Is It Now Cheaper To Bring Computer Parts Into The Country?

[AmigoArtistico]

Hi, folks.

I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm looking for facts here, not guesses, as I'll be taking a trip next month and before I buy some computer parts to bring back with me, I'd like to know if the recent reduction of aranceles (import duties) on computers and computer parts applies to items carried back and brought through aduana.

If anyone has specific knowledge about this, or experience with it, please post.

Thank you

 

[Girino]

The reductions affect resellers only.

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Thanks, Serafina.

No big surprise.

 

[Gringoboy]

Some examples...
500Gb Kingston SSD hard drive $230 here and $170 Amazon US
Graphics card MSI GTX970 $530 here and $360 Amazon US
The differences are more marked on the must have and generally more expensive items. I've taken these figures from Mercadolibre to get an idea of average prices, but even there the prices available swing around quite madly.
Visit AmazonUS/UK for a specific product, ie the particular brand and most prices will be in a similar ball park. Not here though.
Another example is the latest Nvidia GPU and for the sake of argument let's take the MSI GTX1080 which on Amazon is averaging out at around $550.
On ML the prices range from $800 to $1350 for exactly the same product.
But it's not all bad. If you carefully read the ML ads for many must have products and bearing in mind ML's draconian payment policies, you can often pick up the seller's social media id, company name or other way of identifying themselves and by going direct you'll find that the product is for sale at anywhere between 25% and 45% less than ML. Fact.
You have to be sharp to trade in this country.

 

[ben]

If you carefully read the ML ads for many must have products and bearing in mind ML's draconian payment policies, you can often pick up the seller's social media id, company name or other way of identifying themselves and by going direct you'll find that the product is for sale at anywhere between 25% and 45% less than ML. Fact.

Yep.

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Some examples...
500Gb Kingston SSD hard drive $230 here and $170 Amazon US
Graphics card MSI GTX970 $530 here and $360 Amazon US
The differences are more marked on the must have and generally more expensive items. I've taken these figures from Mercadolibre to get an idea of average prices, but even there the prices available swing around quite madly.
Visit AmazonUS/UK for a specific product, ie the particular brand and most prices will be in a similar ball park. Not here though.
Another example is the latest Nvidia GPU and for the sake of argument let's take the MSI GTX1080 which on Amazon is averaging out at around $550.
On ML the prices range from $800 to $1350 for exactly the same product.
But it's not all bad. If you carefully read the ML ads for many must have products and bearing in mind ML's draconian payment policies, you can often pick up the seller's social media id, company name or other way of identifying themselves and by going direct you'll find that the product is for sale at anywhere between 25% and 45% less than ML. Fact.
You have to be sharp to trade in this country.

But Gringoboy,

Just taking your first example and presuming I'm already over my US$300 limit with other things,
Doesn't the [background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]500Gb Kingston SSD hard drive become $170+50% of $170 = $255, making it cheaper here?[/background]

 

[Gringoboy]

Why would you declare it anyway?
Of course, it depends on the physical size and nature of the product when coming back, if that's what you mean.
Or have I lost the plot?

 

[rrptownley]

I can't give much advice on bringing parts in person through Aduana. Last time I went through I got pulled up by an officer and told I had exceeded the US$150 limit on purchased goods. I pointed out the limit was US$300, I even had the AFIP page on my phone screen as I had been doing the research the day previous, and the agent acquiesced to let me pass with just a warning.
Such experiences have led me to avoid bringing anything of value through Aduana. You could try hiding a couple of graphics cards and processors in a small-form-factor case and bring them in as your personal computer, although I've personally never attempted this.

Re. Getting parts into the country: you can actually order parts of any Amazon store in Europe and have it delivered to your door in Argentina under certain conditions. It may even turn out cheaper than European prices if you win the Aduana lottery.

This applies to any electrical product under 50 volts, pretty much any computer component: RAM, graphics card, SSD or HDD, Motherboards, cases, peripherals and cables.

The package weight cannot exceed 50 KG.

Package value MUST be under US$1000 (price of the components themselves, not p&p costs, although you may want to leave a VAT buffer - see end of post*).

Firstly you'll need a Clave Fiscal nivel 3 from AFIP and put your CUIL/CUIT number in the second line of your Amazon shipping Address.
Then on Amazon.co.uk Amazon.fr Amazon.it Amazon.es Amazon.de search for your product and make very sure to filter results to those that are both sold by Amazon directly and qualify for Amazon Global Shipping:

When browsing products, ignore the "Does not ship to Argentina" below the product description. This is a bug.

Add your product to your basket and then go to the basket page.
Here you will see if the product ships to Argentina or not; on the right side with the VAT, postage and packaging estimate.

You will get the product VAT-free, which normally covers the cost of shipping, and you pay a +/- 40% import fee to Amazon, of which, if Aduana duties turn out to be more on arrival to Argentina, Amazon absorbs the cost of extra Aduana duties. If it turns out to be less, Amazon reimburses you. Many people report no tax at all on individual items such as graphics cards - hence paying less than European prices for computer parts. The average seems to be about 20% import duties.

If all goes smoothly, your purchase will arrive to your door via private shipping.

Here is the Argentine forum where I learnt this from. There are some further conditions concerning regimen C and P that you should read here.
Make sure to read up on the latest posts to check on any news.


*Some shoppers have reported the VAT being mistakenly put on the shipping label by Amazon.es, even though it wasn't charged, leading to the apparent purchase to exceed US$1000 and problems with Aduana.

 

[rrptownley]

I've noticed this year's new processor line up like AMD's Ryzen and the excellent little Pentium G4560 are selling at good prices on Mercadolibre from trusted sellers.
Video cards are still a rip-off there though, closely followed by storage and RAM.

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate all the information.