Apple picker Do you miss the original Apple Store in our country? What are we missing as Czechs? For example, refurbished Macs with a discount.
Restrictions on the purchase of music and movies via the iTunes Store in the Czech Republic are often discussed. But this topic is nothing new. What is hardly talked about here is the purchase of so-called Refurbished (renovated, refurbished) hardware in the online Apple Store with a significant discount. These are both computers and, for example, iPods or Time Capsules, etc.
What's going on? Of course, quite a lot of sold goods are returned to Apple. The reasons are various, they can be complaints, computers borrowed for various journalistic tests, presentations and the like. Technicians take these pieces, remove any defects, polish everything so that you don't know it's not a new piece and sell it again.
It is clear that it is not exactly the same distribution route as new goods. For this purpose, Apple uses an inconspicuous section in its online store, hidden under special offers and called Refurbished. Which we would probably translate as refurbished or renovated. Here see what this section looks like in the UK, for example, where I shopped.
For those who have sharpened their skills, here is some good news:
1. Discounts in the tens of percent, most often 10, 15 or even 20%.
2. All defects are removed and the goods are checked for quality, many people on foreign discussion servers claim that they are even better than new.
3. Apple provides a full warranty, even an extended purchase option. Applying the international warranty will therefore take place in the same way as if you were applying it to newly purchased goods.
4. It happened to many people, including me, that they received a computer with a more powerful configuration than they ordered. That's because supply is simply limited, and if Apple has one Mac with 4GB of RAM and another with 8GB of RAM in stock, and two customers willing to pay for the 4GB configuration, they'd rather send the better-equipped one to the other at the same price than to lose a customer.
But also a few bad ones:
1. You are out of luck in the Czech Republic, period. You have no chance to get to this offer through the official way.
2. The goods arrive in this section with a delay, approximately 2 months after the launch. The reason is simple, it takes some time before the pieces returned in this way are collected and put back on sale.
3. The offer is limited, individual hardware appears and disappears on the site according to the current situation, so if you are waiting for something special, you must visit the site regularly and check the offer.
4. Localization. For example, the keyboard is of course adapted to the market for which it was intended.
5. It just won't be new, and especially with Apple products, that has its weight for a lot of people. Also, the box is plain white paper without any print, to at least let you know that you are getting something for less money. But the packaging itself is precise, foil on the display, boxes for new components, apple stickers, everything is perfect.
Good, but what about the limiting highlighted point 1, i.e. the fact that this offer is unavailable in the Czech Republic? For someone who does not mind the other mentioned disadvantages and would like to save money, there is a solution. You simply need someone in the country to whom you can send the goods and the way and how to get them to the Czech Republic.
Maybe it will be an inspiration for some of you. Let me prove that I am writing this article on a Refurbished iMac 27` 2010. I took advantage of my colleague in the UK and bought this machine with a 20% discount, and they also gave me twice the size of the disk and the operating memory. It was then brought to the Czech Republic by a carrier who transports material for us from the UK. Of course, the more expensive the purchase, the more it pays off.
A specific procedure? On Apple's website, click through to Store-Special Deals-Refurbished Mac for the country (UK for this example) in which you want to make your purchase. Here, choose your almost new darling and choose "Add to cart", "Check out now". When filling out the data, you can choose whether to log in as a "Returning customer" under your already created account or as a "Guest Checkout" guest. Both options work, but for both you need to choose a shipping address and a contact address in that country. You can then pay with a regular Czech payment card. Then all that remains is to wait for the goods to be delivered to the given address and to solve the logistics of how to get them home.
Would you buy Macs in the Czech Republic in such a way if the option was there, or in the case of Apple would you insist on a more expensive but new one?
Author: Jan Otčenášek
I can only recommend refurbished products. Thanks to living in the US for a year, I bought an iPod Nano about $30 cheaper. If I lived in a country where this works, I wouldn't buy new products, because Apple can really be trusted that refurbished products will work flawlessly. It's a shame that we don't have that option yet.
In this way, I got an iPhone4 to the Czech Republic .. on the day of the start of sales, it was with a colleague in London and within a few days in the Czech Republic (royal mail with insurance for a few euros for goods up to €500) ..
I know I belong to the group that lacks iTunes, but even this missing option has frozen me several times..
Thanks to refurbished from the USA, I bought my first macbook pro. The price in the USA is 1390 dollars with an exchange rate of 16 CZK per dollar vs the price in CR 52 :) and it pays off. After 000 years, they gave me a new motherboard there, and after 2 years, I calmly sold it for 3.
and you still had it under warranty? Did they do it for you here too?
I have everything second hand.. MacBook, iPhone, iPod Shuffle. I always buy so that the product has at least one more year of warranty and besides saving a lot of money this way, there have never been any problems (apart from cosmetic defects that I had ironed out as part of the warranty).
Hello.
Do you happen to know if apple has its stores in Austria and if it supports this service there? thank you for answer
http://www.apple.com/at/
http://store.apple.com/at/browse/home/specialdeals
Great article! I have a couple of questions…I like the MacBook Pro.;)
1) Is the price on the website in the USA final, or will there still be a tax??
2) If I buy it in the USA, can it be taxed in Cr (Possibly, how does it work)
3) Can it have any cosmetic defects (scratches on the aluminum, etc.)??
Thanks!;)
Of course, it is not final. In fact, I don't even recommend buying in the US unless you're in the country in person. Due to the VAT charged by the customs office when sending goods to the EU. It is better to take everything from England, believe me.
Of course. that he was shopping :) I bought my beloved iPhone in a similar way :)
Inspirational tuned article!!
However, I have a question. As long as I have an acquaintance in the USA, of course it is not a problem to send the MacBook to his home. But if my friends buy goods for me in Europe, won't I have to pay tax again? Does anyone have experience with this?
no tax, but duty of course, 30%. the only thing is that you make a trip to the USA and carry it without the box, as your hand luggage.
it probably won't be worth it on the MB, but on higher configurations, the difference in US / EU prices + refurbished discount can be so attractive that it pays for the plane ticket as well. a person doesn't save money, but he can afford to go to the USA, which is also nice
Thanks for the advice. This is the last 15 inch macbook pro model. Compared to Slovakia, Zlava is even bigger than a return ticket to, for example, California. I spent the summer season there last year and we already have one new addition to the family, but I didn't know what it was like when it was delivered by post. Obviously, you need to find someone who will be willing to take a new computing friend on board :)
If I bring it (in black), can I use it for the company??;)
If I buy a MB or an iPhone like this abroad, or if I have it sent to me from abroad, can they convert it to a credit card in the Czech Republic? and does the warranty apply even in guilds even if it is purchased abroad? thanks for the reply:)
Refurbished
but even new goods cannot be sent directly from abroad, the Apple Store sends them
only to the country where it operates. You buy in the US, they will only ship it to the US, but that's it
not to France, Germany or the Czech Republic. Intermediaries are an option, but you k
they add approx. 8% + shipping costs to the price and you will pay in countries outside the EU
20% VAT.
Convert to Czech? Do you mean that your system is in Czech? Open Preferences
> Select langues and choose Czech.
The warranty, or rather its duration and warranty conditions, are governed by the laws of the country where you purchase.