My sister who lives over the water is coming back for Christmas so looking at possibility of her bringing back some bits and bobs, as well as the usual peanut butter M&M's !
One of the gadgets is an ipad - prices she is quoting are good especially as they can buy in Arizona where apparently there is no tax.
Ipad 2 16 GB $399 = £249 (£329 in UK)
ipad mini 16GB $329 = £205 (£269 in UK )
Are all ipads the same or are USA different from us? I would guess there may be an issue with the ones which are 3G and take SIM cards but looking at wifi only?
What happens if faulty, can it be returned in UK?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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First question to ask yourself is do you want an iPad with iOS6? Or would an alternative suit you as well as that?
The Google Nexus 7 with 32GB storage is £199 in the UK. The soon to be available Nexus 10 is more but has stunning specification for a tablet. Better screen than the newer iPad 3/4.
Looking at warranty... now there's a worry. Which is why I'd not buy such an item from the US. The warranty on UK mail order is often return to seller. Get a US item and you'll be posting it via your sister.
Seriously the 16GB Google Nexus 10 is £319 and has a better screen than the iPad 3/4.
And if a 7" tablet is okay, the Nexus 7 will let you use (via a USB OTG cable) a USB memory stick.
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>>Seriously the 16GB Google Nexus 10 is £319 and has a better screen than the iPad 3/4.
>>
No good advising Bobby to go for an Android, or even a Windows 8 Surface.
He is an Apple fanboy through and through. He wants an Apple, he will get an Apple.
Last edited by: John H on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 08:57
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>> No good advising Bobby to go for an Android, or even a Windows 8 Surface.
wouldnt advise anyone to get a windows 8 surface yet.
As for android? when you are buying blind (or someone is getting it for you) there is too much choice and too much variance, too much research needed.
Buy an Ipad and you know what you are getting.
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My wife has taken her UK iPad to the shop in Chile and there was nothing mentioned about invalid warranty. Although in the end it turned out to be user error [spelled; "well my husband never told me I had to do that, so its his fault"].
There's no obvious difference between the US and UK ones I have here in front of me that I can see or find.
On the US one I have used both UK and US iTunes accounts.
The US one I have here is WiFi only, but I'd guess there'd be difficulties with a SIM. For sure 4G wouldn't work.
Voltage is not an issue.
So, hardly a definitive answer, but I can't see an issue.
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Does Wifi in the USA use a different range of frequencies to UK wifi?
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No.
WiMax does, but that's hardly relevant these days.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 01:31
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I'd take the risk. AFAIK they are the same, only difficulty could be non-UK charger plug but that's easily circumvented and it could just be a USB cable anyway.
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>> Does Wifi in the USA use a different range of frequencies to UK wifi?
>>
To a degree, there are a number of frequency channels used for wifi within each frequency band (numbered 4 to 13 for 2.4 GHz band off the top of my head), not all channels are legal in all countries. It's worth googling to comapre USA and UK permitted channels, although I would suspect that the RF channel in use can be changed on the iPad (hopefully an owner can confirm eitehr way)
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I have, for many years, used WiFi in Europe, South America and North America. Never have I had to worry about the precise frequency being used for WiFi.
In particular I have used iPads in UK, Chile, Brazil and the US; and both US & UK iPads.
There are countries where the available frequncy does not overlap with either the UK or the US frequencies. but they are few.
And there is no issue between the US, UK and South America.
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>> My sister who lives over the water is coming back for Christmas so looking at
>> possibility of her bringing back some bits and bobs, as well as the usual peanut
>> butter M&M's !
Disgusting. The american tendency to put peanut butter in everything from ice cream to dog food is to be abhorred.
>> One of the gadgets is an ipad - prices she is quoting are good especially
>> as they can buy in Arizona where apparently there is no tax.
>>
>> Ipad 2 16 GB $399 = £249 (£329 in UK)
>> ipad mini 16GB $329 = £205 (£269 in UK )
>>
>> Are all ipads the same or are USA different from us?
you will need to make some configuration changes to keyboard and such like.
You need to ensure its not activated in the US, but activated on your UK Itunes account (you get access to local apps - like iplayer etc)
>> I would guess there
>> may be an issue with the ones which are 3G and take SIM cards but
>> looking at wifi only?
3g should be ok in the uk, and to buy a wifi only pad is short sighted. Dont get a 4g one, it wont work here.
