importing ipad - advice wanted

ShawWellPete

ShawWellPete

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,699
Name
Pete
Edit My Images
Yes
A friend of mine is going to the states next week and has asked me if I would like him to pick me up an ipad.

Does anybody know if the US version (3G) would work here and if anybody does a decent data only contract for it yet?

Are there any other pitfalls I should watch out for?
 
Are you going to pay the VAT import duty on it? if not then I don't think you'll have a warranty, if so then you'll probably find the price wont be much lower than getting one here
 
The 3G one isn't available yet. It will work over here given a sim card though.
 
joescrivens said:
Are you going to pay the VAT import duty on it? if not then I don't think you'll have a warranty, if so then you'll probably find the price wont be much lower than getting one here
Click to expand...

There should be no duty to pay on the iPad - the tariff heading it is classed under is zero rated. Will dig out the exact code later, if I get chance.

There will be VAT due however.

Edit : Bit more here - seems someone has applied for a BTI... Linky
 
I'm sure they covered this on the Gadget Show a while back and Jason Bradbury advised that if you get one (3G version) you would be best to buy in the UK as the contract in the US is with AT&T. :thinking:
 
I've not really thought about Duty and Vat, it isn't so much about savinbg money as impatience to get my hands ona new toy. If the 3g is not yet available there yet I'll be waiting anyway...
 
A mate of mine went over and bought a couple which he'susing here quite happily.

In regards to the 3G issue, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, install MiFi, it turns your iPhone into a wireless hotspot which your iPad can use, no need to buy the 3G model.
 
zoom said:
A mate of mine went over and bought a couple which he'susing here quite happily.

In regards to the 3G issue, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, install MiFi, it turns your iPhone into a wireless hotspot which your iPad can use, no need to buy the 3G model.
Click to expand...

Cool!

I haven't got an iphone though...
 
I knew nothing about these things until Saturday, I was evesdropping on a conversation about them.

Woman had imported one, was caught at customs and had to pay £80 (Mancherster airport). I don't know if it was vat or duty but she said with the £ dropping it wasn't any cheaper here.

The way she was talking you could get them here. :shrug: It was for her son and I think he couldn't wait to get one either.
 
I think you're right, with the £ at $1.5 it is probably worth being patient and getting a uk warantee and maybe even a subsidy from a phone company.


Repeat after me "new toys do not make me happy, new toys do not make me happy, new toys do not make me happy, new toys do not make me happy..."
 
Apple warranties are world wide. Not country specific.
 
It also uses the new micro sim, which is like a half size sim card, at the moment i think o2 and orange are bulk buying them, but noone as far as i know in the country is yet supplying them.
 
According to apple's website the iPad 3G wont be shipping until 'late april' in the USA. I would imagine that would translate to late may here as the wifi version is due 'late april' here.
 
joescrivens said:
yes but surely if you don't have the vat and import proof then your warranty is void?

no?
Click to expand...

You do not any receipt for apple products.

Apple track all the serial numbers and know exactly when it was purchased.

You can check warranty status of any apple product by going online to apple.com/support put in your serial number and hey presto.

That one of the things I really like about apple, you can be anywhere in world and get it fixed.
 
robinb said:
You do not any receipt for apple products.

Apple track all the serial numbers and know exactly when it was purchased.

You can check warranty status of any apple product by going online to apple.com/support put in your serial number and hey presto.

That one of the things I really like about apple, you can be anywhere in world and get it fixed.
Click to expand...

yeah I have done that myself in the past, i remember now. Cool, going to the states this June and gonna get my iPad then too, hopefully save £80-£100 or so. I'll just strip it from it's box and have it as carryon, same as I did with my ipod touch a few years back, no VAT duty that way
 
braddersmd said:
There should be no duty to pay on the iPad - the tariff heading it is classed under is zero rated. Will dig out the exact code later, if I get chance.

There will be VAT due however.

