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-   -   The Overseas Shopping Thread | What to buy, prices, advice (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/269580-overseas-shopping-thread-what-buy-prices-advice-2.html)

USA:

I am a regular traveler to the US. Always buy branded clothes and shoes for myself, wife and son on every trip. I prefer the premier outlet malls for the purchases.

Used to buy a lot of toys from the US. Mainly from ToysRUs, Target and Walmart. ToysRUs is gone now. But Target is still good for Legos. Have a bought a lot of Electronics (snapcircuit) kind of toys at Target.

Dollar Tree Stores are good for some simple items and are cheap.

Stores like Kohls sell some good kitchenware for cheap as well.

Wife always asks me to get shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, etc from the US. I buy these mostly from Target or Walmart. If you are going to Walmart, find the Walmart Super stores. These are big ones are always have everything and more.

In the last couple of trips, I have tried Costco for chocolate purchases. Though lot of people prefer Costco for everything, I find the options very less there.

Have not bought too many electronics from the US. In my recent trip to US in March 2023, was planning to get a Macbook for my son (utilizing a friends Apple employee discount at an Apple store). But found an almost similar deal at Croma (diff of about 6000 INR) and decided to buy it locally in India.


Thailand:

Bangkok is a shopping paradise for the ladies. Go to MBK mall for knock off designer branded handbags for the ladies (Gucci, MK, LV, etc). Walk next door to the Siam Paragon mall if you have the moolah to buy the originals of the above brands :)

Too many other malls to quote for ladies dress shopping.

You can find some good scale model cars for yourself at dirt cheap prices.

Most of the electronics in Thailand are knock offs as well. So beware. But there are some cool laptop accessories that you will never find in India.

Only problem with these malls is, you have to be good at bargaining. Start with about 40% of what they quote. Be prepared to leave with a mindset of having overpaid at the end.

Europe:

I will tell you what to avoid in Europe if you are travelling as a tourist.

1. Do not buy the chocolates from Brussels (Manequin Pis area). There are better ones in India.

2. Do not buy the cheese from Cheese making factories in Amsterdam. If possible, just skip the entire experience and go directly to Amsterdam city downtown for a good time.

I did buy my Wenger laptop backpack and Victorinox wallet from Interlaken in Switzerland. This was significantly costlier than what we can get in India. But the quality is definitely much better. Also, it was a purchased as a token of memory of my trip.

Singapore:

IPhones and other Apple products are cheaper than India and also get the VAT refund.

Almost all my purchases are done using my credit card or a Forex card.

Like a lot of guys have already mentioned almost everything is available these days in India so in general, yeah not much to buy overseas except a few specific things that either are not available in India or are significantly cheaper overseas. I have listed some that I can recollect from the last few years.

- Japanese Whiskey - I found it to be significantly cheaper in the US compared to India or Europe. For reference, a bottle of Hibiki costs around 18 - 19k INR in India, it used to be about Euro 120 ~ 130 in Belgium. The same bottle costs much cheaper in US

- Apple products - US is definitely cheaper even as compared to Europe and definitely compared to India.

- Timberland shoes - This is something where I may be wrong due to my limited / incorrect knowledge but a couple of years back when I bought my shoes at Timberland I checked the cost in India. I couldn't find any direct presence or store here but some online listings quoted 20k INR upwards. Same shoe costed Euro 180 in Belgium, let the Sale period come in and the same show you can get at a discount for Euro 110 making it significantly cheaper there compared to India.
Similar experience with Asics / Mizuno shoes.

A general point applicable for most of western Europe is to plan your shopping visits during their Sale season. It will be twice a year mostly July / Aug and Dec/Jan and you get some neat discounts on those products which make the buy significantly cheaper compared to India.

Cheers,
M

Other than high-end electronic items from USA (much cheaper compared to India) and souvenirs and local packed food from each country (if one is interested in it), I see no reason to buy anything from overseas now.

