[HN Gopher] Decided to fly to the US to buy some hard drives
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Decided to fly to the US to buy some hard drives
Author : HelloUsername
Score : 104 points
Date : 2026-02-23 17:01 UTC (5 hours ago)
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(TXT) w3m dump (old.reddit.com)
| rock_artist wrote:
| Nothing fancy here, just difference of prices/taxes in markets.
| Same as any YouTube video showing "I flew to Korea and got iPhone
| 17 Pro Max for cheaper".
|
| So there are individuals who do that and it makes sense (if you
| enjoy the flying / traveling) and it's not considered "time is
| money"
|
| There are also common parallel importing in many countries who
| find a dealer at some country that has the same product in lower
| local currency, buy bulk and get some discount, then resell it in
| the country where the official distribution is expensive.
|
| That's why it is possible to find no eSIM/NFC iPhones in some
| stores (imported from China) or eSIM only ones in regions where
| you'd expect them to have also physical sim tray.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| People have been doing this forever.
|
| What's more interesting was when people were doing this with
| software sold physically; IIRC Adobe creative suite was so
| expensive in Australia that it was cheaper to fly to the US and
| buy it
| lysace wrote:
| In the 80s it was a thing to fly from Europe to the US to buy PC
| hardware and software. The price differences paid for the
| (expensive) flight costs and then some.
| NitpickLawyer wrote:
| ~2012 was the same thing. The usd was very low compared to eur,
| but the apple store sold things in ~same value in eur + tax. So
| you could legit buy an airplane ticket (not even a low cost,
| regular line was ok), visit NY for a weekend and buy a macbook,
| come back, and end up paying the same amount.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| Not just Apple. Around 2010, I bought a tripod and head from
| the US. Had it delivered to France, paid all import duties
| and taxes and VAT (I single out VAT because, since taxing is
| the national sport, it's levied _on top of the other taxes_ ,
| which are also levied on shipping a big hunk of metal). It
| was around 25% cheaper than buying from a local store.
|
| Here's the kicker: the tripod and head were both produced in
| Italy. So it was somehow cheaper to ship them halfway around
| the world and pay import duties _twice_ than to buy locally
| with no import duty (since it 's the EU).
| Markoff wrote:
| yeah, this applied to any pricier laptop or DSLR, though
| warranty could be a problem
| bombcar wrote:
| It's been true (maybe still is? Haven't checked) for quite
| awhile; people I know would _always_ hit up the Apple Store
| when visiting the USA and return bearing gifts, because the
| price savings was quite noticeable.
| WalterBright wrote:
| In the 1980s, a friend got his start by buying packaged
| software in bulk from the US and reselling it in Europe. The
| retail price differences were large enough he made bank on it.
|
| It's called arbitrage.
|
| Eventually, other people figured it out and the prices leveled
| out.
|
| Arbitrage opportunities crop up all the time.
| 1-more wrote:
| I remember when Adobe Creative Suite came out (I think?) and
| Australian said that a first class flight to Los Angeles and
| the American price were less than the Australian price. Hoping
| Bruce or Sheila [1] Cunningham [2] can chime in
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNBy1D1Y0h4 damn I was only
| familiar with the audio; this aged extremely poorly.
|
| [2]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham's_L...
| nathancahill wrote:
| The secret ingredient is.. crime.
| arccy wrote:
| not really, they paid import duty
| kps wrote:
| No duty, only VAT. https://www.trade-
| tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/84717050...
| somat wrote:
| Now I am curious, Understand that I am from the states, and
| consequently have zero intuition as to what a VAT is.
| But... the hard drive importer is directly using the HDDs
| and as such is not adding any value to the item, why are
| they paying a value added tax?
|
| If I had to guess it is probably on the value that could
| have been added to the item.
| ornornor wrote:
| It's just the name for sales tax. Why is there a tax on
| sales, isn't a sale a discount? Then is the sales tax
| negative because it's the tax on the difference between
| the full price and the discounted price? You'd probably
| end up with a refund for buying the thing, unless your
| state has no sales tax.
| abujazar wrote:
| Sales tax is actually very different beacuse it is
| usually either cumulative and added to each part of the
| chain, or only the last one; whereas VAT is deducted in
| all but the last part of the chain.
| abujazar wrote:
| Yea, the idea is that the VAT effectively taxes the added
| value in each step of the value chain because there's a
| limit to how much you can charge for an item or service.
| E. g. a 25 % VAT does not necessarily mean the goods
| become 25 % more expensive; most of those 25 % would have
| been profit for the reseller, intermediates and
| manufacturer if it were not for the VAT. Perhaps a little
| contra-intuitively, a high VAT keeps prices down and
| business efficient because every intemediate is
| indirectly taxed even though the VAT is only charged to
| the final consumer.
