Calling all iPhone users!

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Calling all iPhone users!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

600 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#87542 21-Sep-2007 13:16

Does anyone have any experience with toshbuy.com? They don't accept credit cards, so I'm being extra paranoid.

---
http://blog.jason.pollock.ca

bonkiebonks

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87546 21-Sep-2007 13:35

macuser:
399USD = 541.050 NZD @ 12.37PM 20/9/07

541 x 1.125(GST) = $608.625

I'm sure everyone has at least someone they know who lives in the US to send it over?

I know I do...

You can't get the iPhone for USD399, because that price is exclusive of the sales tax in the US.

The cheapest you can find on eBay is $499.99 with a $60 shipping to NZ. This brings the cost to $559.99, or NZD769.22. Add GST to that, and it'll be NZ$865.37. Roughly the same as ToshBuy I'd say, unless of course you can get around paying the GST (which is of course illegal).

lduncan

189 posts

Master Geek

#87556 21-Sep-2007 14:30

jpollock: Does anyone have any experience with toshbuy.com? They don't accept credit cards, so I'm being extra paranoid.

I've personally purchased 7 phones from them, (plus more of their orders have been sent via me for TurboSIM'ing). They've supplied hundreds in NZ already. Plus they have been supplying other apple hardware for a while apparently.

The credit card thing I assume is to keep costs down, avoid the extra merchant fees which come with them?

Benjip

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#87807 23-Sep-2007 21:28

Ok, you guys are all reading into this whole thing too much. It's extremely simple to get an iPhone to NZ - just buy it online from Apple.com (you do NOT pay sales tax unless you get it shipped to certain states, I think it's only California that has sales tax) and have it sent to someone you know in the USA. That person then has to simply put it in the post and send it on over.

I paid $550 NZD for my iPhone and didn't pay a cent of GST, customs, freight, insurance or anything - just paid the price that was charged to my New Zealand credit card by Apple.com (yes you can even use a NZ credit card on the US online store). My friends in the USA just sent it via every day USPS (not FedEx or anything). I then used a free software unlock and voila, the beast has been working very nicely on Vodafone (including EDGE/GPRS usage) for the past 10 days or so.

lduncan

189 posts

Master Geek

#87810 23-Sep-2007 21:55

... not everyone would be willing to risk shipping an iPhone uninsured, especially using USPS. Not many banks have no conversion fees for foreign currency transactions on credit cards. Not many people would expect friends to pay for shipping from the states...

Just painting a more realistic scenario. ;-)

Benjip

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#87812 23-Sep-2007 22:10

I suppose that's why some people will always be willing to pay a premium to get goods locally. Good on them, nothing wrong with it. I guess I just have a huge amount of faith in online orders etc., some of my mates would never buy a phone online though, let alone from the USA.

Oh and here's the actual charge that was rendered on my credit card, just to give an idea of the 'offshore fees' etc.

APL APPLE ONLINE STORE 800 676 2775 US
399.00 U.S.DOLLARS
at a Conversion Rate* of 0.7179 (NZ$555.78)
plus Offshore Service Margins of $NZ 11.67**$567.45

spazz

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87813 23-Sep-2007 22:11

Okay so I am now the proud owner of the hottest piece of gadgetry ever :D

I paid $1199 from Parallel Imported Ltd, and couldn't be happier - in fact, it's the first thing I've ever bought without a tinge of "buyer's remorse". I'm ecstatic. It's a joy to use, and even more of a joy to show off ;) I even got people on the bus wanting to play! I said no, haha.

Pricewise, I'm quite happy. Considering I once paid $1000 for a Harrier (shudder), and I've got 12 months interest free period to pay it off in, it's a win-win really!

I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you're in an area with high Wi-Fi density like I am (Uni/Home/Starbucks/Columbus all have it)

Any questions feel free to ask..

http://walkingisoverrated.com

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

Benjip

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#87815 23-Sep-2007 22:29

Congrats! And welcome to the club :) I give it 2 days until you're sick of people demanding to have a play, haha!

Is the WiFi at Starbucks free these days or do you still have to buy one of those data card things?

I just added to my YouChoose plan yesterday the 200MB mobile broadband plan (to use the excruciatingly slow GPRS Vodafone network) and so far have used a whopping 600KB. I'm thinking I won't be needing anywhere near that 200MB but oh well!

The driving directions with Google Maps is pretty awesome, had a play with that today for the first time.

spazz

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87817 23-Sep-2007 22:40

Starbucks WiFi is free for Xtra customers (just borrow your friend's if you're not one of them), otherwise yeah, you have to buy a prepaid card thingy.. I just wish I could set the iPhone to remember Safari passwords, because logging on to myspace/facebook/Wifi login several times a day can get really infuriating!

I just LOVE the keyboard, I actually think I'm faster on that than I was with my previous predictive txt phone, the auto-correct feature works awesomely, don't you think?! And the sms interface is fantastic, doesn't make me nearly so paranoid about using up my full 160 characters, I just type what I want, as if it were an IM app!

I don't think I'll bother with GPRS, or just pay a dollar or two if it's really necessary at some point..

The driving directions sound great, considering how hopeless my sense of geographical awareness is - question tho, can you set up your route at home using WiFi and then simply follow the route once you're in the car? Or do you have to be continually sending/receiving data for the whole trip?

http://walkingisoverrated.com

lduncan

189 posts

Master Geek

#87818 23-Sep-2007 22:47

I just LOVE the keyboard, I actually think I'm faster on that than I was with my previous predictive txt phone, the auto-correct feature works awesomely, don't you think?!

The auto correct is great. just hit in the general area of the key and it figures out what you're actually trying to spell. It's almost scary.

There's limited caching of map "images". It remembers your destination, but it'll probably want to fetch a map image or two over GPRS at some point during the trip.

spazz

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87819 23-Sep-2007 22:56

I guess it's just a pity that, given the iPhone's extremely low penetration here, it'll be a while before we see iPhone-formatted NZ sites, especially ones like nzherald.co.nz, whitepages.co.nz, and villageskycity.co.nz, ones which would be really useful on-the-go.. I guess you could create some sort of widget-web-app, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start..

http://walkingisoverrated.com

cokemaster

Exited
4929 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#87820 23-Sep-2007 23:05

Considering that the Iphone hasn't even been officially released here - what do you expect?

Even if it was - it would still probably only attract people from a niche group rather than the general populace.

webhosting

Loose lips may sink ships - Be smart - Don't post internal/commercially sensitive or confidential information!

Fossie

1240 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#87822 23-Sep-2007 23:10

yay, iphone formatted sites? I thought that as a revolutionary internet communicator it could handle normal sites well?

spazz

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#87824 23-Sep-2007 23:15

Fossie: yay, iphone formatted sites? I thought that as a revolutionary internet communicator it could handle normal sites well?

Oh, and it does :P All I'm saying is that with only 3.5" to play with, well.. no one can do much with 3 and a half inches, can they.....

http://walkingisoverrated.com

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#87826 23-Sep-2007 23:24

12 months interest free? i'm tempted now, I just had to fix my car after a smash and grab (nothing grabbed as nothing in it) so my spare cash is zilch.

It's the keyboard that would be the killer-app for me, so many phones have gone to small squished up hard things I want for a phone like my 6310i! so smooth and so effortless!

I'd have the two most exciting and also most useful gadgets released in the last 10 years and could toss my clunky laptop (And my Toshiba LED projector which never wears out)

1 | 2 | 3 | 4