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>>You need to ensure its not activated in the US, but activated on your UK Itunes account (you get access to local apps - like iplayer etc)
You can change it.
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>> You need to ensure its not activated in the US, but activated on your UK
>> Itunes account (you get access to local apps - like iplayer etc)
But you can change it.
Oh and you can get Data only sims for pads. Thats also a backdoor way of getting a cheap data sim for a dongle too.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 09:22
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And to be sure they don't pay any tax on it when they enter the UK, don't bring it over here in the box. Otherwise you may have to pay tax if customs see it and suspect it's for someone over here.
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>> And to be sure they don't pay any tax on it when they enter the
>> UK, don't bring it over here in the box. Otherwise you may have to pay
>> tax if customs see it and suspect it's for someone over here.
>>
Advising tax evasion, so that we taxpayers can subsidise Bobby's expensive taste in Apple products! ;-)
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Well he's saying he wants to evade the tax by buying it in the US and bringing it over here. If it was declared there would be tax to pay.
I suppose the relative could claim it was a gift. :-) If the iPad was bought in other states there would also be tax to pay over there too. It's why Amazon bases itself in particular states and countries.
For example we're all told eBooks have VAT charged and they do. So Amazon in Europe will have added 20%. But it will only pay a fraction of that at the moment because the operation is based in Luxembourg to pay reduced VAT. Tax evasion in other words.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 11:58
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>> I suppose the relative could claim it was a gift. :-)
Appropriate taxes still payable.
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>> For example we're all told eBooks have VAT charged and they do. So Amazon in
>> Europe will have added 20%. But it will only pay a fraction of that
>>
Not too sure about that.
AFAIK, if a final seller charges & collects UK VAT, the seller has to pay it over to HMRC.
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www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/24/amazon-tax-loophole-ebooks?newsfeed=true
Amazon is the final seller - and is based in Luxembourg so pays 3% VAT on eBooks sold.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 12:35
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Why are we paying any VAT on Ebooks, when we dont pay VAT on paper books?
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OK thanks for the input guys , to clarify some points
1. The ipad is for my father in law from my mother in law as a present for their Golden Wedding. I am a confirmed, well sort of, non apple fan (have Android phone) but as Zero says, its so much simpler when someone says to you can you look into the cost of ipads for me as opposed to can you look into tablets for me?)
2. Re tax, my sister had already mentioned that she would dispose of the box and have it set up with some apps etc on it beforehand just in case. She also advised that as she lives in USA and is coming over for a visit then it is more realistic that she would be bringing her "own" ipad over than it would be someone returning from holiday.
Unfortunately, someone else has asked me to look into an android tablet and how is the Nexus vs the Samsung vs the Acer etc etc ........ that is helluva more difficult!!
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All this modern technology is beyond me!
As I've been with Vodafone for more than 12 years now they insisted on giving me a Samsung Galaxy S11 free of charge.
I wanted to stay on my plan which costs me £21 for a month and includes a phone for me and one for mr pda with free calls between us plus unlimited free mnutes and some data (which I don't use)
I wanted to keep my trusty old Nokia C1-01 so I've just sold the Samsung on Ebay for £330:)
Pat
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If the budget stretches, the screen on the iPad 3 (referred as new iPad) and the 4 is a lot better than the iPad 2. If it had to be an iPad I would seriously consider the iPad Mini over the iPad 2.
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>> www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/24/amazon-tax-loophole-ebooks?newsfeed=true
>>
>> Amazon is the final seller - and is based in Luxembourg so pays 3% VAT
>> on eBooks sold.
>>
Just what I thought.
"Amazon is registered as a Luxembourg company and pays that country's VAT charge of 3% when it sells an ebook to a British reader, rather than the 20% it would have to charge if it were UK-based."
So they are NOT charging you 20%. You are saving on VAT, you are therefore avoiding 20% UK VAT by buying from Amazon EU but paying just 3% VAT to Luxembourg.
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I suspect they are charging 20% loaded in the price and paying 3%.
Many eBooks cost as much as a physical, delivered book. How does that work then if it's not a rip off? The writer and publisher are likely getting the same fixed fee. So who gets the rest?
Taking a random book as a test....
Went to Amazon to look at books and then clicked on the first biography showing (Miranda Hart):
Kindle Price £10.99 (has VAT)
Hardcover £9
Paperback £7.19
Assuming there really is 20% VAT on that, the VAT free Kindle price is still £9.16. And I never own a physical copy. Cancel your Amazon account and you lose access to the book. And it's still more than the hardcover!
