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Buying gear in US



 
 
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  #21  
Old February 12th 04, 03:48 PM
Richard Henry
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Default Buying gear in US


"Mike T" wrote in message
news
1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?


Not at all. The store makes the same amount of money no matter who
they sell it to. One thing though, some of the European brands may not
be available is the US. For example you won't find Voelkl or F2 boards
in American stores. (But you'll find plenty of Voelkl skis!) Maybe a
handful of shops carry Nidecker. But Rossi and Salomon are all over the
place! (Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).


Adidas is an American company? I thought they were German.


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  #22  
Old February 12th 04, 03:52 PM
Mike T
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Default Buying gear in US

(Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).


Apparently I was mistaken about Adidas's location,,, my apologies!


  #23  
Old February 12th 04, 03:54 PM
Steve Haigh
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Default Buying gear in US

Simon Brown wrote:

Yes, so how does that make Salomon an American company, as the previous
post suggested?



It doesn't as far as I can see. I was really just confirming your statement
with a quote from some research material I found. Although headquartered in
Germany it could be US-owned but I couldn't be bothered to dig up this info.


Sorry, I was suffering an attack of usenet paranoia for a minute back
there...
  #24  
Old February 12th 04, 03:56 PM
Simon Brown
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Default Buying gear in US

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...
Simon Brown wrote:

Yes, so how does that make Salomon an American company, as the previous
post suggested?



It doesn't as far as I can see. I was really just confirming your

statement
with a quote from some research material I found. Although headquartered

in
Germany it could be US-owned but I couldn't be bothered to dig up this

info.

Sorry, I was suffering an attack of usenet paranoia for a minute back
there...


S'no problem.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch


  #25  
Old February 12th 04, 04:03 PM
Walt
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Default Buying gear in US

Steve Haigh wrote:
John Red-Horse wrote:


No and no. In fact, I would suggest that you avoid paying cash just
because, in my experience with travels overseas, the credit card companies
tend not to charge large exhange fees and premium exchange rates.


What? Credit card companies give appaling exchange rates. Granted there
is not up front fee or fixed charges for purchases overseas, but the
rates are a rip off (at least for Visa and MC, not sure about Amex).


This is exactly the opposite of my experience. Visa/MC give very
competitive exchange rates, while the banks range from Ok to utterly
lame. The exchange booths at the airport are the worst of all.

The advantage of using cash is that some smaller merchants may give
discounts for cash. Visa/MC take a 3 to 5 percent cut of the purchase
from the seller, so obviously the proprietor would prefer cash.
Unfortunately for the merchant, their agreements wih Visa/MC prohibit
them from charging more for credit sales than cash sales. If it's an
owner-operated business, he might risk charging less for cash,
especially if prices are negotiable and you've indicated you'd pay cash
upfront before any prices are named. If it's a large retail operation,
cash won't get you squat.


--
//-Walt
//
// http://tinyurl.com/3gg3e
  #26  
Old February 12th 04, 04:09 PM
Baretta
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Default Buying gear in US

As a Canadian who often visits and shops in the US, I can give you some
related advice.

1 - Stores don't care which country you're from as long as you are buying.

2 - Don't take (lots of) cash. All reputable stores I've been to take debit
cards if you want to avoid the credit cards. If not, use the ATM machines to
withdraw required cash as you need it. You'll get the same bank exchange
rate. There might be an advantage to buying with some credit cards though -
eg. airmiles, warranty, insurance replacements, ....

3 - take an empty ski/board bag with you that is well used (borrow if you
have to). Use it for the return trip home with your gear. Seldom will you
get asked if the stuff inside is new, especially since you went on a ski
holiday.

4 - You will have to pay the state sales tax if you want the gear there to
use. But, on your way out of the country, pick up a sales tax claim form.
When you get home, take ALL your receipts and file the claim to get back all
the taxes you paid.

5 - Most countries allow a certain amount of goods to be purchased that are
tax/duties exempt. It usually depends on how long you have been out of the
country, check with your customs office.


"Plake" wrote in message
...
I'm going to Utah for 2wks in March and want to take advantage of the
USD/GBP exchange rate by buying new ski & board gear:

Rossignol B2/Fritschi Diamir £519 at Snow+Rock, £397 at rei.com
K2 Recon/Salomon SP3/Salomon Dialogue £664 at Snow+Rock, £355 at
rei.com!

So I have a couple of questions:

1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?

2) If I declare the stuff at customs when I bring it back to the UK,
what will the import duty cost?

3) If I don't declare it, what are the chances of being caught? And
what happens if you are?

