Shipping Speakers + Receiver to India

-MK-

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Hello All,

I've read few discussions on this before, but my situation is little bit different. I have Sony Core series Atmos setup (5.1.2) and STR-DN1080. I am moving back to India pretty soon and can avail Transfer of Residence since I lived here for 5 years.

Now, having said that - does it still makes sense to ship these items back to India? I did get these items on a really good deal, but overall I am still trying to evaluate if it is worth the hassle.
 
Shipping charges will be almost half of the new price of those things. Considering the used market value its a no go. Sell it off if possible there itself. Also no warranty is covered in india. Too many things to consider. I would only ship if its a small bookshelf or an small amp if they are very rare and very expensive despite their weight. For example: sending a pair of spendor s3 from abroad make sense as they are small and not so common and expensive in india. But i would not try sending their floorstanders as despite the sound the money spend on shipping them is not worth. Thats my opinion.just wait for other replies as well.
 
Hello All,

I've read few discussions on this before, but my situation is little bit different. I have Sony Core series Atmos setup (5.1.2) and STR-DN1080. I am moving back to India pretty soon and can avail Transfer of Residence since I lived here for 5 years.

Now, having said that - does it still makes sense to ship these items back to India? I did get these items on a really good deal, but overall I am still trying to evaluate if it is worth the hassle.

Are you shipping in a lot of other stuff? It can make a lot of sense to bring your Hifi back in those circumstances
The rules 3 years ago allowed for dutyfree import for Hifi, kitchen appliances etc. There was duty payable on televisions etc, but the rest was allowed duty free.
But it makes sense to have a customs agent to help with these things.

Assuming you are shipping other stuff back; if you are heavy into hifi, this is a great time to "upgrade" since there custom rules do not specify any limits on the value of equipment, just that you can bring in 1 hifi system. (again this was the rules in 2017)
 
I shipped a lot of stuff to India and used a relocation service when I moved back in 2010.

My only regret I did not invest more and bring in more hifi or HT equipment.

Was hassle free and under transfer of residence I hardly paid any duty.

If you plan to bring a lot of stuf back then it is worth it
 
I shipped a lot of stuff to India and used a relocation service when I moved back in 2010.

My only regret I did not invest more and bring in more hifi or HT equipment.

Was hassle free and under transfer of residence I hardly paid any duty.

If you plan to bring a lot of stuf back then it is worth it
I did the same by the end of 2017, and regret not knowing many things back then.

If your employer takes care of your relocation, sell those Sony's and go big.

Something like Emotiva, Triangle, Klipsch or SVS floorstanders as they're overpriced in India.

Also checkout hifishark for used gear which can be a steal.

Talk to your HR and tell them that you've contracted a disease called Audiophilia :p
 
Thanks guys for the responses. My employer will be providing relocation assistance (but as lump sum instead of they handling the shipping). So this meant, I need to talk to various shipping companies and understand if it is worth or not.

Coming to the other items, I do have couple of boxes (books, a lot of 4k blurays), few minor items. Most of the items that I want to ship are electronics :D

Now, I know that the receiver won't work directly in India (110v), so I have to consider that factor as well along with the other factors discussed in this thread.
 
I took care of my own shipping. Got back everything from furniture to appliances...minimal investment to set up the house when I got back and the best part was we had good 'sound' from Day 1.

Even if you are shipping it, it is worth it ..go big.
 
Thanks guys for the responses. My employer will be providing relocation assistance (but as lump sum instead of they handling the shipping). So this meant, I need to talk to various shipping companies and understand if it is worth or not.

Coming to the other items, I do have couple of boxes (books, a lot of 4k blurays), few minor items. Most of the items that I want to ship are electronics :D

Now, I know that the receiver won't work directly in India (110v), so I have to consider that factor as well along with the other factors discussed in this thread.

It's not completely end of the road, you can get a step-down transformer to run you 110v equipments in India.
 
Thanks guys for the responses. My employer will be providing relocation assistance (but as lump sum instead of they handling the shipping). So this meant, I need to talk to various shipping companies and understand if it is worth or not.

Coming to the other items, I do have couple of boxes (books, a lot of 4k blurays), few minor items. Most of the items that I want to ship are electronics :D

Now, I know that the receiver won't work directly in India (110v), so I have to consider that factor as well along with the other factors discussed in this thread.
I ran my entire HT setup and LCD TV on a step down transformer for years till i eventually upgraded to my existing setup locally to a stereo setup which uses 230V

I still have my old subwoofer though which I run on 110V and it works fine. So its not terribly bad. I did the entire move on my own and paid for it and shopped around with a few companies. Wasn't too bad
 
Yep, gotcha. Thanks guys, will shop around for shipping companies and most likely ship those items.

Will let you guys know once I come back and setup these. Can't wait for that :D
 
Sorry one last question: When customs calculates the value, is it based on the price that I purchased here or do they have generic prices for these?
 
If I recall correctly, certain items are exempt. Back in 2010 only 1 laptop per household was allowed. So two old laptops that I shipped back, one of them was charged. Some other items were also charged. How much and what depends on the relocation service,

In the end I shipped half a container load which was basically my entire 2 bedroom apartment and I paid hardly anything
 
In my case, they calculated the value based on Indian price if that's available. Else, they'll take the US Amazon price (or Audiogon or ebay) and calculate duties accordingly. If you need any more info on that, PM me and I can help you out.
 