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 19:25
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(I got the Miranda hardback for £4.99 delivered last week - thebookpeople.com)
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Smokie, further proving that ebook prices are a rip off.
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>>rip off.
What is a rip off?
Selling something for a price that a potential customer doesn't like?
Surely a "rip off" has to have more to it than that?
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>> What is a rip off?
That the same book is cheaper as a physical item that includes delivery. A Kindle book cannot be given to anyone else to read. You can only read it on a device associated with the purchaser's account and there is a limit to devices.
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>> >> What is a rip off?
>>
>> That the same book is cheaper as a physical item that includes delivery. A Kindle
>> book cannot be given to anyone else to read. You can only read it on
>> a device associated with the purchaser's account and there is a limit to devices.
>>
The obvious question: Who/where is this fool that buys the Kindle eBook which has all the limitations you describe and is sold at a rip-off price? Someone ought to tell the poor blighter that he is being ripped off in more ways than one.
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So, a "rip-off" just means its expensive and you want it sold more cheaply?
Have you ever sold a car, or anythign else for that matter, for a profit?
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If you look at selling a real book then costs will include:
- The author writing the book
- Publication
- Distribution
- Retailer's cost for stock etc.
You get what I am trying to get over in terms of costs. So for an ebook it has lower costs. If it cost the same (taking of VAT) then fine... but sometimes it costs more. So one could buy a book on Amazon and have it delivered for less than the digital version.
I am all for the author getting a good income. This is similar to digital downloads for music too.
I am not wanting it more cheaply per se. But with the fixed costs for books (e.g. the author and publisher fees) then the digital version ought to be cheaper. And certainly not more expensive.
Comparing this with car sales is irrelevant and not comparable. The physical book which can be lent, borrowed, passed on, given away or even sold is often cheaper than the ebook version.
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rtg,
I understand what you're saying, and I agree entirely.
It is the term "rip off" which is annoying. Nobody is ripping anybody off. They are offering a known product, for a price, and deliver that product for that price.
That's not a rip off, although it might be a bargain either. If the price is too high, then don't buy it.
Equally the amount or percentage of profit that someobody is, or is not, making out of a product price has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not I am prepared to pay that price.
The cry of "rip off" seems to replace any coherent action or thought process.
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>> (I got the Miranda hardback for £4.99 delivered last week - thebookpeople.com)
Was that the one about the programming language, Ernesto Miranda or that unfunny woman on BBC?
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 6 Nov 12 at 20:00
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I've since seen there's two Miranda books so my comparison is not straight forward. But for the book I refer to there is a big difference in costs:
www.amazon.co.uk/Is-It-Just-Me-ebook/dp/B008HTQ230/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1
The other one is this not written by here:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0078XGZ1U/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1EYWTEV3QQZRYP65GNCD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=317828027&pf_rd_i=468294
Either way she's not funny IMO either. But I just used the book as an example.
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>> I suspect they are charging 20% loaded in the price and paying 3%.
>>
I am completely baffled.
>> Many eBooks cost as much as a physical, delivered book. How does that work then if it's not a rip off? >>
No idea. Ask the punters willing to pay to be ripped off why they prefer to be ripped off buying the eBook.
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>> How does that work then if it's not a rip off?
It is rip off. That's why I refuse to buy any ebooks.
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>>It is rip off. That's why I refuse to buy any ebooks.
So, what is the defnition of a rip-off?
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>> >>It is rip off. That's why I refuse to buy any ebooks.
>>
>> So, what is the defnition of a rip-off?
Excessive profiteering.
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>> So, what is the definition of a rip-off?
www.thefreedictionary.com/rip-off
1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.
2. Something, such as a film or story, that is clearly imitative of or based on something else.
3. A theft.
4. An act of exploitation.
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>> >>It is rip off. That's why I refuse to buy any ebooks.
>>
>> So, what is the defnition of a rip-off?
Taking the customer for a ride. Amazon/Kindle have by far the largest share of the market for e-books (though others such as Kobo are available). Suspect most customers don't realise that e-books are tied to an account and die with it. I didn't but I don't have an e-reader. Mrs B does but only buys trashy sub £5 stuff.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 7 Nov 12 at 10:18
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Buying ipad in USA - rtj70