Al



  #27  
Old February 12th 04, 04:41 PM
Steve Haigh
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Default Buying gear in US

Walt wrote:
Steve Haigh wrote:

John Red-Horse wrote:



No and no. In fact, I would suggest that you avoid paying cash just
because, in my experience with travels overseas, the credit card companies
tend not to charge large exhange fees and premium exchange rates.



What? Credit card companies give appaling exchange rates. Granted there
is not up front fee or fixed charges for purchases overseas, but the
rates are a rip off (at least for Visa and MC, not sure about Amex).



This is exactly the opposite of my experience. Visa/MC give very
competitive exchange rates, while the banks range from Ok to utterly
lame. The exchange booths at the airport are the worst of all.

Maybe in the past but not recently.

E.g. take a look at
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P41957.asp

The actual exchange rate is OK with credit cards but they build-in a fee
(e.g. 2.75% of the cost of the goods) to this rate which you don't see
on the statement, they lump it all in the one transaction. This means
they can claim a great rate and keep quite about the fee. When you check
your statement you don't see the fee listed separately (because it isn't
there) and you'd have to be very keen to spot the rate is not what you
expected, given that the rates change by the minute and would be hard
pressed to find out what the true rate was at the time you bought the
goods anyway.

If you are travelling from the UK (which I think the OP was) then you
can get a good rate and pay no commission at the post office. The
following link offers a lot of useful advice aimed at UK based
travellers:
http://money.guardian.co.uk/travel/money/story/0,1456,964303,00.html

HTH,
Steve
  #28  
Old February 12th 04, 04:53 PM
Dragan Cvetkovic
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Default Buying gear in US

Walt writes:


The advantage of using cash is that some smaller merchants may give
discounts for cash. Visa/MC take a 3 to 5 percent cut of the purchase
from the seller, so obviously the proprietor would prefer cash.
Unfortunately for the merchant, their agreements wih Visa/MC prohibit
them from charging more for credit sales than cash sales.


Interesting. Lot of small shops here in Canada (at least in Toronto) have a
sign "display prices are 3% cash discounted", which means that if you are
paying by Visa/MC/Amex, you need to add 3% on top of it. Plus 15% tax, of
course.

Bye, Dragan

--
Dragan Cvetkovic,

To be or not to be is true. G. Boole No it isn't. L. E. J. Brouwer

!!! Sender/From address is bogus. Use reply-to one !!!
  #29  
Old February 12th 04, 05:03 PM
Ace
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Default Buying gear in US

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 11:53:20 -0500, Dragan Cvetkovic
wrote:

Walt writes:


The advantage of using cash is that some smaller merchants may give
discounts for cash. Visa/MC take a 3 to 5 percent cut of the purchase
from the seller, so obviously the proprietor would prefer cash.
Unfortunately for the merchant, their agreements wih Visa/MC prohibit
them from charging more for credit sales than cash sales.


Interesting. Lot of small shops here in Canada (at least in Toronto) have a
sign "display prices are 3% cash discounted", which means that if you are
paying by Visa/MC/Amex, you need to add 3% on top of it. Plus 15% tax, of
course.


That's illegal in most European countries. As Walt points out, some
places may give a discount for cash; then again, many places will give
a discount anyway, if you ask for it.


--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.
  #30  
Old February 12th 04, 05:14 PM
Walt
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Default Buying gear in US

Dragan Cvetkovic wrote:
Walt writes:

The advantage of using cash is that some smaller merchants may give
discounts for cash. Visa/MC take a 3 to 5 percent cut of the purchase
from the seller, so obviously the proprietor would prefer cash.
Unfortunately for the merchant, their agreements wih Visa/MC prohibit
them from charging more for credit sales than cash sales.


Interesting. Lot of small shops here in Canada (at least in Toronto) have a
sign "display prices are 3% cash discounted", which means that if you are
paying by Visa/MC/Amex, you need to add 3% on top of it. Plus 15% tax, of
course.


Yep. Now you know why. I'm not sure why the agreement of no cash
discounts is void in Canada other than different country, different
rules. But the 3 to 5% cut is consistent across borders. You can't
blame the small merchants for refusing to eat the surcharge.

Another interesting factoid: In the US, the only exception to the "no
discounts for cash" was granted to the IRS (tax collection service), so
you can put your federal income tax on your credit card as long as you
don't mind paying the 3% premium. Only Visa allows this exception,
MasterCard doesn't. So you can pay your taxes with your Viso but not
your MasterCard.

(disclaimer: I may have this backwards - contact the IRS or a competent
tax professional for the real deal.)

--
//-Walt
//
// http://tinyurl.com/3gg3e
 




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