American Vaio in Australia?

Hi,

So I've been looking at Sony Vaio Laptops, and I realised that because of the exchange rate, it'd be much MUCH cheaper for me to buy one off an American website than in Australia. The best price I've found in Australia for the Z series, for example, is AU$3400, but on the Sony USA website the same model is US$1919, that's AU$2160, AU$1240 cheaper than what I can get locally.

But I need to find out if an American one would work here. Australia runs on 240V compared to the USA's 110V - would an American Vaio handle the 240V, or would it not be built to cope? And are there other things that might prevent me from being able to use it properly? I don't know much about it.

Any help would be very welcome.

 

About the voltages, I think that would be solved by just buying an australian adapter for the Z. Otherwise it should be fine. When i travel internationally, I just ask the hotels for an adapter for my american electronics. You could do the same. I mean that AU$1260 you saved should cover the cost of one =p.

 

lol that's what I figured. But it wouldn't be worth it if I plugged it into the power point and the 240V made it explode or something!

Any idea where I might be able to find the info?

And any ideas about other things I need to consider?

 

Factor in GST and custom fees and possibly duty. It will still be cheaper, but just pointing it out so you don't get caught unawares (as if you get slugged with all three, it will be probably 600 bucks).

As achusaysblessyou says, an adapter works fine. I travel to Australia from the US yearly and have used an adapter.

 

Awesome, thanks. Any idea where I might find out if I'll be charged those?

 

The adapter will work fine - it is switchable like nearly all modern electronics. Have a look at you current AC Adapter and it will say 100-240V 50-60Hz etc.

You just need to buy an Australian power cord to go from the wall to the adapter. You can buy these on ebay (australia) from China for about $2 AUD including shipping. Bear in mind that I think you may need a 3 prong (I haven't got my Z yet but I'm pretty sure it uses a grounded plug).

I do this all the time with my work laptops (they are Dells).

I just bought one in the states and will be taking mine home with me to Australia in a month or two.

Also, the 1st years warranty included is international as well, you just need to register it as such when you get it (this is what the sales rep told me anyway), then you can take it in to a local Sony store instead of having to ship it to the states if you have problems.

 

Technically, I believe you're meant to be charged all three for items over a grand (there is an exception for laptops where they are excluded from duty if you can prove you're taking them back out of Australia). In reality, it may be a crapshoot and depend on whether your laptop gets opened by customs or slips through the cracks. Probably the Australian Customs site will be your best bet.

 

You just need a plug adaptor or power cord - the adaptor unit is worldwide voltage compatble. I have a US vaio F and using in uk which has same voltage as Oz.

Tax - if you buy from computer upgrade king on eBay (I would highly recommend) they work it so you are covered by insurance but value it so you pay less tax - they send ups so tax is unavoidable.

Otherwise just get it sent through normal post during a busy period - Aussie customs can't keep up so there's a good chance you will avoid.... But will obviously take longer to receive.

 

I wouldn't take that chance. It is similar to declaring the item as a gift, and if you are caught undervaluing an item then you're going to get in trouble, as it is illegal to do so. Australian customs seems to have done some crackdowns on just that recently, and I've had a couple of friends get pinged by them. I think if you're just undervaluing a little they won't worry so much, but I had one friend where they requested proof of purchase cost and she had to show her bank records for a high-end handbag she purchased off ebay. Also, in Australia we have it that only the recipient gets pinged for undervaluing, not the sender.

 

Have you checked if they will sell it to a customer with an address in Australia? Some companies (notably some well known camera companies) in US specifically prohibit their retailers from selling outside the US.
If you can get them to ship to Australia and delivery is done via USPS (the US postal service which is relatively inexpensive, amazingly fast and takes about a week to arrive here) you will probably have to pay 10% GST on the combined cost of the PC + the cost of delivery (which would include anything paid for insurance). You can probably check with Customs. If you decide to use a customs agent you have to pay their fees as well and things start getting expensive!
Some posters have mentioned "duty" but I don't think there is any "duty" on PCs as there may have been years ago.
I agree with sgreg that you should NOT make an illegal declaration of the price you paid.
I would be wary of the "International" warranty being effective in Australia and suggest you check with someone at Sony if that aspect really concerns you.
The power cable is a standard cable available from most electrical outlets like Smith, Alltronics, Tandy etc but you may find you already have one lying around at home from another PC power adapter.

 

G'day mate,

I used to live in Melbourne and very used to the importing pcs there.

Computer upgrade king value it at their cost for insurance purposes - so if something happens to it they recover their goods - this lowers the tax. Being done through fed ex or ups - it will go through ok - it's when you go through normal post where you have to complete the import paperwork.

In any case - worst case scenario paying full tax, it's still going to be cheaper than buying in Australia - so expensive domestically!

 

You can say that again!