Do I buy a desktop here or USA, import tax?

[No Place Like Home]

I have a 4 year old desk top PC that I brought from the states in my backpack. It died last week. Questions are........
Do I buy a replacement in the DR, buy one from the states, or attempt a repair? Only 2 choices on the problem, motherboard or
power supply. Diags suggest Power supply, other set of diags suggest motherboard. I know desktops are out but we are old and
my wife loves it. Need to replace it. Can't replace wife, been together for 51 years. We are in our 80's but still love technology.
What are the import tax rates? I know BMcargo rates for weight.

 

[chicagoan14]

They're rather costly here! I'd suggest price mart if you do choose to buy one here. I recently purchased a Macbook from apple directly and was told i'd pay 28% in taxes as the item was over 200. I ended up only paying the weight. Not sure how!

At the price for the MacBook here, I could've bought two in the states.

Good luck!

 

[johne]

What do the Mac laptops/desk tops cost here if new?

 

[Gadfly]

If you buy online you pay aduana (taxman) if the price is over ~$200 usd (check w/bm cargo)
I ordered electronic item last year on Amazon, cost ~$250 usd, paid around that much for aduana & shipping, I used bm cargo (paid ~500usd total)
I’d probably buy the pc here in RD at La Sirena, etc..
Ceducomp is good for checking your PC for repair/cost. The one in pto pta repaired my pc, very fair price.

 

[Gadfly]

PS. a desktop in a backpack! Kudos

 

[PICHARDO]

I have a 4 year old desk top PC that I brought from the states in my backpack. It died last week. Questions are........
Do I buy a replacement in the DR, buy one from the states, or attempt a repair? Only 2 choices on the problem, motherboard or
power supply. Diags suggest Power supply, other set of diags suggest motherboard. I know desktops are out but we are old and
my wife loves it. Need to replace it. Can't replace wife, been together for 51 years. We are in our 80's but still love technology.
What are the import tax rates? I know BMcargo rates for weight.

On your next trip, just buy an all-in-one PC and stuff it into your suitcase 🧳 to bring it to DR.

Keep the base stand off it for easy packing.

Make sure to buy extra memory chips to enhance the performance.

 

[Seamonkey]

I have a 4 year old desk top PC that I brought from the states in my backpack. It died last week. Questions are........
Do I buy a replacement in the DR, buy one from the states, or attempt a repair? Only 2 choices on the problem, motherboard or
power supply. Diags suggest Power supply, other set of diags suggest motherboard. I know desktops are out but we are old and
my wife loves it. Need to replace it. Can't replace wife, been together for 51 years. We are in our 80's but still love technology.
What are the import tax rates? I know BMcargo rates for weight.

Import tax on computers rage from 18 -21%. Ask BMcargo to tell aduana that the computer is for school and they will only charge you 10%. I just got a new laptop and I paid 5200 in taxes. I would never buy a computer here.

 

[NanSanPedro]

PS. a desktop in a backpack! Kudos

Exactly what I was thinking. No room for socks or underwear.

 

[Kricke87]

If you're not interested you can skip this part
------ This happened to me not long ago, and I made a thread about how annoyed I was with Encargopaq. But anyways. My laptop in February was about to die,(it still works, not good, but it powers up and so on) so I needed something else. For a lot of reasons, I prefer a desktop, although a laptop is in many ways more convenient. But anyways. So I ordered on Amazon the Motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive and Power Supply. I ordered everything in separate packages so that every package would be under 200$. But guess my surprise when Amazon decided to ship everything together. To no avail, I tried contacting Encargopaq to see if they could separate them, as I had different invoices for each package. But no answer. So when everything ended up here at customs, they only saw one invoice for $180 and realized that it was not a complete invoice. It took me a total of 6 weeks to get the package released from customs. And I had to pay almost $200 in tax and courier fees, (the total value of the package was around $450). ------

So in this case, YES it's way cheaper to buy from like Amazon, Microcenter or Newegg you name it. But if you are going to buy a complete Desktop, take into account that there might be a struggle with customs, and you would have to pay at least 20-25% in taxes and fees (depending on your courier). And to my surprise after buying the parts, there are actually quite a lot of more "expert shops", especially in the DN area that sell newer desktops for a decent price. So my suggestion is, either to go to one of those stores (not from stores like Ceducomp or similar as they only sell old used 2nd hand Dell/HP computers, although being quite cheap, are totally worthless), or to buy the pieces and build it yourself, but then to not make my mistake but order the parts REALLY separate. Make one order and then wait until that order has been shipped, and then continue with the other, and everything under $200.

Or if you live in Sosúa area, you can go to Ramon in Copicentro and have him take a look at your computer, a german guy with a lot of experience.

