Tax on purchases in Hong Kong?

[Beefmeister]

'Ello all,

Heading over to HK for a week next Saturday and have noticed that on the Apple Store HK site the new iPad is about £85 cheaper than the UK.

Is there an additional tax to be added at the checkout (instore) or are prices just lower over there?

Thanks.

[phumy]

Beefmeister said:

'Ello all,

Heading over to HK for a week next Saturday and have noticed that on the Apple Store HK site the new iPad is about £85 cheaper than the UK.

Is there an additional tax to be added at the checkout (instore) or are prices just lower over there?

Thanks.

Prices are generally cheaper there, i bought my Samsung Tab there at a discount. The only problem you may have is when you return to the UK and customs might want to hit you with Duty and VAT which will probably be more than you could buy one in the UK.

[Beefmeister]

phumy said:

Prices are generally cheaper there, i bought my Samsung Tab there at a discount. The only problem you may have is when you return to the UK and customs might want to hit you with Duty and VAT which will probably be more than you could buy one in the UK.

Not worried about that bit so much. Flat-pack the box, slip in in the back section of the case, iPad in bag, jobs a good 'un.

[phumy]

Beefmeister said:

Not worried about that bit so much. Flat-pack the box, slip in in the back section of the case, iPad in bag, jobs a good 'un.

Youve been there and done that.....;)

[Bing o]

Beefmeister said:

'Ello all,

Heading over to HK for a week next Saturday and have noticed that on the Apple Store HK site the new iPad is about £85 cheaper than the UK.

Is there an additional tax to be added at the checkout (instore) or are prices just lower over there?

Thanks.

That's for the Orange iPoo though...

[jimothy]

Hong Kong has no sales tax at all, hence why the prices are much cheaper. So nothing to add at the tills.

You should declare it at customs back in the UK and pay the relevant import duty to confirm to the law. I have heard that less than scrupulous people will post back the boxes and just take the iPad so that it looks like they took it from the UK in the first place to avoid the risk of paying import duty - but I'm sure a law abiding citizen like yourself will do no such thing

know of one person with no morals who took a few back to the UK and made a tidy profit. Couple of iPads and MacBooc Airs made enough profit to pay for an Air for himself.

[agxster]

I heard for the new iPad 3 they require you to fill in some form online and prove that you are a HK resident (ID card number) before they let you buy one. This is to stop scalpers from China buying up the whole lot.

See here:

http://www.apple.com/hk/en/retail/ipad/

I guess sf you know someone who lives there they can fill it out for you.

[Beefmeister]

Interesting, thanks. I'll look into it.

We do have someone there who can buy it for us if we can't.

[george123]

I lived in hk for a few years, back in the uk now and i asked a mate to bring back a mac book as it was around £200 cheaper.

Take it out of the box and handcarry the laptop and put the lead etc in your check in luggage, doubt you'll have any probelms coming into the uk. This is what my mate did.

[Beefmeister]

Yep, we went a little bonkers in the Apple store this morning...

Will have to be mighty careful when going back into India as well as the UK but well worth it.

New iPad 16Gb 4G - £396
Macbook Air 11" 128Gb - £770

Total in HK - £1166
Total in UK - £1498

Nice. Only bought a 64Gb Air about 2 months ago but paid £790 for it in India. Will sell that and upgrade for free!

[ETOPS]

Bit late to the game in this one, yes, it is a fair bit cheaper for anything electronic over here. I come to London frequently, and I've brought back Apple goods for friends and family. I get a corporate 6% (I think), and the basic MacBook Pro costs me about 705 quid. Because I'm such an outstanding bloke, I don't charge a penny more than I paid, but it does come with the expectation of a curry and beer after the handshake!