Buying Mac Pro ... in Switzerland???

[nmb13]

Hi folks,

my first post here...

I'm buying my first Mac in the end of January (2,66, 4gb Ram, x1900xt) with a 23'' ACD. The problem is I'm from Slovenia and the prices here are in the clouds, so I decided to buy it in Switzerland (I think they are the lowest in Eu, though am not sure).

My question is how much time does it take to put together Mac Pro as I will be staying in Switzerland only for a day?

Thanks in advance!

 

[cyclotron451]

Customs Zoll Douane Dogana

Hi, I live next to Switzerland, just at the north of Italy.
You have to remember that Helvetica IS NOT IN THE EU!
one reason that the Apple prices are better is that the VAT in CH is less than 8% and the customs duties are likely to be lower than the EU. (compared to Italy where VAT is nearer 20% + import duties)

When I do computer shopping in Switzerland, I am always very careful that my purchases are within the EU permitted personal daily import allowances. I think (but I may be wrong - it's hard to find exact info and the levels ARE planned to change "soon" a bit upwards) that the allowance is about CHF170. (I've built a dual core AMD system by repeatedly visiting and buying a single component!!! , you can't do that with a Mac unfortunately)

When you leave Switzerland by road, eg at Ponte Tresa or Chiasso/Como - you'll find that there are the Italian Frontier Police are dressed in blue, but the 'ruthless' Guardia di Finanzia are dressed in Grey and would be quite interested in a Mac Pro for themselves!.

If you leave Switzerland by air, as did (allegedly) a Nokia Director last year, you can claim back the Swiss 8% VAT as did (allegedly) a Nokia Director last year on some high-tech shopping. Then when you arrive in Slovenia you would be required to declare the Mac Pro and pay EU taxes and import duties, 30-40%?? (the Nokia Director allegedly forgot to declare his shopping when he arrived back in Finland and was surprise to discover that the Swiss Douane had phoned the Finnish Tulli and he was arrested and charged 10 percent of his annual salary!

I normally consider Germany or Austria as having the best prices in the EU for computing products, good luck with your shopping!!

David

 

[nmb13]

Thanks for the info,

I'll buy my Mac in Lugano and travel by car (through Milano). I've been a couple of times to S. and was always checked getting to the country and never travelling back, so am not so concerned about this issue. Though probably I'll be nervous as hell. Do you/anybody else knows where the apple shop in Lugano is?

 

[cyclotron451]

Lugano

unfortunately I have never seen an "Apple Shop" in Lugano, there are some Apple resellers - but I haven't bought recently anything Apple in CH (I use mostly the applestore online and I check carefully the best market from my two available postal addresses, one in the UK and one in Italy)

I quite often buy a 'bargain' from the UK Applestore under the SAVE/REFURBSTORE heading on the right-hand side near the bottom of the store.
In fact this isn't UK, because all products are available simultaneously in France, Germany etc wherever the Refurb Store will deliver to.
I don't think Italy or Slovenia is covered?

Today they have a Mac Pro Refurb Mac Pro 2.66 GHz Quad Xeon/ 2x512MB/ 250GB/ SD/ 7300GT - Apple Certified

Price: £1,449.00 (about euro 2140)



Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors
4MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses
1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive1
16x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Note: didn't you see that finland imposed a fine of 10% of annual salary!
I'd say that the minimum is normally a fine of double the tax-duty that you have avoided oops! Also consider the warranty, I have bought computer parts in Lugano - and had to take then back for repair as part of the warranty - then collect them later after repair- thats 3 trips across the border. I'd stick to buying things like iPods in Lugano.

The Media Market (MediaWorld) outlet near to the Lugano Ikea store (Centro Lugano Sud 6916 Grancia CH) does have many Apple CPU's in stock. I think I saw a Mac Pro there - but it could have been a G5??? , they certainly carry the full range of iMacs. In Italy, it's more common for the Media World shops to have ancient Apple models in stock, and still try and sell them for ancient - higher prices. I have had some success from mediaworld.it online shopping for eg a G4 MacMini when the Core Duo came out.

be very careful! Have fun in Lugano!!, it's a nice town - a bit foggy today but warm and sunny in a beautiful alpine setting.

David

 

[nmb13]

Wow, thx for this lengthly reply, but I have another question. The prices in "non Apple" stores, are they the same as in "Apple stores"?

 

[cyclotron451]

Wow, thx for this lengthly reply, but I have another question. The prices in "non Apple" stores, are they the same as in "Apple stores"?

OK, prices are more or less the same EXCEPT just after an Apple Upgrade eg core duo to core 2 duo, the physical shops tend to lag by a few months the online price. Check the prices in Italy at , for example Silene.it in Torino or MediaWorld.it Mac Mini at 615 and 699 euros respectively. I bought my last one (I have 3) for 499 euros!! (A mac mini IS possible to get through the swiss/italian Tamozne!!!!)

Italy has a BIG problem in thatthere never seems to be any special offers or competitive selling! I imagine its the same in Ljublana

 

[tomc]

You might want to check out http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUK/DG_10026463
They have good info on EU taxes