Re: US->NZ reposting service
 

"Stuart Feigin" <sfeigin@spamstop.mindspring.com> writes:

>"Uncle StoatWarbler" <alanb+google4@digistar.com> wrote in message
>news:pan.2003.07.07.16.24.48.959592@digistar.com. ..
>> On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 02:06:08 +1200, Aaron Lawrence wrote:
>>
>> > I meant NZ retailers. They get the stock shipped, store it for you and
>> > provide it when you want it.
>>
>> Usually at 200-500% more than USA prices if you want software.
>>
>> There are a bunch of shipping agents around. US retailers are leery of
>> exporting these days because of their JINGOISM^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HPATRIOT act.

>I should have looked at this first:

>Fry's will ship to international addresses. Their webpage is
>www.outpost.com. I don't know if the online selection is as big as at the
>stores.

My favourite foreigner-friendly US retailer is Provantage. They accept
shipments to US addresses with non-US credit cards (if you're getting it sent
to friends), will ship overseas via USPS if you want (vastly cheaper than
courier), and have very competitive prices. Most US retailers flat out won't
take non-US orders/cards, and the few that do often use cumbersome
authorisation techniques involving calling your bank in NZ and whatnot and
can't handle the order via the web so you have to do it by phone, even if
their web pages claim they will handle overseas orders/cards with non-US
billing addresses. The whole process can take weeks to get sorted out (not
good if you're getting it sent to friends in the US for pickup on a US trip).

I wouldn't buy from Fry's. They have an extremely liberal returns policy, a
side-effect of which is that they re-package returns and re-sell them knowing
that if it doesn't work when you get it home then you can just return it
again. This is not useful if you're in NZ.

Peter.