| direwolf20 wrote:
| Flying to the USA is a bit risky right now. It would be better
| for someone already in the USA to mail them to you, right?
| diordiderot wrote:
| > Flying to the USA is a bit risky right now.
|
| Please be serious.
| queenkjuul wrote:
| Please read this
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-
| newton...
| returningfory2 wrote:
| These stories usually have some non-trivial factor that is
| missing in the article. In this case there's a small
| visible red flag: the two tourists are British but
| traveling on B visas, rather than using the visa waiver
| program. Why? Well according the DHS they both have multi-
| year overstays in the US.
|
| This doesn't justify the detention they went through. But
| it also means the lesson of the story is not "random
| tourists are being detained".
| Symbiote wrote:
| The article clearly says only Bill had overstayed, not
| Karen. "Bill's US visa had expired; Karen's had not.".
|
| The B2 visa seems to be because the length of the trip
| exceeded the ESTA limit, "over two months", perhaps the
| original plan had been for a longer trip.
| everfrustrated wrote:
| The Guardian is complete propaganda - without exaggeration
| every single article about this issue has been utter lies.
|
| See this for more balance
| https://x.com/DHSgov/status/2025975226002018309
| psadauskas wrote:
| Yes, because a DHS statement, published on Twitter of all
| places, isn't going to be propaganda. I can't think of
| any instances of them blatantly lying even against their
| own video evidence in, like, at least a week. /s
| baal80spam wrote:
| That's whataboutism. Doesn't change the fact that The
| Guardian _is_ propaganda.
| everfrustrated wrote:
| When a publication only publishes the "oppresseds" point
| of view without ever publishing the other view then it is
| by definition propaganda. The Guardian has been
| incredibly consistent in this over years now.
| lazide wrote:
| Most places with heavy duties/tariffs also intercept mail and
| apply said duties/tariffs (and sometimes just seize
| everything).
| Symbiote wrote:
| He declared the import and paid the VAT.
| lazide wrote:
| Wow, that's just being terrible at smuggling.
| queenkjuul wrote:
| Meanwhile here in the US the drives are double what i paid in
| 2024 and I'm trying to see which country i can fly to lol
| rkagerer wrote:
| There are small suppliers in Hong Kong who sell refurb
| enterprise drives at less-exorbitant prices. I've had good luck
| with this over the years. I stuck with reliable, well-known
| models like the 4TB HGST, 16TB Seagate Exos (X16), etc.
|
| I used to get them with a year or so of warranty remaining,
| though last order I got units that must have been from a bulk
| OEM purchase and weren't warrantied through the manufacturer.
|
| Regardless, I've had good luck this way and failure rates have
| been within expectations. I started with a few different
| suppliers to mix inventory in case one source turned out to be
| a dud, then eventually consolidated on a single supplier who
| does a great job and has consistently delivered good drives.
| This method has worked for me for over a decade. Definitely
| easier than flying around countries, and in my case cheaper
| than if I'd physically gone to the US like this guy.
| ecshafer wrote:
| I am surprised they aren't Brazillian. Some Brazillian friends
| from school did that, they would fly to Miami to go shopping, buy
| game consoles, etc.
| lazide wrote:
| Brazilian customs figured this out awhile ago, be too obvious
| and you'll get one hell of a fine.
| rescbr wrote:
| If shipping then yes, customs got stricter thanks to Shein.
|
| If flying then you can bring up to 1000 USD of stuff tax-free
| every 30 days. On top of a personal phone and watch. Plus
| 1000 USD of stuff you can purchase at the duty-free shop once
| you land.
| fred_is_fred wrote:
| A brazilian coworker bought a suitcase on his trip here (circa
| 15 years ago) and then bought a playstation and an xbox to
| bring back.
| rappatic wrote:
| There's no real arbitrage opportunity because he booked the hotel
| and flights on points. It likely would've been considerably more
| expensive overall if he'd booked in cash.
| ghaff wrote:
| Well, that's assuming he wouldn't have used the points for a
| different trip otherwise.
| binarysolo wrote:
| Practically speaking, in 2026, are there any big ticket items an
| American could buy abroad and have the travel economics work out
| to their favor?
|
| The big one I do is medical tourism, though I have family in
| Taiwan. I've done a bit of dental works where the cost in the US
| is $3k-$5k after insurance, and at Taiwan is maybe $300-$500 (10x
| diff) cash pay. I've also done scan-all-the-things health spas in
| a Taiwan hospital for $300-$500, where American equivalents are
| again 10x.
| kotaKat wrote:
| Weirdly for me: IKEA. I'm within ~240 miles of an IKEA in
| Canada and an IKEA in the US.
