Importing receivers from the US

[kamalgaur]

#6 - Importing receivers from the US

Has anyone successfully managed to import their receiver from the US? If so, how did they manage?
- Did they bring it back themselves?
- Did they get a friend to bring it back?
- Did they have the receiver shipped directly from the seller/site? How much did the shipping/customs/extras cost? Were there any hiccups along the way?
- Did they have the receiver shipped to a US address, then drop-shipped by a second party over to India? How much did the shipping/customs/extras cost? Were there any hiccups along the way?
- If the imported receiver was built for 120V, where did they find a reliable step-down transformer in India? Any hiccups in running it?

 

[shibashis]

You will find that some do bring receivers from US.

- Some have brought it themselves.
- Some have gotten their friends to carry.
- Rarely is it shipped directly, most employ freight forwarding services like Borderlinx, Aramex shop n ship and others.
- With these services the product is shipped to a US local address and then shipped from there to India. For Receivers the shipping will be a lot because of their weight. This almost makes it a deal breaker. Plus there is the customs / import duty. You can expect roughly about 30% of the cost + shipping of the product. In the end you may find the total cost almost the same as Indian price.
- There are many such step-downs available, local made and branded as well.

 

[naryhyd]

I did caried Denon AVR X3200 from US to Hyderabad and using it for last two months without any issue.

 

[efernand1]

Hi kamalgaur,

Yes would be the answer to your questions. Our fellow members have faced different experiences when trying to get AVRs from US either through online orders or friends or carrying it themselves....

What you need to factor in is the weight, no warranty risk, step down adapter etc. We all know that the prices are very very attractive. Depending on what you bring or order, there are taxes, shipping charges which you need to bear....

The question you should ask if is it worth doing so? For some it has worked well while for others the experience was not that good....

Would suggest you read posts under "What Should i Buy" which will give you a fair idea...

 

[nistalavsm]

I did caried Denon AVR X3200 from US to Hyderabad and using it for last two months without any issue.

Hi naryhyd, I'm also getting one (Denon AVR X2200W) from the US. Where did you buy the voltage converter in Hyd? Please let me know.

 

[ItsMe]

My suggestion for purchase of electronics from US.
If the item is universal, means it support 100-220V, go for it. Else dont take the risk of bringing it over and relying on a locally assembled step down transformer for conversion. Instead, go for Indian version with warranty and have piece of mind.

I have done the mistake of bringing in xbox 360 to India from US in 2008, and had to invest a lot in building a step down transformer which can support xbox 360. The step down worked for 6 months and one day it failed with a mild explosive sound, resulting in damages to my xbox as well. I had to ship it to Australia to get it repaired, but later microsoft blessed me with an Indian adapter which will work along with it.

My $0.02 ....

 

[nistalavsm]

My experience is different I've been using electronics bought from US for the last 12 years (including my current home theater, BD player) and never had a problem. Of course, had an issue with Handy Cam, but that is due to incorrect use of the equipment. The price in US is too attractive for Denon AVR 2200 ($500 on Amazon), when compared to the local price in Hyd (~INR60,000).

 

[guddu478]

I brought Pioneer VSX 830K from US in last year Sept without any problem.

 

[yahoo0212]

Purchased Onkyo TX-NR609 and JBL JBL ES 250P Subwoofer from amazon.de in 2012. Both working great without any issues.

 

[mshifi]

you also get the 220v avr in US which can be used directly. got my denon 1910 and have been using without any issue

 

[kaptan]

Iam also using a denon x3000 which is a 110 volt receiver without any issues. You can buy from amazon.de if you want 220v support.

 

[kamalgaur]

When you say buy from Amazon.de, you mean an international purchase to be delivered directly from Amazon.de to Bangalore, right?

 

[naryhyd]

I got one from Amazon, 3000 Watts step down tarnsformer (Goldsource STU-3000 Step Up/Down Voltage Transformer) and using it for my TV, HT and DVD Player. No issues so far.

 

[jsmithe]

#6 - Importing receivers from the US

Has anyone successfully managed to import their receiver from the US? If so, how did they manage?
- Did they bring it back themselves?

Yes.

- Did they get a friend to bring it back?

No

- Did they have the receiver shipped directly from the seller/site? How much did the shipping/customs/extras cost? Were there any hiccups along the way?

Brought it across myself along with a bunch of other stuff when I did a Transfer Of Residence(TOR) so I don't have the customs breakup. IIRC, customs wasn't exorbitant, probably because of TOR.

- Did they have the receiver shipped to a US address, then drop-shipped by a second party over to India? How much did the shipping/customs/extras cost?

No, but I've imported other 110V stuff and had them shipped via Borderlinx when they used to take care of customs with an import cap. IIRC, Borderlinx stopped the import duty cap and now have the courier collect import duty at actuals, I might be wrong though, it's been a while since I used their services.

Were there any hiccups along the way?
- If the imported receiver was built for 120V, where did they find a reliable step-down transformer in India? Any hiccups in running it?

Search for Maxine. They sell on Ebay.in and sometimes even on Amazon.in The stepdowns I used, were a Raksha for about 9 years and the last 3 years a Maxine both made in India have been working fine for the past 12 years powering a receiver, Bluray player, a network streamer and a few other 110V equipment.

 

[oracle1974]

My recent experience:
1. on using borderlinx
i just imported Arcam AVR750 receiver from the US using Borderlinx. The customs put a fine and penalty of Rs.15000 as the consignment value is greater than Rs.1 lakh besides duty and octroi. The reason given is that an individual cannot import goods more than Rs 1 lakh.

Borderlinx ideally should not allow goods valued more than Rs. 1 lakh use their facility . I will be anyway taking up the issue with Borderlinx. I maybe missing something here but did not dispute it too much as i did not want to hold back the clearance.

2. on the product:
Arcam AVRs typically come with a switch at the rear which allows selecting either of the two - 110 or 230 V - voltages.

regards

 

[prg966]

I got a receiver myself when I traveled to USA. I bought it off eBay.
I didn't have to pay customs since I carried it along with myself

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[hdmaniac]

I had ordered my projector from Amazon.com (US) in 2014 and received it in 12 days. Amazon calculates import fees (max based on consignment category) and shipping cost and collects it upfront when you place the order. I even got a small refund from Amazon based on actual import fees collected by customs so my one time experience with Amazon global shipping was very good.

I would recommend ordering items that are fulfilled by Amazon. Amazon.de looks like a better choice since you would get 230V AVRs.