20north.com! Anyone bought anything yet?

[cmsajith]

I have asked for the price of a 106" (16:9) / 115" (4:3) PJ screen (If possible from brand Draper), this was to confirm whether i have got a better deal or not, but nobody replied..

Anyways, 20North is a genuine kind of Online website similar to Amazon. Eventhough they wont disclose their outside counterparts, in my observation it seems to be Amazon and some other online vendors. If you select a product, it will lead you to its detailed page. In the URL, one parameter called "pid" is there which is nothing but the product id. Copy the pid and try to search in Amazon, you will find the same product with the same price tag. Also the customer reviews are form that site (they have mentioned in their site)

I had ordered 115" (4:3) / 106" (16:9) Draper Luma (USA make) through them and got the delivery in 18 days time. The price was 9125/- including customs and shipping for a branded one!!! Since its a public forum, its not good for that company if its a loot. I could find a fault from their side by comparing with other similar products (not only for this product, a lot of other stuff are having this fault) and got local quotation for branded ones for around 14K+, i ordered it after the confirmation from their CC.:licklips: Also before i placed the order in 20north, i tried to order through Amazon and the price listed there was 99.99$ + 220plus for shipping!!! Any body can easily find what could be the reason, so i am not disclosing that... (Also i am not sure whether its a fault or not)

I agree that there are a lot of stuff which are overrated and so confirm the local pricing before placing the order. As far as i know, eventhough we are ordering the material, indirectly they order the item on behalf of our name at the same time programatically. So the material comes to their Indiranagar office and they will send through some parcel service (for me it was DTDC). Also make sure that the item is received in good condition before signing the letter from parcel service (Check their return policy). Enjoy..

Note : The above findings are only from my observations. It can be true or false.

 

[20north]

Hi Guys
This is Adil from 20North. Have not been able to read all the posts in this forum but will try my best to address some of the issues here.

Firstly Id like to point out a link to a forum on some other website where we are quite popular and have been getting many orders from.

http://www.thegungeek.com/portal/viewtopic.php?t=1707&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=45

We have been working very hard from the last one year to bring International shopping to India. Today, we have the highest number of products that could be offered by any online or offline retailer in India (Over 10 Crore and counting). We are a bangalore based company with our warehouse setup in the USA. We have tied up with some of the biggest merchants in USA and looking forward to move to other countries. We have a registered Import export code and pay customs duty for every item that is sold on our website. We are also looking forward to offer duty free for gifts sent out by Indians abroad for goods upto a value of Rs 10,000 very soon.

We have absolutely no control over the prices as they are all quoted by USA merchants. The USA merchant sends an invoice directly in the name of the buyer and we only charge a very nominal services fee. We are working on getting prices right for every vertical on our website.

Id try my best to keep you guys updated and clarify your doubts. However Id request you to send any questions to our customer care as it would be very difficult for us to track forums.

Thanks & Regards

Adil Saleem
Sign In | LinkedIn

 

[psychotropic]

hey Adil, thanks for posting here and clarifying, from cmsajith's post i understand he has already used your site and is happy with it, so hopefully more people from hifivision should be ordering stuff on your site, especially blu-ray players.

Hi Guys
This is Adil from 20North. Have not been able to read all the posts in this forum but will try my best to address some of the issues here.

Firstly Id like to point out a link to a forum on some other website where we are quite popular and have been getting many orders from.

http://www.thegungeek.com/portal/viewtopic.php?t=1707&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=45

We have been working very hard from the last one year to bring International shopping to India. Today, we have the highest number of products that could be offered by any online or offline retailer in India (Over 10 Crore and counting). We are a bangalore based company with our warehouse setup in the USA. We have tied up with some of the biggest merchants in USA and looking forward to move to other countries. We have a registered Import export code and pay customs duty for every item that is sold on our website. We are also looking forward to offer duty free for gifts sent out by Indians abroad for goods upto a value of Rs 10,000 very soon.

We have absolutely no control over the prices as they are all quoted by USA merchants. The USA merchant sends an invoice directly in the name of the buyer and we only charge a very nominal services fee. We are working on getting prices right for every vertical on our website.

Id try my best to keep you guys updated and clarify your doubts. However Id request you to send any questions to our customer care as it would be very difficult for us to track forums.

Thanks & Regards

Adil Saleem
Sign In | LinkedIn

 

[20north]

Missed out a little point. If you spot anything on a USA website and want us to get it for you, we will add it to our catalog. All you need to do is send us the link of the product in an email to [email protected] with "Special Order" as the subject.

 

[reju]

Missed out a little point. If you spot anything on a USA website and want us to get it for you, we will add it to our catalog. All you need to do is send us the link of the product in an email to [email protected] with "Special Order" as the subject.

Hey this is fantastic convenience!! Now we are not limited to shopping in 20North. We can shop the whole wide US web and get quotes from 20North! :clapping:

 

[vishanv]

Missed out a little point. If you spot anything on a USA website and want us to get it for you, we will add it to our catalog. All you need to do is send us the link of the product in an email to [email protected] with "Special Order" as the subject.

Adil, you dont see any problem in distributor's territory infringement
? Do you pay comission to the local distributor of a particular product? by purchasing from you, will a customer aid you in such infringment?

Sorry to be a cynic, but just thought of making clear a few things for potential customers.