|
| While they've started to inflate some items to meet currency
| conversion rates, some items are still cheaper for me to
| purchase in Canada directly and bring back to the US.
|
| For instance, even at small scale: one BILLY bookcase, article
| number 205.220.46, is $90 CAD (~$65.70 US) at IKEA CA and $79
| USD at IKEA US.
|
| YMMV coming back across the border but in my experience I just
| got waived through the border every time I told them I was
| "just coming back with some cheap crap from IKEA".
| BizarroLand wrote:
| Travelling to a no sales tax state for large purchases. Sales
| tax is roughly 10%, state with no sales tax is 150 miles away
| for me.
|
| Doing the math, 300 miles round trip, 30 miles per gallon,
| $4/gallon for gas, if I'm buying something that costs more
| than $400 I get a free trip to other state.
|
| Downside is that you're only breaking even for the time, but
| if you're making a $1,000+ purchase then it's definitely
| worth the time for me to make the trip.
| shagie wrote:
| Some states have that as a "you should/need to declare that
| as a use tax."
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax
|
| It's likely poorly enforced, but it's on the books and it's
| a complicated one to track. It was more of a concern when
| internet sales didn't collect state sales.
|
| There's also Simplified Sellers Use Tax lawsuit that was
| recently in the courts.
| echoangle wrote:
| Is your time and car free or do you want to make the trip
| anyways?
| OkayPhysicist wrote:
| Labor-intensive products. Custom suits, leather jackets, etc.,
| are so, so much cheaper in places with lower costs of living.
| For individual items, flights might make it a toss-up, but on
| the scale of an entire wardrobe, flying to Turkey, having a
| bunch of tailored clothes made up, and then flying home would
| definitely work out.
| ghaff wrote:
| That certainly used to be the case. My dad used to get his
| suits made in Hong Kong all the time although that became
| less economical relative to other locations. I don't really
| wear any of that type of clothing any longer.
|
| Akihabara in Tokyo also used to be a bargain for electronics
| but I'm not sure that's really true any longer that I've
| noticed.
| snapetom wrote:
| As late as 2012-2015 it was still extremely cheap to get
| suits in HK, but I'm sure that's no longer the case.
|
| The last time I did it, I bought fabric for $60 USD at
| Joann's, flew to HK, and gave a guy the fabric for a suit.
| The suit cost $45 USD to make.
| ghaff wrote:
| I think, latterly, my dad was getting them made in Seoul
| and I had some clothing made there and Singapore as well.
| But I had admittedly not been in HK for years and years
| and didn't really need suits in any case.
| delfinom wrote:
| I was in Akihabara in Tokyo and other places end of 2024.
| Prices were nearly US priced but in Yen more or less. No
| real bargins. Only thing they had going was unique stuff
| you can't find at all in the mass market garbage we got
| going on in the US
| a_t48 wrote:
| A certain version of JP Zelda Link to the Past is needed
| for speedrunning and "legally" running randomizers. It
| was far easier and cheaper to find in Tokyo than online.
| rustyhancock wrote:
| Much of the "cheap retro games" from Japan are just the
| games that were more popular there like Paper Mario 64.
|
| It's hard to really properly track these things but over
| the three trips I've made to Japan over about 12 years.
| Id say the price rises have been entirely in line with
| currency and retrogaming inflation.
|
| I.e. I'm not sure it was every as good value as people
| thought.
|
| I did buy quite a bit over a decade ago but again those
| were Japan only carts (that wouldn't even run in PAL
| without a mod chip but would run NTSC-U).
|
| That said it is so much more touristy now I'm sure any
| arbitrage opertunity would be sweeped away same evening.
|
| Japan is now also making domestic only console versions
| (at least for switch 2 and I think with PS5 on the
| cards).
|
| Again this might lead to people thinking consoles are
| cheap in Japan but these are Japanese only consoles
| designed to revive the economic doldrum they are in.
| whynotmaybe wrote:
| I used this but inverted, the tailor flew to a few European
| cities and we met him in a hotel room.
|
| He then flew back to Thailand and send the suits.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Luxury fashion also tends to have large price differences
| based on exchange rates and tax.
|
| Before the Great Recession, Europeans, particularly Brits,
| were flying into NYC with empty suitcases. It helps that NYC
| has a sales tax exemption for clothes items under a certain
| amount specifically to facilitate this.
| JasonADrury wrote:
| A lot of it is _tax fraud_ , with the new clothes in that
| suitcase not being properly declared when imported.
| a_t48 wrote:
| India, too! The suit I got for my wedding was custom, way
| cheaper there than here. I need to go back and get a second
| jacket some day.
| m4rtink wrote:
| Japanese stationary - and I am not kidding.
| adrian_b wrote:
| Inside the European Union, traveling to other places to buy
| things from there would only seldom be profitable, when
| considering the travel expenses.
