Jan Zdarsa Although this will seem strange to many, if you are willing to sacrifice a new design and a glass trackpad, then this might be the best possible moment for you to buy a laptop. Especially for those who want a Macbook Pro.
How can that be possible? I'm currently talking about refurbished notebooks from the USA. These are mostly returned laptops that have been used for less than 14 days and then Apple has rechecked them to make sure everything is in the best possible order. Now that the new Macbook Pro has hit the market, users often return their laptops without using them.
You're thinking why would I want an old model when I can have a brand new one? It is mainly about the price. You can find such a notebook on the website Store.Apple.com and then click on the item Refurbished Mac in the left column (at the very bottom). Here, the offer sometimes changes a little depending on the availability of models, but if a model is missing, you usually just have to wait a few days. There are currently enough significant discounts on these Macbook Pros, and this piece seems like an ideal candidate to me:
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
15.4-inch widescreen display
2GB memory
200GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera
Price? hold on only $1349! Although this price sounds perfect, we must not forget the US tax, which is reflected in the prices only when ordering. Shipping to California still comes out to a nice $1460 with tax. At the recent average exchange rate of 18 CZK/USD, this is roughly 26 CZK. Of course, this is not the final price, so let's move on..
User halogan had a very interesting observation. Refurbished notebooks also feature the Macbook Air, which originally cost almost $3100 and is now only $1799! In this configuration, it offers a 1,8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and a 64GB large SSD disk!
Apple ships to the US for free, so we don't have to worry about that. But how to get our apple box to the Czech Republic? In addition, John Vaňhara's service is ideal for me - Shipito. Shipito is a service that allows us to send goods to an address in California, and we then choose via the web interface which service we want to use for sending to the Czech Republic. You can find more information on the Shipita website, I won't go into too much detail now. For simplicity, I will take the fact that forwarding via Shipito will cost us an additional $8.50. Now we know how to get it here, but we don't yet know what it will cost us.
So I tried to calculate the postage using a calculator on the Shipita website.
Destination country: Czech Republic
Weight: 8 lbs.
Dimensions: 17″ x 17″ x 3.25″
USPS Express Mail (delivery within 5-6 working days)
$57.37
FedEx International Economy (2-5 business day delivery)
$77.09
FedEx International Priority (1-3 business day delivery)
$96.36
The prices are from the Shipita calculator and it may happen that you will be calculated a different postage as a result, but hopefully it should not differ significantly. Alternatively, please don't stone me :)
Perhaps you could ask at this point if USPS Express or some sort of FedEx? You will get a tracking number for both. FedEx will certainly have it more perfect and you will probably know about every delay in your package, but I have sent packages via USPS and have been relatively satisfied.
Of course it is convenient to insure the expensive shipment. With USPS it would cost us about $16 including the Shipit fee. I don't know the insurance fees for FedEx, but I don't think they will be high. For our purposes, however, USPS Express is sufficient.
Notebook $1349
US tax $111
Shipping $8.50
Shipping $57.37
Insurance $16
Total $1541.87 = CZK 27
Think you're buying two for this price? No way, the calculations don't end here. After that, your package will arrive in the Czech Republic, but mainly it will go to customs. You don't have to worry about any customs duty here, but sure expect 19% VAT from the price of goods + shipping.
But here I have to mention an important thing and that is the work with customs clearance. While with Fedex you probably a pleasant lady calls, will ask for customs clearance details and the next day FedEx will deliver the package, so if you use USPS you will only receive a notification (by the Czech Post) that your package is waiting for customs clearance. In this moment you can visit the Customs Administration in Prague in Košířy, pay the VAT and take the package immediately, or you can fax (mail) the information to them and wait for them to handle this customs clearance and then Česká Pošta will deliver it to you on cash on delivery. Since the package will probably include an invoice, it may happen that you do not receive this notification, but you will receive the package straight away on cash on delivery (VAT included). But I wouldn't count on this too much.
A what documents the customs administration will want? At least one of the following: invoice, account/paypal statement or other document that proves the declared amount. Some people still think that it is enough to write GIFT on the package or give a very low value, but they are not stupid when it comes to customs administration. They x-ray your package, so they know very well what is in it and will not recognize your laptop as a gift. They are more likely to take a low price if you are able to prove it (personally, for example, I do not recommend forging documents, they may already have the amount from the original invoice in the computer, which will be in the package).
I would like to make one more comment. FedEx charges approximately CZK 350 for customs clearance (that's the luxury of just calling you and then bringing the package to you on cash on delivery), but there is of course the option to inform them that you will handle the customs clearance yourself, at that moment you do not pay anything.
So at this time we get to the final price and that's it the amount of CZK 33 including transport and VAT. This is what the beautiful machine would cost you! Whether it's worth the work or not, I'll leave that up to you.
Hereby, I wanted to provide you with instructions on how to shop in America and what awaits you during this trip. This description with tips can be applied to the purchase of any product in the USA. If you have any questions, write in the comments below the article!
I can tell you from my own experience that no nice lady will call you from Fedex. I got a no-nonsense email to fill out a few forms and that was it. I thought it was good, but the communication with Fedex is terrible. Emails are processed 1 per day. So if I made a mistake, they didn't answer me until the next day.
This is how I waited a week for customs clearance. After a week, we agreed when the package would be delivered to me. They said Thursday, they didn't come. I call, they say that they can bring it to me in the evening (it was arranged in the morning), they haven't arrived. They arrived the next morning (when I was not at home) and the courier called me on the phone saying that no one was home. Really amazing. Never again from Fedex.
DHL also wanted a few crowns for customs clearance. When I asked if I could do it for free, the lady told me that I would have to go to Ruzyň. So I paid 350.
I have another experience when they didn't write or call me... I got a telegram :)
thanks for your experience :) .. I personally don't have experience with FedEx, but I expected that they have services of the same quality as DHL, with which I was satisfied and it went as I described in the article.. I judged this from the speed of delivery, when I sent something from England.. it was sent by FedEx from the north of England at 17:9, at my house at XNUMX:XNUMX in the morning.. but I guess they don't have customer service as well as logistics :)
I have the same experience with American UPS. I really don't understand what the Americans have about these delivery services. It takes the same amount of time as USPS and you pay some ridiculous fees.
it is necessary that the USPS does not deliver at all to a bunch of addresses in the USA...
where UPS / FedEx drop it anywhere
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