[AU] Where to buy a UCS IS?

mrtonytj

I am from Australia and i am looking to buy a UCS Imperial Shuttle #10212 ..

Lego.com.au has them for an astronomical price so scratch that from the start..
Toysrus.com has them for AUS$287 including international shipping..

So i was wondering.. Is that really the best i am going to find?? And should i just pull the trigger now instead of hoping to find something cheaper on ebay(unlikely), gumtree or elsewhere???

Thanks!

Sherlockbones

Bricklink, Some of them are very cheap, I should be getting one for £150, I don't know how much it is over in Australia

mrtonytj

150 pounds converted to aussie dollars is about $230-$240 depending on the day.. so with postage that would probably end up more that TRU...

mrtonytj

And the cheapest one on bricklink is AUS$248+ the $60 postage from USA..and thats with a busted box.. The Next cheapest is actually more expensive than TRU at $260-270. TRU is AUD$255+AUD$32 postage.

mountebank

Surely if there's nothing available in Australia, Amazon.com will be your best bet:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00883VGJK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

mrtonytj

Cant buy from amazon.com in aus.

mountebank

Ahh, now that is a pain. I know that Amazon.com ships to Australia but I guess there are some excluded items they won't ship.

Looking at this again, since the Toysrus.com price includes shipping to Australia, it would be hard to beat. I wonder how well they package items for long distance shipping.

LegoFanTexas

While that may or may not have ever been the cheapest price in the past, it is likely now the cheapest price going forward, since this set is now EOL and the stocks and supply will only go up from here.

mrtonytj

Yeah @LegoFanTexas That is why i am now getting one. I already have... You could say... ALOT of SW Lego and i have been holding out on this one as i haven't been able to get a deal on it (i'm a sucker for a deal) but i think i am going to just bite the bullet and get it from TRU before it disappears!

Nintendawg

mrtonytj said:

Cant buy from amazon.com in aus.

Most you can't, but did you actually try with this particular set? It let me buy one a month ago.

mrtonytj

Really? I have tried with a few and it won't let me? Also it ends up being more expensive than TRU with the shipping charges as TRU only charges $32

Diggydoes

I (based in Germany) also tried to order several sets from amazon.com and it won't let me,but strangely the IS is shippable! So maybe give it a try even if other sets won't ship to AUS,maybe the IS works ;)

Basta

Try again with amazon.com, it's letting me select my address etc, although use TRU if its cheaper.

Basta

I just checked and Amazon.com is the cheapest option, If you let Amazon do the conversion (IE they charge you in AUD) it is $285.65. TRU is $287.82 AUD.

What you should do though is use the 28 Degrees MasterCard or equivalent, make sure you "Switch currency:" to USD at the Place Your Order screen, this will only cost you $277.14 (using current MasterCard Rate).

If you do not have one of these cards yet, I would suggest you get one if you plan to do a lot of international purchase's, as it just saved you $8.51 on this item.

mrtonytj

Basta said:

I just checked and Amazon.com is the cheapest option, If you let Amazon do the conversion (IE they charge you in AUD) it is $285.65. TRU is $287.82 AUD.

Is the $285.65 incl postage??

Basta said:

What you should do though is use the 28 Degrees MasterCard or equivalent, make sure you "Switch currency:" to USD at the Place Your Order screen, this will only cost you $277.14 (using current MasterCard Rate).

If you do not have one of these cards yet, I would suggest you get one if you plan to do a lot of international purchase's, as it just saved you $8.51 on this item.

And where do i get one of these? I have a platinum mastercard already but i have never heard of this?? Is it available in Australia?

Cheers.

Basta

The 28 Degrees has zero fees, so no international transaction or conversion fee's. It is a MasterCard so uses the MasterCard exchange rate which is really close to what the actual rate is.

I am sure that there are other cards available similar, and depending on the card you already have it may not have these fees, but this is the one I have and I know a lot of other people have it as well, it is designed for OS travel and online shopping.

The interest rate is not the best around 20%, but as long as you pay it off each month you don't get charged any interest.

Details are available http://www.28degreescard.com.au/index.html

bahnstormer

@ diggydoes be careful ordering lego from USA in germany . The Zoll will slap 19% vat and 5.9% duty on both item and postage and a few more euros in "fees". not worth it.

Australia has a very civilised 1000 AUD tax free import band :-)

monkeyhanger

Diggydoes: Amazon.it is 249 euros at the moment for the IS, with no additional duties etc to pay, so a European buyer should be better off with that price if they allow you to buy. I have read here that Amazon.es andAmazon.it have stopped shipping to the UK, but they have allowed me, perhaps because I have bought from them before so I already have an account with them? It is a third party seller, goods with Amazon for shipping?

Diggydoes

^ ^^ thanks for the advices! But i already bought my IS a couple weeks ago (199€ @ TRU)! I just wanted to give the OP a clue that he might just give it a try to order it from amazon.com!
I most def.wouldn't order such a expensive item from outside of the EU,[email protected] said customs kill almost every good deal:(

mrtonytj

That would absolutely suck! I am actually starting to enjoy the fact i live in a country where we have a high threshold.. I couldn't imagine buying something online and having to pay more for silly customs,government,etc taxes/fees.

Goldchains

The USA has now raised their customs limit for any general commodity(including plastics, leather, garments, rubber, glass, etc. which used to be $250) to $2500. It is nice when countries do this. Hopefully Europe will follow suit.

monkeyhanger

Goldchains - no chance. The EU wants to preserve it's pan european favourable trading, to the detriment of global trading. Our customs limits for the UK are tiny compared to that enjoyed by US/AU/South East Asia.

Goldchains

It's crazy how it works out with Europe. North America has NAFTA and APTA, the US has AGOA with Africa and GSP with Asia, Australia, and the Middle East, but no special tariff preferences with Europe or Russia at all. Go figure.

bahnstormer

^^

dont forget that the EU is also funded from a proportion of national VAT levies.

turkeys dont vote for xmas, so we're stuck with this.