Meanwhile in Brazil...

DOR

One of the main things I was surprised by on my trip to Brazil was costs of electronics. It's ridiculously expensive...

This is what happens when a sale on LCD's comes up. Remember, even the amazing sale price is probably more expensive that what we in North America pay normally.

fishmongerfunk

we have a ton of brazillian tourists passing through vancouver and always high on their list of things to get are laptops, ipods, etc...

DOR

Yeah, you could probably pay off your vacations down there selling electronics when you went down. If you had a hook up who would have a couple of orders for you.

Bring 2 brand new macbook pros and the trips paid for.

fishmongerfunk

but as you can imagine, there are people who try to smuggle more than their allowance and the brazillian customs authorities are seriously on the lookout for the shit. i knew a guy who got dinged really badly in customs charges for trying to do just this...

georgeibrahim

DOR said:

Bring 2 brand new macbook pros and the trips paid for.

I will definitely be doing this when i (eventually) go down there for a holiday.

DOR

HAHA. Try and have buyers lined up. I would hate to be stuck with them.

But mac laptops are about double the costs down there.

15" 2.66 goes for R$7.699 which is around $4,250 US. Double the cost.

When I went down, I had my macbook. I should have sold it and bought a new one when I got back.

pcmr

That's literally :off_the_wall:

I brought a laptop for and NGO when i was down there
Crazy...

spelunk

This is so real down there, it's crazy. Last time I was down there I had a Rane 57, two external hard drives, two flash cards, a laptop, and a grip of other shit to bring down for friends. Brazil has to my knowledge the most absurd anti-import policy but if you fly it in on a plane no one will mess with you as long as bossman isn't having a bad day. Basically the result is that those with money have access to way nicer stuff at lower prices because they know people living in the states, or can travel, and everyone else is screwed. The store featured in that video is like a Walmart / Target thing and I have seen some hilarious shit go down with fools trying to jack TVs from there and run with them on foot.

At the same time, Brazil's anti-import policy is a big reason why it is in such better overall economic shape than every other country in South and Central America. The thing is, the way the law is written (not that such things really matter THAT much down there when it comes to the Federal Government), you are allowed to import for which there is no competing industry in Brazil. But you can really only argue this case if you have a lawyer and a lot of money. So let's say I have a concert venue and I need a soundsystem - I can hire a lawyer and avoid a lot of import taxes / prohibitions because the size of the purchase is big enough that going through the hoops is worth it, and because money talks. But if I just want a digital camera, I'm screwed. Furthermore, I don't know of ANY electronics company that will standby a warranty within Brazil, and this is in large part because there are no authorized service centers there. So a chain store can sell you any overpriced product at double what it'd cost in the states and have no obligation to do anything if it's a lemon. There have been quite a few stories on this in the news over the past few years, but until the Federal government reforms their import policy nothing will change.

DOR

spelunk said:

Furthermore, I don't know of ANY electronics company that will standby a warranty within Brazil, and this is in large part because there are no authorized service centers there. .

If you buy something from an Apple store in Brazil and buy applecare from Brazil. They will stand by it.

Though, the cost is crazy... Looking on the apple.com/br site. Apple care for a macbook pro is like almost $700 US. CRAZY

Price for a mac mini or imac is much better at around $300