Best place to buy f...
 
Notifications
Clear all

Best place to buy forensic equipment?

9 Posts
5 Users
0 Likes
663 Views
(@jemfrench)
Posts: 9
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hello this is my first post so please excuse me if I make any mistakes.

I am currently looking to purchase some Tableau forensic products. I have obtained a quote from a UK company (£2168) and from a US company (£1870) as you can see there is a difference of £298. All prices include shipping and taxes.
The only benefit in buying from the UK company seams to be UK technical support. Is that worth £300?
If anybody has some advice it would be greatly appreciated?

Jem

 
Posted : 12/09/2012 9:11 pm
(@jonathan)
Posts: 878
Prominent Member
 

I'd take into account;

- Customs duty (around 10%) for importing goods from outside of the EU
- Whether the power sockets are UK-ready or not
- How much will it cost and the time taken to return faulty products to the US.

 
Posted : 12/09/2012 10:30 pm
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

Just in case
http//customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014

Tariffs/Duty charges are not so easy to calculate
http//www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm

And Import VAT may apply, together with "advanced payment fees".
See here
http//www.dutycalculator.com/

An example
http//www.dutycalculator.com/help_center/example-calculation-import-duty-and-taxes-for-a-laptop-iphone-and-camera/

The site provides both a calculator and a "classification helper", but with this latter besides being no guarantees it is not easy to "get" the right classification.

jaclaz

 
Posted : 12/09/2012 11:46 pm
Adam10541
(@adam10541)
Posts: 550
Honorable Member
 

From personal experience in equipping out labs I'd say pay the extra and get from a local reseller.

Just saves you so many headaches in the long run and when it comes down to it an extra 300 is not much.

 
Posted : 13/09/2012 6:27 am
(@jemfrench)
Posts: 9
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hello,
Thanks for all the advice. I have looked at the duty costs, if declared as a "hard drive adapter" then there is no duty to pay. Which I believe is the best description of a write blocker.
I think I'll go back to the UK supplier and try to knock them down on price.

Again thanks for you advice.

Jem

 
Posted : 13/09/2012 2:09 pm
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

Hello,
Thanks for all the advice. I have looked at the duty costs, if declared as a "hard drive adapter" then there is no duty to pay. Which I believe is the best description of a write blocker.

But still the VAT should. ?
Calculations made on the afore mentioned site
From where to where you import
EditImporting from United States
Importing to United Kingdom

2
The type of product, its value and where it was manufactured
Product description Tableau
Product category Hard drive adapter (8471800000)
Product value £1870.00
Country of manufacture United States

3
The cost of shipping and insurance of importing
Shipping costs £20.00
Insurance costs £20.00

Calculation results
Total customs value £1910.00
- Duty £0.00
- VAT £382.00
Total import duty & taxes due £382.00
Total landed cost £2292.00

Calculation notes
Notes on duty & taxes rates
Tableau is duty free and has a VAT rate of 20% .
Notes on import taxes due
Please note that your shipping provider may add an additional handling fee

Or were the UK £2168 excluded VAT?

jaclaz

 
Posted : 13/09/2012 3:08 pm
(@jemfrench)
Posts: 9
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hello jaclaz thanks for your comments. All the prices i quoted included all shipping costs and VAT.
A more exact explanation of costs are below-

USA-
Products= £1489.39 (EX VAT)
Shipping= £85 (Shipping will be done my TNT account in UK)
VAT= £314.88
Total= £1889.27

UK
Products= £1799 (EX VAT)
Shipping= £8
VAT= 361.40
Total= £2168.40

Difference = £279.13

Another point if anything was to go wrong with the item the UK supplier would end up contacting Tableau in the US as there is no Tableau UK office as far as i know?

If the UK supplier can't match the USA prices then i'm strongly considering purchasing all my Forensic products from the US.

Thanks again for the advice

Jem

 
Posted : 13/09/2012 5:28 pm
(@jonathan)
Posts: 878
Prominent Member
 

If the UK supplier can't match the USA prices then i'm strongly considering purchasing all my Forensic products from the US.

I'd be a little wary due to the reasons I and others already outlined.

However, the price differential is annoying. There is an effective monopoly in the UK on many forensic hardware products as there is only one distributor. That's not healthy.

 
Posted : 16/09/2012 2:12 pm
KungFuAction
(@kungfuaction)
Posts: 109
Estimable Member
 

From personal experience in equipping out labs I'd say pay the extra and get from a local reseller.

Just saves you so many headaches in the long run and when it comes down to it an extra 300 is not much.

I agree with Adam. The amount and accessibility of support you receive from a local company far outweighs the difference in the prices you have mentioned.

 
Posted : 17/09/2012 10:44 am
Share: