, wait till then to buy it and ship to where ever you're going. Assuming of course you have an address and of course assuming you're VERY patient heh

 

Rules for claiming VAT refunds for travellers. HM Revenue & Customs: VAT refunds for visitors to the UK