Cheaper in Taiwan?

Is cool electronic stuff like digital cameras, phones, ipods, etc cheaper in Taiwan than say Canada or US? How much cheaper if so?

Jeff

Taiwan is not the place for cheap electronics. You have to go to the USA to get Taiwanese goods at cheap prices.

Hong Kong is better than Taiwan in my experience. I have been told Singapore is better again.

Example right now is the DVD/ Hard disc drive I am searching for.

Taiwan: Local brand 13,000nt/ USD410 that I would not go near
Local brand Benq. (better) 18,000nt USD571.00
Japanese name brands20,000 to 30,000nt USD630-950

Googled Japanese brands in USA down to USD200-300

.

US is cheaper than Singapore for electronics. Lived in Singapore, from US, and after much research, bought most of my electronics during business trips back to US.

I think is has something to do with the huge chains in US being able to buy bulk quantity and therefore getting each item cheaper and selling it cheaper.

That is my impression to.

Possibly population related along the same lines. Australia and Taiwan have similar populations and the prices tend to track along about the same. Australia is still probably cheaper in some cases.

I think it really depends what you are looking for, 2 weeks ago my brother came her on a holliday trip, he wanted to buy a digital camera and had one in mind already (Panasonic FZ 20)but too expensive (around 800~1000 US)
We shopped around here, bargained, had fun and found one for 470 US, new, with international warrenty.
So, look around and bargain prices, you might very well get it cheaper here.

About 5 years ago I would have said Taiwan. But I just got back from a trip home to Canada, and was amazed at how update the electronic stores were. It used to be, that something would come out in Asia and we wouldn’t see it in Canada for some years later or not at all, but that has changed. Prices are just so competitive as well. I saw a Sony Viao for what worked out to be $45,000NT at Costco in Canada, the exact same model here is about $10,000NT more. Only problem is that we have 15% sales tax, so it works out to be about the same. But for a non-Canadian shoppers who can get their sales tax back, its a deal.

But I still think Taiwan ranks in the top 3 places to buy electronics, especially for computers. Hong Kong is too hyped, I was really frustrated shopping their, their sales people are a**holes. Japan was a bit disappointing when I went last year, some things are cheaper than Taiwan, but usually the Japan only models, which aren’t supposed to be used outside of japan, and don’t come with English manuals or warranties. Never been to Singapore so can’t say. If you consider the airplane ticket and hassles to shop in another country, it seems Taiwan is the best place to shop for cool gadgetry. Plus, if things go wrong you know where to take it back for repairs.

cheaper than germany
i buy in taiwan

[quote=“KawasakiRider”]Only problem is that we have %15 sales tax, so it works out to be about the same. But for a non-Canadian shoppers who can get their sales tax back, its a deal.
[/quote]

Hmm I have never heard of that before. So as an American, I can go shopping in Canada and not pay sales tax?

I don’t know about all across Canada, but in British Columbia, at least, you can get refunded a good chunk of tax if you spend a certain amount. Save all your receipts (minus those used for hotels and food). I think it’s something like this:

You have to have spent at least CN$250 total, and each receipt must be at least CN$50. So if you have one very large purchase, or a bunch of $50+ purchases, you can get a refund of some of the tax. You can do it at the border or by mail.

Alberta has no provincial sales tax. Shop there.

Jeff

Yeah must be nice buying stuff in Alberta. Anyway, living in Ontario is still better than in P.E.I, they have a 10% provincial sales tax, plus 7% GST. That’s 17% tacked onto every purchase. That’s why we head south to the States to do our shopping sprees.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_Canada

Taiwan retailers bring in a lot of grey market digital cameras and sometimes notebooks from Japan and the USA. What the guys do is purchase from their friend in the USA that has a license to buy wholesale from the main distributor or regional distributor and then resell it in Taiwan matching the lowest price on the internet in the USA. You just have to make sure first the camera you want is popular enough in Taiwan to have already had someone bring a suitcase load into Taiwan.

I have friends in Australia that can buy Taiwan products which retail here for around 20% more. :loco: :loco:

Taiwan products could cost more in Taiwan (sometimes) because Taiwan people are greedy and the local distributor tacks on too much profit, or the local distributor cannot buy in volumes as large as they purchase in the USA. Likewise if the manufacturer has no middle man and they distribute themselves they have to protect their price so that when foreign buyers come to Taiwan purchase motherboards for example they don’t say, “hey, I can buy it cheaper at the Guang Hua computer market you arsehole!” Instead they say, “I can buy it cheaper on the internet from some shady Brooklyn, NY web retailer!” Then the Taiwan sales guy says, yea, well if you were purchasing 100,000 per quarter like they are in the USA, you could get that price too.

Generally speaking consumer electronics are not cheap in Taiwan.

Price is one thing. Sales people are essentially the same everywhere, as are the (super) stores. It’s the ability to take an item back and expect a reasonable level of service that makes the US so much the better place to buy.

Even if someone find an item 30-40% cheaper here than in their home country, I suggest they buy it there, especially if it is an expensive item like computer etc. I do not want to handle their complaints and returns if/when it breaks or need support.

I am acutally considering to buy my new notebook back “home”, just to make sure that SW is installed properly, even if it is 30-40% more expensive there. Clarification: I got this feeling that they just slapped the English XP on top of the Chinese one when I bought the one I an using now, causing it to slow down due to double processing of every task.

You kind of got things backwards a little. If you live in Taiwan and will live here for the next couple of years, don’t buy anything which might need service back in your home country. How will you get it back? Mail? That is pricey? Wait til you go home again then wait for them to mail it back to you? In terms of after service, Taiwan may not be the best in terms of attitude but they always come though and fix things. I still have a couple of items I bought back home I haven’t had the time to mail back yet. A big pain the arse and I most always buy in Taiwan now for that reason.