 

[No Place Like Home]

If you're not interested you can skip this part
------ This happened to me not long ago, and I made a thread about how annoyed I was with Encargopaq. But anyways. My laptop in February was about to die,(it still works, not good, but it powers up and so on) so I needed something else. For a lot of reasons, I prefer a desktop, although a laptop is in many ways more convenient. But anyways. So I ordered on Amazon the Motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive and Power Supply. I ordered everything in separate packages so that every package would be under 200$. But guess my surprise when Amazon decided to ship everything together. To no avail, I tried contacting Encargopaq to see if they could separate them, as I had different invoices for each package. But no answer. So when everything ended up here at customs, they only saw one invoice for $180 and realized that it was not a complete invoice. It took me a total of 6 weeks to get the package released from customs. And I had to pay almost $200 in tax and courier fees, (the total value of the package was around $450). ------

So in this case, YES it's way cheaper to buy from like Amazon, Microcenter or Newegg you name it. But if you are going to buy a complete Desktop, take into account that there might be a struggle with customs, and you would have to pay at least 20-25% in taxes and fees (depending on your courier). And to my surprise after buying the parts, there are actually quite a lot of more "expert shops", especially in the DN area that sell newer desktops for a decent price. So my suggestion is, either to go to one of those stores (not from stores like Ceducomp or similar as they only sell old used 2nd hand Dell/HP computers, although being quite cheap, are totally worthless), or to buy the pieces and build it yourself, but then to not make my mistake but order the parts REALLY separate. Make one order and then wait until that order has been shipped, and then continue with the other, and everything under $200.

Or if you live in Sosúa area, you can go to Ramon in Copicentro and have him take a look at your computer, a german guy with a lot of experience.

 

[No Place Like Home]

I am in Sosua, but new to the area. How do I contact or fine Ramon thank you in advance.

 

[josh2203]

I would never buy a computer here.

I understand your point and say the exact same thing for many things, BUT, as in the other thread of good things here, I needed urgently a new laptop a couple of years ago and did not have time to wait (for work), so made my research, we went to Cecomca in Santiago and found a decent device, albeit just slightly overpriced. I needed min 8 GB memory, which I did not get, but other than that, the laptop (Dell Vostro 14) was perfect. It's my second Dell (first one suffered an unfortunate accident a few years ago) and I will definitely not change the brand from this, but once we're out of this country, I will upgrade to a better one...

So you can buy one here, but you just need to (like with everything) really know what you are doing and ask that the seller shows/proofs anything before purchase that you want them to show... For anyone not tech-savvy, I would NOT recommend purchasing from just any store in here...

 

[MariaRubia]

What do the Mac laptops/desk tops cost here if new?

They are about 30% more than in the US. Punto Mac is very good and they are authorised apple dealers.

If you buy for a company and can reclaim the ITBIS then it takes the edge off the price difference.

 

[cavok]

I am in Sosua, but new to the area. How do I contact or fine Ramon thank you in advance.

He can be found in Copicentro in the plaza behind Baileys. Very good. reasonable.

 

[cavok]

If you can settle for a laptop, have a friend bring one down for you. Have him/her take it out of the box. No import taxes that way.

 

[tht]

I learnt my lesson long time ago, I brought in a DVD player in the original box, not a good idea. Since then I have brought in desktops, monitors, a TV etc, etc. I buy a big, cheap roller bag ugly enough to be on sale, bubble plastic at CVS and put it in the suitcase with some clothes. I remove everything indicating it's new. It works!! I usually have "greetings" from TSA when I open the bag at my place, but no issues going through US security and DR custom.

 

[johne]

I learnt my lesson long time ago, I brought in a DVD player in the original box, not a good idea. Since then I have brought in desktops, monitors, a TV etc, etc. I buy a big, cheap roller bag ugly enough to be on sale, bubble plastic at CVS and put it in the suitcase with some clothes. I remove everything indicating it's new. It works!! I usually have "greetings" from TSA when I open the bag at my place, but no issues going through US security and DR custom.

I go so far as out of the box, re-wrapped with christmas paper and labeled with a latina name. Even that, strictly speaking, is only permissible up to $500(in gifts). However, all things in life involve a touch a risk. Everybody in my community knows how much I travel back to the states, so I have a big list each month. LOL.

 

[POP DGA]

Hello.

If you use a courrier service like BM Cargo, you will be taxed if your computer costs over $200.

Good news is computers pay 0% (Gravamen), they do however pay the standard 18% ITBIS tax (beaware it's not 18% of the price you paid, it's 18% of CIF, that's cost + insurance + freight) insurance is usually 2%, freight depends on your carrier but it could inflate the base price up to 15% or more. This plus a small customs services fee, less than $10.

Your other option is to travel with it (if it's a laptop). You're allowed to enter the country with 1 personal computer (laptop, tablet, notebook) either used or new. (if it's not a laptop, I would advise you ship it via a carrier, if you bring it with you on the plane, base price will be altered by 17% (insurance + freight) and from that you will be taxed 18% ITBIS , so on that case it's wiser to use a carrier for a desktop computer.

 

[USA DOC]

Thu the years I have brought down 4 laptops from the USA... I buy at Target, take out of the box and put in my carry on luggage..one time I brought down 2 at a time . Two I gave to friends, one I am using right now.......

 

[SKY]

Just as easy to put a Desktop in your luggage also. I lost track of all the desktops I brought here.