|
| On the other hand, I frequently buy things from online shops
| located in many of the EU countries, because very often for
| various kinds of things that I want to buy I find the best
| deals in different countries. There are no extra expenses but
| shipping, so it is frequent to order things from far away,
| because at a local shop near me they would be more expensive
| than buying from another country, even with the added shipping.
| yurishimo wrote:
| I bought a custom couch from Lithuania and got it shipped to
| the Netherlands after trying a certain brand in a local
| showroom. The brand is based in Belgium and does some
| manufacturing in Poland. They even shipped it for free
| because I met a minimum spend threshold.
|
| The NL dealer wanted EUR5k but Lithuania wanted EUR2800 for
| the same exact couch so I then convinced myself it was worth
| it to pay for a fabric upgrade. Since its made by the same
| Belgian company, the warranty is identical and valid across
| the EU.
|
| I guess you could say I've successfully assimilated to my new
| adopted home in NL and now I hate to pay full price for
| almost anything!
| m463 wrote:
| I remember decades ago hearing stories of motorcycle racers
| going to japan to get a honda RS125, put it in their luggage
| and bringing it back to the US.
|
| They are small race-only 2-stroke motorcycles, not sold in the
| US _at all_.
| adrian_b wrote:
| From what the poster says, it appears that the HDD prices vary
| extremely inside USA, so you must be careful from where you buy.
|
| The poster says that the 28 TB Seagate HDDs have been bought from
| Best Buy and B&H for around USD 330.
|
| If I look right now at Amazon USA and Newegg, I see much higher
| prices, in the range of $600 to $700, so buying from there would
| be a mistake.
|
| However, the reported price seems too good to be true, because
| looking now at both the B&H & Best Buy online shops I see prices
| double in comparison with the claimed $330, and which are in line
| with Newegg and Amazon USA.
|
| So perhaps the poster was extremely lucky and has succeeded to
| take advantage of some price that was so low only for a short
| time.
|
| For comparison, last week I have also bought a 28 TB Seagate
| Expansion HDD, but in the European Union, for USD 550, which is
| much lower in comparison with the UK price of almost $770 quoted
| by the Reddit poster, and also much lower than the prices that
| are listed today on Amazon USA, Newegg, B&H and Best Buy, which
| are higher by about 10% than what I paid.
|
| On the other hand the Reddit poster has succeeded to buy 10 such
| HDDs for a price of only 60% of mine, raised after that to about
| 74% by the import VAT.
|
| Good for him, but taking into account the prices that I see today
| at 4 US online shops and the continuous price increases in HDDs,
| it seems that not many, if anyone, will repeat soon such an
| achievement.
| Aurornis wrote:
| HDD prices spiked in the past few days:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1r8swim/holy_h...
|
| 2026 production from many of the big manufacturers is already
| completely sold.
| adrian_b wrote:
| Yes, this explains it.
|
| I have also been triggered to buy the 28 TB HDD last week,
| even if I do not need it yet, but I will need it later this
| year, after reading the reports that both WD and Seagate have
| sold out their yearly production.
|
| The price that I paid was already much higher than some time
| ago.
| Aurornis wrote:
| There's a lot of panic buying going on. Both at the data
| center level and the consumer level.
|
| My recommendation is that if someone doesn't strictly need
| the hardware in the next 12 months, it's better to wait it
| out.
| dec0dedab0de wrote:
| A long time ago I was in a band, and we opened for a band from
| Australia that came without any gear and bought it all here. They
| said it was so much cheaper to buy here that they loved touring
| in the US just for that reason. They were using vintage collector
| type stuff that was just harder to find there, but they told me
| it was the same for new stuff too.
| jtwaleson wrote:
| Oh this brings back memories. Back in 2007 my dad needed a new
| Thinkpad which was like 2.5k EUR in NL vs 1k USD in the USA. He
| also wanted to push his kids to do something adventurous.
|
| So he bought me (19) and little brother (16) tickets to fly from
| Amsterdam to New York (2x350) and get a cheap hotel for 2 nights
| (2x100). All to get a Thinkpad W500(?).
|
| We had a great time. Got chased by a wild homeless person on
| Staten Island who followed us onto the ferry and we were scared
| stiff. Also walked all over Manhattan. Went to the Bronx but got
| stared at a lot so quickly went back to the subway. I can still
| hear the iconic "Stand clear of the Closing Doors" in my head.
|
| Too bad the America from those days is gone.
| pjam wrote:
| Which part is gone?
| netbioserror wrote:
| New York City has been a running sine wave of sketchy stories
| and memories for the past century!
| wutwutwat wrote:
| > Stand clear of the Closing Doors
|
| bing boom
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