Importing Vaios from the US to Europe - experiences

Since the US dollar is very low now compared to the euro, it can be very interesting to import a Vaio from the US. Especially now the new models are coming soon I though it might be good to share some experiences.

I once imported a Vaio SZ680 from Techonweb.com. I got my SZ in the end but it took about 25 days because they used normal USPS. All in all it was a good experience. Next time I'll order i will probably order somewhere else and ask for UPS or Fedex.

In the netherlands we have to pay 19% import tax.

The only downside to importing your Vaio from the US is that the US warranty is not valid in Europe. This is quite a risk, but since the price difference is so big, it can still be worthwhile.

Anyone else experience with importing laptops from the US?
Any thoughts on the warranty issues?
Any recommended stores?

Thanks in advance.

 

I have been dealing with a number of EU and Oceania customers who were interested in getting Sony products from the US. I shipped a couple things via FedEx, however it is a bit pricey, EMS service proved to be as good and on the cheaper side. Since the US warranty does not work in Europe (unless you purchase a notebook with overseas warranty), I offer my friends to help out in case their product needs servicing. So if anyone interested in buying something from the US, feel free to email me or PM. I have a great eBay feedback and references if you need those.

 

Often it is not worth it as you can sometimes find very good deals in your own country. I looked into buying an SZ in the US before but i managed to buy a brand new SZ71WN/C for £850 in the UK directly from a dealer.
Sometimes you can find deals like that on Ebay as well.

I have seen SZ61WN/C going for £650-£745 new on Ebay in the UK.

This laptop would be no cheaper if i bought in the US and the rrp price in the UK is £1,499 and like i said i got mine for £850.

 

Great to hear that vaiofreak. You may hear from me in a couple of weeks time.

Are you aware of companies that sell Vaio's with overseas warranty?
I know Compusa used to, but they don't seem to do so any longer.

 

It seems pricing in UK is often more competitive in the UK than here. The lowest price for a SZ61W/N in Netherlands is about 1600 euros now, and that's after a 250 euro rebate.

It's good to know because if I import from the UK I don't have to pay 19% import tax. I also believe that VOS is being sold in uk which would fix the warranty problem.

 

Hey philflow. I thought about doing that too. But then Sony was overing rebates on some of their models and I looked at where I could get this model the cheapest

In the end I payed about 1100 euro for a vaio TZ. That is about $1650 with no extra costs and warranty. Now I looked at the sony website in America for an equivalent model. I would pay $1700 (wich is also the cheapest model). Now you have to pay shipping costs and 19% tax and other custom costs. If we just assume you have to pay 19% tax then it will still cost $2023 (=1348,7 euro)

A few differences between the two models is that I only have 1.06ghz processor compared to the 1.2ghz from america. And I dont have a fingerprint reader. But on the other hand I do have windows vista business wich cost according to the sony website $100 extra.

But I think it is definately worth it for what I payed for in Netherlands.

 

Yes Varman you are right, there are some excellent deals on the TZ right now. But that is very rare.

When the new Z series will come it will be about 2300 euros here, 2300 US$ in US. Importing it (19% tax) would be 1746 euros. That's 554 euros savings.

If one would tell the custom the value is $1000, the savings would be 700 euros.

And sometimes the prices in the US are lower than what I'm using here as examples. Especially with the BTO models. When i imported my SZ it was 1800$ in US, a comparable model in Netherlands was 2200 euros.

 

If you think about that then its alot of money you can save. I wanted to do it this way too but I never owned a laptop before so I didnt know the ins and outs. But if I'm going to buy a next laptop then I'll get one from ebay from a reputable store and if the $ vs euro stays the same.

I wouldnt get a new series straight away though. Only proven reliable laptops. You never know if it has any problems. The first macbooks for example had cracks in their cases or flickering screens. And I heard the macbook air had overheating problems. Something like that could also happen to a new vaio series.

What do you think

 

Yeah I think it could be good to wait a couple of weeks.

PS. Sometimes problems get exaggerated. I had a Macbook Air, the updates from Apple solved the overheating problem. If people would use undervolting they would never have the problem in the first place.

 

I ordered a TZ from Japan (sold it after 3 months) and the hole experience was worth it. I saved money and I took a model with SSD that in Europe doesn't even exist.
Europe is way too expensive in confront of US and Japan.

 

Yes that's another very interesting option. Japan will probably offer the Z series in custom configurations.

 

Exactly. This I'm waiting...

The warranty is 3 years and international. But if something happens you must send your laptop back to Japan.

 

Then it's not international warranty

Did you order from Pricejapan or somewhere else?

 

Lol I meant is valid overseas but yeah not international if you mean that you can fix it home.
I was debating between pricejapan and conics. I choose Conics beacuse their better service. Pricejapan they hardly speak english, how can you make business like that? The prices are very similar though.

 

Sorry man I never looked into that as I don't really need it. I know SonyStyle does but again only for US customers. Dynamism.com sells Japanese VAIOs and offer warranty (you would ship it to them and they ship to Japan for service), however their pricing is quite steep.

There are some really nice deals going on for VAIO TZs; for ex. I spotted a white TZ for $1700, its cost on Sonystyle.com used to be $2899. A few months ago I posted a great deal on TZ for $1200 in Red however they all got sold.