Edit : Bit more here - seems someone has applied for a BTI... Linky
Click to expand...

I'd hope they have sent in one asking for clarification on all devices like this not just the iPad, however I wonder where it would stop, all non keyboard slates, or mobile hardware without 3g?

ShawWellPete said:
Cool!

I haven't got an iphone though...
Click to expand...

You can probably get a similar program if you have a Symbian, WinMo or Android phone as well. :)
 
joescrivens said:
yeah I have done that myself in the past, i remember now. Cool, going to the states this June and gonna get my iPad then too, hopefully save £80-£100 or so. I'll just strip it from it's box and have it as carryon, same as I did with my ipod touch a few years back, no VAT duty that way
Click to expand...

|Why not just steal one from a shop? Just as illegal and bigger savings. Plus, if you're caught you probably won't have to experience bending over a metal bench listening to the 'snap' of a rubber glove.
 
hollis_f said:
|Why not just steal one from a shop? Just as illegal and bigger savings. Plus, if you're caught you probably won't have to experience bending over a metal bench listening to the 'snap' of a rubber glove.
Click to expand...

dont be silly, lol.
 
hollis_f said:
|Why not just steal one from a shop? Just as illegal and bigger savings. Plus, if you're caught you probably won't have to experience bending over a metal bench listening to the 'snap' of a rubber glove.
Click to expand...

This is a little strong. It's not theft buying in the US. But if you don't pay the VAT and import duty on the way into the country it's Tax evasion, which actually is a more serious offence in the courts eye.
 
icecavern said:
This is a little strong. It's not theft buying in the US. But if you don't pay the VAT and import duty on the way into the country it's Tax evasion, which actually is a more serious offence in the courts eye.
Click to expand...

I see both practices as stealing. One is stealing goods from a retailer, the other is stealing income from the government. In the end both result in an increase cost to me, as a purchaser, an insurance buyer and as a taxpayer. But people who would never, ever, consider admitting that they'd stolen something from a shop are quite happy to brag about how they've stolen money from the taxpayer.
 
hollis_f said:
I see both practices as stealing. One is stealing goods from a retailer, the other is stealing income from the government. In the end both result in an increase cost to me, as a purchaser, an insurance buyer and as a taxpayer. But people who would never, ever, consider admitting that they'd stolen something from a shop are quite happy to brag about how they've stolen money from the taxpayer.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it's right, as I don't agree with people avoiding paying tax and duty either, but they are very different things in the eye of the law.
 
hollis_f said:
I see both practices as stealing. One is stealing goods from a retailer, the other is stealing income from the government. In the end both result in an increase cost to me, as a purchaser, an insurance buyer and as a taxpayer. But people who would never, ever, consider admitting that they'd stolen something from a shop are quite happy to brag about how they've stolen money from the taxpayer.
Click to expand...

firstly I think brag is the wrong word and secondly, how exactly does buying goods from abroad and not paying import duty affect the cost to you?

Without checking serial numbers at the gate how would anyone know what was being brought in unpaid or not. When I get on the plane with the camera and lenses that I took out there, how does the airport know if I took them out there in the first place or bought them - it's impossible to manage and track so how can it then have an affect on you and the things you buy?
 
joescrivens said:
firstly I think brag is the wrong word and secondly, how exactly does buying goods from abroad and not paying import duty affect the cost to you?

Without checking serial numbers at the gate how would anyone know what was being brought in unpaid or not. When I get on the plane with the camera and lenses that I took out there, how does the airport know if I took them out there in the first place or bought them - it's impossible to manage and track so how can it then have an affect on you and the things you buy?
Click to expand...

It effects things as one of the ways the government can re-coup the lost tax from imports is to raise taxes. That's the simplistic explanation.
 
icecavern said:
It effects things as one of the ways the government can re-coup the lost tax from imports is to raise taxes. That's the simplistic explanation.
Click to expand...

i dont buy that one bit. how can they know what they lost when there is no way to track it?
 