 

[20north]

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, we only provide service. There are many USA merchants like zappos, amazon etc etc who provide delivery to India but their shipping costs are too high and also there are many hidden charges on your credit card for an international transaction. We have simply optimized the same. You are directly buying from USA merchants and 20North is providing service of logistics and customs clearance. If the local distributors have an issue they can fight it with the manufacturer and the retailer in USA. We do not fall into that loop. You can read our terms and conditions at the link below

Shop in the US from India @ 20North - Millions of products, Thousands of brands

There is no law that stops a consumer from buying goods from outside India.

Regards
Adil Saleem

 

[Raghav]

Another reason for the low prices is that online US prices are highly discounted to the MSRP (20-40%).

Indian distributor price = US price/MSRP + Freight + Duty + Margin
20 North price = Online US price + freight + Duty + their commission.

Thus even if they keep commission equal to the distributor, price can be lower. However,as pointed by someone, some companies absorb the logistics cost and ensure than Indian prices are not much higher than US/UK.

 

[suprateep]

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, we only provide service. There are many USA merchants like zappos, amazon etc etc who provide delivery to India but their shipping costs are too high and also there are many hidden charges on your credit card for an international transaction. We have simply optimized the same. You are directly buying from USA merchants and 20North is providing service of logistics and customs clearance. If the local distributors have an issue they can fight it with the manufacturer and the retailer in USA. We do not fall into that loop. You can read our terms and conditions at the link below

Shop in the US from India @ 20North - Millions of products, Thousands of brands

There is no law that stops a consumer from buying goods from outside India.

Regards
Adil Saleem

Okay Adil - just a few questions since your business model is pretty unique and useful for people such as us. So if we get you a website with an article for a stated price (say an Sandisk sanza 8 GB for 80 USD on Amazon, New egg etc whereas the real price is nearly 170 USD) - would you calculate and give us an indicative price for shipping instead for offering a fixed rate + shipping charges.

What you should do is let the interested buyer give you the info for the product and price and you quote the prices for shipping and handling. Atleast there is more transparency in this regard.

If this is the model - you will find many takers - I beign one of them

 

[anm]

me too! me too! me too!
Adil - can the following be done?
I order somethign from amazon, get it shipped to a friend. He tests and finds ok, or else return it.
If it is ok, he uses your service to get it shipped to me in India?

regards

 

[anm]

Also - buying from ebay and audiogon and getting is delivered through you?

As far as I understand, import duty would be ~17% for personal import?

regards

 

[raj]

20north is not the only service of this kind. In techenclave forum, there is a dealer out of mumbai who does this kind of stuff (from limited set of web merchants).
If 20north can do this for ebay/audiogon items, that would be cool.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Adil
Thanks for clarification- hope Indian manufacturers are so prompt satisfying the problems!!!
Sorry In my earlier posts ,some doubts I had , I might hurt ur feelings!!
Keep us posted about new developments!!


Happy Selling!!
Hemant

 

[grubyhalo]

Adil, you dont see any problem in distributor's territory infringement? Do you pay comission to the local distributor of a particular product? by purchasing from you, will a customer aid you in such infringment?
...

I'm sorry but could you please explain why selling a product at a lesser price than the local distributor be an infringement? And why should the distri get a commission?

 

[Yogesh]

I was browsing through the site for about 30 mins. The site offers no radical discounts overall. The prices of YAm 463/863, Onkyo 506/606 etc., Plk speakers are from at par to bit more than in India. Some DVPs were ridiculously overpriced e.g 5996 almost double.

It might offer great prices in some pockets, Overall, No big Deal.

 

[anm]

Is the US dealer even aware of the fact that goods he is selling are going to India? Whether they are even bothered is another story.

You are directly buying from USA merchants and 20North is providing service of logistics and customs clearance. If the local distributors have an issue they can fight it with the manufacturer and the retailer in USA. We do not fall into that loop. You can read our terms and conditions at the link below

 

[psychotropic]

No dude, lots of excellent deals. The Denon 1940 DVD player is available for 9,000 bucks including shipping and duty...to buy it in India it is about 32k MRP....and street price is about 28-29k. Considering that it's a highly regarded DVD player with Faroudja DCDi and so on, this is a superb deal.

Of course specific items maybe expensive, but if you look around there are tons of brilliant deals to be had.

I was browsing through the site for about 30 mins. The site offers no radical discounts overall. The prices of YAm 463/863, Onkyo 506/606 etc., Plk speakers are from at par to bit more than in India. Some DVPs were ridiculously overpriced e.g 5996 almost double.

It might offer great prices in some pockets, Overall, No big Deal.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Why he should bother?
Please - in intl market noone is bothered..the warentee is country specific and any customer is taking out of area at his risk why one should bother?

In Jumbo I delt with Iranis,afrikans,Russians & Indian bulk buyers - i suspected hat they may be smuggling - but why I should bother If aI am etting my asking value in cash????hyeah:hyeah:

 

[anm]

Well since this site is allowing you to buy from any site and they will deliver, why are you worried about their own catalog? Use nexttag.com or other comparison shopping site for the product you want, and ask 20north to deliver at your doorstep.

regards

 

[suprateep]

Well since this site is allowing you to buy from any site and they will deliver, why are you worried about their own catalog? Use nexttag.com or other comparison shopping site for the product you want, and ask 20north to deliver at your doorstep.

regards

the question remains will they deliver on this front - i know of this guy from techenclave who does have a similar business model but have never interacted with him before.

So 20north do you accept this business model - we give you the link with the product info and price - you calculate and give us a round figure for shipping, duty etc......I am sure you can find more buyers here - Oppo is next then for me.