Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

kirkswig

May 17, 2004, 4:26 PM

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Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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I'm planning on making the move now very soon. I'm over my fear of getting the FM-3, moving my stuff down, and dealing with being in a strange city all by myself without knowing the language.

The only thing that's keeping me up at nights now is maintaining my computer. I'm going to be bringing four (maybe even five) of them down with me. My main computer is homebuilt, which is to say I get the various components by shopping on a site like pricewatch.com.

Now, I understand that I'm going to have to make some adjustments, but I must be missing something because the situation in Mexico does indeed seem dire. I go to MercadoLibre -- the only computer sales site I've seen listed here in these forums -- to do a bit of comparison shopping and it is bleak! I mean, we're talking prices that are at best double of what I'd have to pay in the states. The selection isn't all that great either... the parts available appear to be approx. a year behind the U.S.

I can deal with being a year behind. And I can deal with a hefty price differential. But I'm not sure I can deal with both at the same time.

Ordering stuff from the states seems like an option, but I've read I think everything that's been written here on the subject, and it just seems very dubious. I'm not sure I even understand it at this point. I have something shipped to my door in Mexico via FedEx say. How does Mexico even get involved? How do I pay the duty? It doesn't seem there even is a fixed percentage... it seems like its the roll of the dice. I'm not sure I can do that when ordering a pair of, say, AMD Athlon64 CPU's that together retail for close to $1K US.

And God forbid I should have to return something. How does that work? When the company sends me the replacement, do I end up having to pay duty again?

Yikes!

Obviously, the best solution would be to have a really good computer store that I can order from in Mexico. I read a comment one of you said with respect to not trusting a site when you couldn't understand the language, but I think with Google's language features that really isn't a concern, yes? For instance, MercadoLibre
works well when automatically translated. We just need something that has a better selection/prices. Any ideas?

Donald

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

jennifer rose

May 17, 2004, 6:04 PM

Post #2 of 7 (885 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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Take a look at http://www.futuremex.com

johanson / Moderator

May 17, 2004, 7:39 PM

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Re: [kirkswig] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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Things aren't all that bad here. I friend of mine in Ajijic just bought a Dell server via 800 # and had it shipped just like in the states. He paid only slightly more than in the states. When the hard drive failed, he phoned an 800 # and a Dell rep from Guadalajara came out to Ajijic and did a swap.

Another friend and neighbor builds computers as a hobby (almost business), and finds access to modern parts at prices close to what he would pay in the states. Does he pay 10 or 25% more. I don't know. But it's usually somewhere in-between. The prices certainly are not double.

And no, most parts available are maybe weeks later in arriving in Mexico, not years.

kirkswig

May 17, 2004, 7:39 PM

Post #4 of 7 (873 views)

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Re: [jennifer rose] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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I'd love to. Is there a trick to using websites from Mexico? It's just a single page... no links or buttons or anything like that, least not that I can see.

The name sounds good though.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

Rolly

May 17, 2004, 7:58 PM

Post #5 of 7 (868 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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You're right; that link goes to a single page, and that's all. I looked at the source code and there is no onward link just that Macromedia Flash thing -- Oh how I wish I had an ad killer that would zap those damn Flash things!

I guess Jennifer must have gotten the URL before the page got broken.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

kirkswig

May 17, 2004, 8:03 PM

Post #6 of 7 (867 views)

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Re: [johanson] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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The dell.com.mx site is very interesting. That might be what I end up doing... ordering from Dell. I don't absolutely *have* to build my own box, I just got used to doing that because it was always the cheapest option. You're right, the prices aren't that out of line, and the technology seems reasonably up-to-date, although I'm a little concerned with the selection of graphics cards... they steer you either towards very high level cards for technical applications like CAD, or very old cards that aren't even listed anymore.

Thanks for the reply.

(after seeing Dell's great support for Mexico, I thought I'd check out some other manufacturers. Apple sadly does not sell directly to Mexico, though they do sell direct to other nations, which is kind of odd. Is it possible that the duty one pays when bringing items into Mexico only applies to America? In other words, would it be worth investigating purchasing an Apple computer in some other country and having it shipped from there to Mexico?)

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.

kirkswig

May 17, 2004, 8:10 PM

Post #7 of 7 (864 views)

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Re: [kirkswig] Mexico's answer to pricewatch.com?

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It's interesting, the dell.com.mx site doesn't translate well using Google. I'm guessing some sites do, and some sites don't? Odd though, I wonder why that is.

To boldly go where no wig has gone before.