Buying electronics in Hawaii
Replies: 13 - Last Post: Aug 29, 2012 2:39 PM Last Post By: howardsommerville
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Buying electronics in Hawaii
Howdy!I'm from New Zealand, and I'm heading to Honolulu in about a fortnight, and I want to look at buying a Google Nexus 7 tablet & and a new digital camera. I have two questions:
1. Where are good shops to purchase electronic goods at bargain prices? I've seen pretty mixed reviews of places like Radioshack and Best Buys on the net - are there better options? I know the exact items I want.
2. Has anyone tried buying goods of this type on the net and having them delivered to a hotel, and if so - how successful was it?
Cheers!
Bob the Duck.
3
Go on each companies website.Pick the exact item you want (after comparing prices).
They will ship it to whatever outlet you choose in Honolulu (give it at least a week as it will have to be shipped from the mainland if they dont have it in stock).
Pick it up at the store...now you have your product.
Easy
4
Radio Shack is not a good store for high end electronics as their selection is typically quite small. There is no Fry's in Hawaii. Costco requires a membership, so paying for that is only worthwhile if you're 100% going to buy something there at a great price and also need a lot of vodka and chicken salad.Best Buy has a large selection and decent customer services. Narrowing down what kind of digital camera you want before heading to the store is a smart idea. Wal-Mart and Target have a good selection of middle of the road goods. I would not expect knowledgeable staff. All three will always have cameras on sale. Best Buy often has open box items at a further discount. None of these places offer bargains in the sense of stores in Hong Kong, etc.
The one problem I foresee with having these items mailed to your hotel is that your credit card zip code won't match the delivery zip code. And if you need to return what you've bought, that will also be a pain. That said, you can buy on-line from Amazon, though I find it hard to browse their selection and narrow down what I want.
5
A one day pass at Costco probably only entitles you to look around not purchase.The camera I bought at Best Buy cost much less than I could have bought it at a duty free airport shop in Korea and much less than in the Philippines. Of course I bought it on sale. Wal Mart had the same camera.
8
I've ordered electronics from Amazon before and had it delivered to my hotel when i was on travel. Worked out quite fine actually. I don't know about doing that with other websites though however, i think it helped that I already had an account i think with amazon before doing that and just changed the ship-to address.9
All of the above mentioned places are fine, though Radio Shack is not really high end and lacks all the name brands, more a poor mans frugal option.Best Buy is one the largest electronic retailers in the USA, I have bought a ton of stuff there over the last 5 years, a 46 HD Sony Bravia Flat Screen TV, Sony Blue Ray, Nikon Lumix, HP wireless printer, Garmin Navigation untt for the car, and got great service and no complaints. Though Best Buy is struggling due to the fact many people go to the store to see and review product, then order online thru Amazon or similar.
All the warranties on the products will be for the US though, not sure they MFG will honor outside the countries was sold in....
I dont think you can use a Credit Card to purchase and ship to a different address than what the CC is billed too, but check the website.
Is the savings really that much better in Hawaii vs Home? Or is the selection you cant get?
11
I wouldn't pay for something expensive and have it shipped to a vacation spot.If it is lost or damaged and they need to send a replacement item there would be a big problem if you are no longer at the vacation spot.
If a person at a hotel signs for something they won't be careful about checking for damaged cartons. Once the bill is signed claims become more difficult.
12
That's all good advice - thanks. Yes - it really is that much cheaper to buy some things out of NZ. And with the Google Nexus some of the functionality isn't available in NZ, so if I buy it in the States I can activate it and download some of the stuff before I go home.Cheers!
13
Hawaii has a 5% sales tax, California 10% So a product made in China and shipped to California then shipped by sea container to Hawaii and sold in Hawaii could cost less in Hawaii than in California.In California/Oregon border towns... Oregon doesn't have a sales tax on gasoline and California has lower taxes than Oregon on liquor.
Californians fill up on gas in Oregon and Oregonians come across the border to fill up on liquor. Makes perfect sense...I think
