OWC Data Doubler Alternative in UK

it is a great device, but i looked on OWC's website and it would be slightly expensive to buy and ship from america to the UK, so i was wondering if anyone knew any sites in the UK that do a similar product, or other methods as to swapping out a macbook pro optical drive for an SSD?

sorry if i posted in the wrong place mods.

thanks in advance

Did you inquire as to the cost of shipping? Some of our forum members who live in Australia purchase from OWC and have stated that even with shipping it's less expensive than buying it at home. The US $ is also weak right now so exchange rates should be favorable for you.

I'm one of those Australian members
The con is the UK as opposed to here is that for online purchases here under $1000 we don't pay GST (goods and services tax - 10%), where as in the UK I believe you pay 20% extortion (VAT).
The shipping for me for a HD and RAM from OWC was only $7.39.
Even with the 10% GST, it would still have been cheaper with the shipping than it would have been from Australian suppliers.

BTW, if Harvey Norman and the retailers association here get their way, soon we will have to have to pay tax on orders under $1000.
Google Gerry Harvey if you are interested in it.
He is an evil man who has major chains here offering ridiculous credit and long term interest free terms to suck in people to purchase things that they can't afford, and his prices aren't very competitive, but regardless, he makes an absolute killing, and is crying "poor me" suggesting that retailers aren't getting a fare go.
Nothing stopping him from giving more competitive prices and advertising online.

Sorry about the rant

In the UK we dont have a set rate, products have to be paid on a "Duty" and on top of that a tax (20%)

Lets say you buy a pc from the USA for $1000 (£630) and the customs stop the package, you are liable to a "duty" of 24% making the charge £151 ($240) and on top of that you must pay the tax at 20% of the total making a further £156 ($240) plus a "Handling fee by the mail company, this ranges from £17 ($27) to £35 ($55) so if we take the middle of the fee as the average your looking at a total charge from UK customs of £332 ($527).

Think yourself lucky though, I import several pieces of equipment from all over the world but from the USA I import rolling road systems, the duty on them is 47% !!!!!

6string said:

I'm one of those Australian members
The con is the UK as opposed to here is that for online purchases here under $1000 we don't pay GST (goods and services tax - 10%), where as in the UK I believe you pay 20% extortion (VAT).
The shipping for me for a HD and RAM from OWC was only $7.39.

Click to expand...

Thanks a ton for the explanation...very interesting. WOW...only $7.39 shipping from OWC to Australia for a hard drive...that's absolutely an awesome deal! I just ordered a bunch of items from OWC...shipping for me was $4.99...and I don't live nearly as far from OWC as as you (Australia)!

- Nick

viezu said:

In the UK we dont have a set rate, products have to be paid on a "Duty" and on top of that a tax (20%)

Lets say you buy a pc from the USA for $1000 (£630) and the customs stop the package, you are liable to a "duty" of 24% making the charge £151 ($240) and on top of that you must pay the tax at 20% of the total making a further £156 ($240) plus a "Handling fee by the mail company, this ranges from £17 ($27) to £35 ($55) so if we take the middle of the fee as the average your looking at a total charge from UK customs of £332 ($527).

Click to expand...

Many thanks for the detailed explanation of how the VAT and other taxes/fees/customs work in the UK. I always wanted to know a little more about it.

- Nick

Anyways, unless you go to a reputable company, the only others are those cheap brands on ebay. Even if shipping was a bit more expensive, which doesn't seem to be the case, I would still pay extra to get a DD from an actual company.

And why do you think buying the more expensive one is a better deal? Do you have a personal experience with both the DD and some of the cheaper ones? I have a friend with a cheap HDD cradle from ebay and he's reporting a stable performance and no problems using it. I personally don't think that the DD is very much better then the other out there in the market, just the name is more familiar. I'm willing to buy a cheaper one for myself, even though I have a high end 17 " MacBook Pro 2010.

cheers for the replies guys. its very interesting that it was that cheap for you to ship in a hard drive, i was under the impression that everything was extortionate in australia due to shipping! (i think that prize goes to us, a 5% increase in VAT and a tripling in student fees to name a few) lol.

however back to the shipping costs:

the cheapest option is $12.31 (US Postal First Class International)
and then it goes to $34.46 for priority package.

its quite odd that for australia its $7 dollars to ship a hard drive, yet for the UK its £7.

so would i have to pay VAT on top of that? and a handling fee? im quite confused. also shoud i go for priority? or standard?

If I am not mistaken, US to UK computer equipment is duty free and carries a 20% VAT. You will get a handling fee. The last time that I shipped equipment to the UK was over 2 years ago, but back then going the USPS to Royal Mail route was the cheapest for handling fees.

Here is a duty calculator.
Calculate your import duty in a few quick steps for free | The DutyCalculator

If you know someone in the US that you trust, you could have it shipped to them and then have them ship it to you as a gift. Might save you a few quid!!