20north.com! Anyone bought anything yet?

[mahiruha]

Hello,
I have bought a book from 20 north. It was written two weeks delivery but now they say it will take 3 weeks. not sure if this sort of discripency is there for bigger items also.
Thanks.

 

[psychotropic]

Friend of mine's' ordered a Grado SR125i from 20north, will report back when he receives delivery.

 

[doors666]

I asked for a quote for AV123 MFW-15. Their response will probably clarify a few things:

The total amount of the product you wish to purchase is Rs.45,572 (excluding the shipping). The Merchant cost is $499.99 + shipping cost of $130.
The 20North total includes a 15% service charge as well as the duty.

Do let us know if you wish to buy this product, we will create a link for you on 20north so that you can complete your purchase


The mfw-15 costs 500 and shipping in US is 130, and the weight is about 125 pounds. These guys charge about 2.50$ per pound for shipping I believe.

 

[GVRAVI]

I checked Denon AVR 1709 is quoted Rs 18700/-(including deliver through ocean), is it a good deal can anybody suggest onthis?

 

[madhurshankar]

I asked for a quote for AV123 MFW-15. Their response will probably clarify a few things:

The total amount of the product you wish to purchase is Rs.45,572 (excluding the shipping). The Merchant cost is $499.99 + shipping cost of $130.

Hi man,
I'm confused. What does they mean excluding the shipping? So if i'm right do we need to pay 45,572 + Shipping charge. It must be very expensive right...

 

[doctur]

I checked Denon AVR 1709 is quoted Rs 18700/-(including deliver through ocean), is it a good deal can anybody suggest onthis?

Do remember you will need a step down transformer (atleast 2500 Rs). Also you will not get any after sales.
That is why I bought my denon from delhi (Denny).
Thanks

 

[sgmane]

I checked Denon AVR 1709 is quoted Rs 18700/-(including deliver through ocean), is it a good deal can anybody suggest onthis?

You can also search for "voltage adaptors" that suits this product in the same site and tell them to ship along with the product. Comparatively cheaper too. I did check with them and they say international warranty. But not sure how will it be entertained here in india. Neverthless its same as buy from grey, if you want to go ahead!!!

 

[kaushik]

wow ,
no more driver issues for DIY
Dayton RS180-4 7" Reference Woofer @ 3567 Rs

20north woofer drivers -Dayton

 

[cmsajith]

From Now onwards there wont be any issue in DIY speakers. Somebody please compare the with other websites.

For the past 2/3 days i was in contact with Athul (thanks for adding the dayton products) for my DIY sub from Dayton under Special Order and for the options to import as a gift.

Special Order Calculation : Cost on other website + 15% (Service Charge) + Duty + Shipping costs (as per other website + International shipping)

Gift Option : Rs600/- surcharge / Duty free (less than Rs10000) / Shipping will be only by Air

Search for "Dayton" in electronics section (case sensitive)
To know the price with shipping cost, you need to add it to the cart, they will send it to your mail id

Enjoy..

wow ,
no more driver issues for DIY
Dayton RS180-4 7" Reference Woofer @ 3567 Rs

20north woofer drivers -Dayton

 

[doctur]

20north has started duty free gifting. Purchases upto 10000 rupeess and duty free if marked as gifts. But they add rs 600 to it. So gift only if duty is more than 600.:licklips:

 

[anm]

but how much more would you be paying by "air only" option when marked as gift? Why not ocean route with 1500 surcharge, or something like that to balance it out for both parties?

regards

From Now onwards there wont be any issue in DIY speakers. Somebody please compare the with other websites.

For the past 2/3 days i was in contact with Athul (thanks for adding the dayton products) for my DIY sub from Dayton under Special Order and for the options to import as a gift.

Special Order Calculation : Cost on other website + 15% (Service Charge) + Duty + Shipping costs (as per other website + International shipping)

Gift Option : Rs600/- surcharge / Duty free (less than Rs10000) / Shipping will be only by Air

Search for "Dayton" in electronics section (case sensitive)
To know the price with shipping cost, you need to add it to the cart, they will send it to your mail id

Enjoy..

 

[anm]

so, did anyone recieved his/ her stuff through 20north as yet?
A favorable review will get them lot of people sitting on fence. Though very recently I have grown VERY averse to buying anything from a remote location without looking at the stuff. Will share my experience soon, depending on how the deal turns out. Right now it is very negative.

regards

 

[anilva]

I ordered few things last week. Scheduled delivery is 2 weeks. I will post my feedback once I get my stuff. I am eyeing a Technics SL-1200 Mk2 turntable, which is listed around 37K.

 

[cmsajith]

I am already a customer of 20North (Draper Luma 115" Projection Screen) and happy with the service.

so, did anyone recieved his/ her stuff through 20north as yet?
A favorable review will get them lot of people sitting on fence. Though very recently I have grown VERY averse to buying anything from a remote location without looking at the stuff. Will share my experience soon, depending on how the deal turns out. Right now it is very negative.

regards

 

[cmsajith]

I think gifts can only be couriered (Air) not through Cargo (Ocean).

but how much more would you be paying by "air only" option when marked as gift? Why not ocean route with 1500 surcharge, or something like that to balance it out for both parties?

regards

 

[suri]

i was browsing 20north site when i chanced upon this-

Shop in the US from India @ 20North - Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router : Electronics.

i purchased this product last month from the local computer hardware dealer for rs. 2700/-

on 20north it is listed at 3430 Rs. after special discount.

speaker parts are slapped with a flat rate of 12.5%. If you have a credit card, why not purchase online, pay customs and shipping, and avoid paying 15% service charge that 20north will charge you?

after all, when one imports through 20north, shipping and customs are added to the purchase costs.

unless they have a special deal with couriers with at least 25% below the rates available to individual customers.

 

[cmsajith]

Cranky, I havent done anything to say thankyou... they are doing business, yes, i helped them to make a good pricing list. Initially I asked for a quotation from them with links to Amazon site for Dayton subwoofers (coz' almost all the products listed in their site are with same itemID as Amazon). But it came out very expensive, almost double because of the US local shipping cost. On finding that the dealer with Amazon is PartsExpress for Dayton, searched for the free shipping items in their site and found all the orders above 98$ are shipping free in US. So I send the list of items to get added to 20north. Got a competitive pricing, but I was trying to reduce the pricing further. So I asked about the gifting option to avoid the duty. For some items it came to be expensive and some items with very good pricing(since they have committed before).

The items are added from PartsExpress, calculation can be done based on the formula that i gave before @ 50/$ as of now. Literally to get the max benefit with Dutyfree, you need to order above 98$ (i think they dont know that, try..) and below 200$\10K.

Also I am planning to ask them to add the items from RAM Electronics / Madisound / Rythmik Audio etc, if there are having free US shipping option. Please suggest other better sites that can be added with free shipping option.

If you had anything to do with persuading them to add these drivers, one thanks is really not enough. I can't say how much I appreciate you taking the initiative to do this. The Dayton RS drivers are 90% of European driver performance at 30% the cost, with many published designs with crossovers and baffle/box sizes. It really makes hifi affordable to a lot of people, and expert DIY guys can now offer really competitive ready speakers to their friends and associates.

Once again, kudos!

 

[cmsajith]

Why didnt you try negotiating with them, it worked for me. Also not all items are with good pricing, try a comparison with local pricing. But I have seen a lot of products which are not available in India with good / competitive pricing (eg., Speaker cables, it seems to beat the MX cables' pricing).

Note : I am no way related to 20North, please dont misunderstand.

i was browsing 20north site when i chanced upon this-

Shop in the US from India @ 20North - Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router : Electronics.

i purchased this product last month from the local computer hardware dealer for rs. 2700/-

on 20north it is listed at 3430 Rs. after special discount.

speaker parts are slapped with a flat rate of 12.5%. If you have a credit card, why not purchase online, pay customs and shipping, and avoid paying 15% service charge that 20north will charge you?

after all, when one imports through 20north, shipping and customs are added to the purchase costs.

unless they have a special deal with couriers with at least 25% below the rates available to individual customers.

 

[musicmypassion]

Cranky, I havent done anything to say thankyou... .

No Sajith, you deserves it. Itz you who spent so much valuable time to get these items listed in the site. This would be really helpful for a lot of DIY people around here.

Why didnt you try negotiating with them, it worked for me.

It is good to know that negotiation can be done on the prices of the items, I was under the impression that the price shown in the site was final and won't be reduced further... thanks for letting us know about it.

 

[cmsajith]

Cranky, its free shipping to US, not India. I was trying to reduce the shipping cost as much as possible. I think there are no such sites apart from some ebay listings from China/Singapore for very small items with free international shipping. If there are any (related to audio-video), then it will be a good deal, are there any (with a different rate for local US shipping)? We can try comparing their prices and ask for the 20North price.

Two issues, one is over-estimation by customs officials (since retail prices in US are lower than MSRP, customs officials sometimes check various sites and charge customs on the highest price). The second is shipping by most sites to India is very expensive, and as sajith points out, lots of sites offer free shipping to India.

I've ordered direct from Madisound, and I got charged on a aggregate value of 78,000 rupees, the order was worth a quarter that. Thankfully they only charged me 5.5% duty then, so I got away with paying ~30% duty overall. I didn't realise this till much later, because the customs 'bill' was in Marathi.

I got away plenty of times with zero duty both before and afterwards, but later asked vendors to invoice at full value. I was pleasantly surprised when my Buffalo DAC came without a single paisa of duty, and another time when I managed to get in a guitar worth ~1L without paying a paisa. I also got charged a lot extra at times, but I guess it all evens out in the long run. My scariest moments were my orders from Sidewinders just after 26/11, I thought those would never reach me (they did).