They don't track it, they don't need to. Think of a number, double it, assume tax lost... What with the prevalence of ebay etc you have to be nieve to think they don't take this into account.
 
icecavern said:
They don't track it, they don't need to. Think of a number, double it, assume tax lost... What with the prevalence of ebay etc you have to be nieve to think they don't take this into account.
Click to expand...

i know they dont track it that was my point. and if they are making up a number anyway then it matters not how many people are doing it, its always going to be a number they just add on.

matters not then whether people do it or not
 
The government has been steeling from us for years.

In one shape or form the MP's have been fiddling expenses. Not by a few £ here or there but by thousands or hundred of thousands.

What do they expect. ?

You bringing in an iPad without paying tax is small bear by comparison.
 
robinb said:
The government has been steeling from us for years.

In one shape or form the MP's have been fiddling expenses. Not by a few £ here or there but by thousands or hundred of thousands.

What do they expect. ?

You bringing in an iPad without paying tax is small bear by comparison.
Click to expand...

exactomundo, people are trying to be holier than holy
 
What so if someone burgles your house it's OK to break into next door to steal their TV as a replacement for the one you had stolen?

Society is going down the toilet obviously, and nobody gives a damn...
 
icecavern said:
What so if someone burgles your house it's OK to break into next door to steal their TV as a replacement for the one you had stolen?

Society is going down the toilet obviously, and nobody gives a damn...
Click to expand...

Yup, and the politicians don't help. Who was that scumbag who actually got his wife to lie for him in court? Only the lowest type of scoundrel would try that.
 
icecavern said:
What so if someone burgles your house it's OK to break into next door to steal their TV as a replacement for the one you had stolen?

Society is going down the toilet obviously, and nobody gives a damn...
Click to expand...

that may be the most ridiculous thing I've read in this thread so far.

in my scenario I am buying a product from somewhere else and the government is not getting £50 tax from it, instead they are getting that money from other taxes, even if I did pay them their £50, they'd still be getting it from other sources anyway according to you. So they'd be £50 better off and no reduction in tax to my neighbour

In your scenario there are two break-ins and I'm stealing a television from my neighbour, oh and they still have to pay the higher taxes anyway regardless of this because the government is making the number up.

So explain to me how they are the same thing
 
hollis_f said:
I see both practices as stealing. One is stealing goods from a retailer, the other is stealing income from the government. In the end both result in an increase cost to me, as a purchaser, an insurance buyer and as a taxpayer. But people who would never, ever, consider admitting that they'd stolen something from a shop are quite happy to brag about how they've stolen money from the taxpayer.
Click to expand...

So i take it every time you break the speed limit and don't get caught you still send a nice cheque to HMG in lieu of the fine you would have got if caught speeding, similar thing depriving the govermment of income.
 
Morning All,

Apple warranties aren't all worldwide unfortunately (used to work for them while at uni). They are on notebooks(MB, MBP) but not on Desktops and iPhones so I very much doubt they will be on iPads either. It's actually a bit of a grey area. iPhone warranty IS covered if the phone is on AT&T (so you can get a replacement if you are an American on holiday) But you'd have to unlock it to make a British SIM work in it which voids Apple's Limited Warranty. I reckon it'd be the same with the 3G iPad seen as you need an AT&T SIM in it. The non-3G one will probably be OK though as iPods will generally be replaced by a Genius Bar.
 
danbroad said:
Ever recorded a film off the telly?
Ever taped a radio programme or copied a friend's CD?

Bunch of criminals, the lot of you.

Excuse me, I'm just off to claim for my new duck pond...
Click to expand...

Dogfish_magnet said:
So i take it every time you break the speed limit and don't get caught you still send a nice cheque to HMG in lieu of the fine you would have got if caught speeding, similar thing depriving the govermment of income.
Click to expand...

exactly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top