Since you have asked "is it worth the hassle", i take it that the emotional connect with the said equipment is not what you have in mind, but if it makes sense financially to ship them to India.

1. You could find the demand for these versions in the "for sale" and "wanted" forums here. I havent checked, but I dont think there might be much demand for Sony products. General purpose forums like ebay and such might net you a better price IMHO. But if it costs next to nothing to bring them, i would say, yes why not.

2. Find the price in amazon.in and if its listed 50% lower, it might be worthwhile.


In general otherwise, if you are a music afficionado, i would recommend getting a setuo you always wanted, (or value for money but not available in India like ncore 400 based DIY amps etc) and brining them here. That would have a better chance of netting you a "no loss" sale or atleast a worthy setup you cant buy in India.

Good luck.
 
Hello All,

I've read few discussions on this before, but my situation is little bit different. I have Sony Core series Atmos setup (5.1.2) and STR-DN1080. I am moving back to India pretty soon and can avail Transfer of Residence since I lived here for 5 years.

Now, having said that - does it still makes sense to ship these items back to India? I did get these items on a really good deal, but overall I am still trying to evaluate if it is worth the hassle.
I would always prefer to ship the items back to india only if the item cannot be purchased or not available in India and if its really necessary.
It would be additional cost for you to ship the items / and custom duties. (Still customs will charge duty even if you have Transfer of Residence . May be you may get some concessions).

Also You need to buy voltage converters to make your devices work in india.
In India, you have tons of options available and you can definitely get better speakers and HT combos. So i would recommend to sell off and get new HT package in india. :)
 
In India, you have tons of options available and you can definitely get better speakers and HT combos. So i would recommend to sell off and get new HT package in india. :)

Agree and disagree :)

You can always go for good pre-owned electronics with universal voltage compatibility (ex. Parasound, Emotiva, most chi fi amps and DACs), but warranty would be an issue if something bad were to happen.

You will find the most value in open box, refurb or pre-owned passive speakers which doesn't have the voltage constraint. You can show the Audiogon/Craigslist ad to the customs officer to put a value on what you purchased.

(Price of pre-owned equipment you want to purchase x 1.75) + shipping <= (0.75 x price of same equipment in India). This is a rough estimate to check if it's worth buying there.

Just don't buy something that is marginally expensive in India.
 
Sorry one last question: When customs calculates the value, is it based on the price that I purchased here or do they have generic prices for these?
if you show them an invoice, they will go with that. otherwise they have catalogs (though no idea where they source those catalogs from). i guess they are also fairly savvy with websearches. my shipping agent did ask for bills, especially for the kitchen appliances (I got back a bean-to-cup espresso machine.)

As an aside, i had brought back a homepod on a trip to US last year. it was part of handluggage so it came up on the scanner at the airport. I could not find the bill in that confusion but they checked the price (and even confirmed the discounted price that I had got) online. This was mumbai airport
 
Yeah, currently the shipping is coming around close to $2k (including other items, excluding customs) which is why I am evaluating these options again. I am not too attached to these products, I've brought it 6 months back though. So kinda thinking if I should ship vs sell it. I am still talking to other movers and see how this goes.

I am not too sure how are the prices in India actually, need to browse more threads and see the average prices but if possible can anyone give me an average estimate on similar setup (5.1.2, DV supported receiver with atleast 6 HDMI inputs) assuming the room would be around 15' x 10'.
 
if you show them an invoice, they will go with that. otherwise they have catalogs (though no idea where they source those catalogs from). i guess they are also fairly savvy with websearches. my shipping agent did ask for bills, especially for the kitchen appliances (I got back a bean-to-cup espresso machine.)

As an aside, i had brought back a homepod on a trip to US last year. it was part of handluggage so it came up on the scanner at the airport. I could not find the bill in that confusion but they checked the price (and even confirmed the discounted price that I had got) online. This was mumbai airport
In my case too they went with the value I declared. I dont think I had invoices available for quite a few items as they were more than 4-5 years old.
 
Yeah, currently the shipping is coming around close to $2k (including other items, excluding customs) which is why I am evaluating these options again. I am not too attached to these products, I've brought it 6 months back though. So kinda thinking if I should ship vs sell it. I am still talking to other movers and see how this goes.

I am not too sure how are the prices in India actually, need to browse more threads and see the average prices but if possible can anyone give me an average estimate on similar setup (5.1.2, DV supported receiver with atleast 6 HDMI inputs) assuming the room would be around 15' x 10'.
Here Is a formula that you can use. Given that the money you have paid is sunk cost

Sum(cost of shipping + cost of duty for all items) vs. Sum(cost of replacement in india - salvage value in your current country)

salvage value is what you will get for selling that stuff in your current country.

i think you dominant question should be, will you ship anything at all? The moment you do, it makes sense to bring back as much stuff as you can, within reason. At least this formula worked well for me when I was shifting, sold all the daughter’s barbies(got a good price, much better than india price), sold the small screen tvs, but imported the large screen tvs(worked out cheaper, even with duty) obvious brought back all the audio

hope this will help you in making your decision
 
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