Almost all consumer goods are available in India and in most cases they are cheaper as well. As an irony, lately I used to buy items from India and take them overseas because it is cheaper and available faster here.

Dubai :
In Gold Sok, there are certain shops, you can buy ornaments without any wastage charges, just the cost of gold. Plus you can claim tax refund as you are a tourist. For Rs 1 Lac purchase, you will save somewhere around Rs 15-20k.


Bali
Lot of stone sculptures and hand made decorative items are available. People ship them to India for their homes.

As someone mentioned, the differential between shopping experience between India and abroad is shrinking but still my 2 cents.

1. Electronic items are still significantly cheaper in the US. Few items I would recommend buying would be:

Earbuds: For example, Tozo NC2 earbuds can be had for less than $40 and trust me, they are as good as corresponding Apple ones (~30k ratings). A non (noise cancelling) one itself costs Rs 3k here. I gifted it to my friends and after that bought some 6 pairs due to high demand!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0928S6JYB...lig_dp_it&th=1

Dashcams etc: upto 30% cheaper

Drones (if you can sneak one in here): WIDE variety and much cheaper!

Premium Mobile phones, laptops, tabs

Toys/trinkets: Legos, creative stationary items for drawing for kids etc

Jewelry: Swarovski might be cheaper if one likes that.

My wife tells cosmetics are also cheaper in the US and variety is big (I won't know how much!)

Clothes/shoes are OK but make more sense if you want to see better variety in bigger sizes than you can have in India, like me ( I am 6'3" with a shoe size between 11 and 12)

Even auto-parts could be cheaper for German imports. I have gotten brake pads (Akibono) etc. and they turned out to be upto 30-40% cheaper. Incredible as it may sound, I once got rotors for my Audi and they were 1/3rd the cost of what dealer quoted.

And there are some items that need not be brought to India, rather consumed there. California has the best cherries ( I love them) in Fall and those are difficult to find in India even if one is willing to pay money! And nectarines/blueberries too!

I dont shop like I used to due to local availability. I also have a phobia about extra weight. What I do buy or get bought in

• High end Apple iPhones
  
• Quality Smart Shoes
  
• Uniqlo stuff
  
• Business clothes for my daughter
  
• Selected food items
  
• Kitchen stuff
  
• Duty free niche whisky/gin
  
• Toblerone for the office

My shopping lists:

1. Innovative game, Puzzles, graphics etc. for kids
2. Electronic items: This is the biggest attraction
3. Kids clothing: Innovative and different designs clothing's which are not usually found in stores in India

Lately as GTO said, everything is now available in India, so I save lot of times in roaming around rather than shopping.

From Germany:

• Electronics are usually costlier than US or India, but chances are that you will get some good offers from the Electronic shops (like Saturn, Mediamarkt, Cyberport) for mobiles, gaming devices, laptops
  • I have found really good deals for Fire Stick, Chromecast, JBL & Sennheiser headsets
  • If interested, buy electronics of brands not available in India (like Sony & Honor) but you can forget the warranty though

• Watches - Usually I get good deals on Fossil and Swatch watches and other accessories from their showrooms

• Liquor - Branded Liquor are cheaper than India and also you get wide varieties of local liquor
  • Remember one can only carry 2 liters of Liquor, per passport, back to India
  • I am not promoting drinking in anyway, rather stating cheaper Item to shop from Germany

• Automobile parts and accessories specifically that of German car brands
  • Don't buy mapping solutions, usually they tend to have only the map of Europe and very few options to update.

• Clothing
  • Branded Winter Cloths - If not interested in branded, don't bother. You get better and cheaper items in India

There is also an option to get tax-refund if you are travelling on visiting/tourist visa. Global Blue. A traveler can claim the VAT refund from Germany using Global Blue. This option is available on almost all EU countries but the return percentage and minimum purchase amount defers. All you have to do is go to the Global Blue office, Fill up the form with passport and other personal details, Submit the Original bills of items purchased. Usually they don't', but they can ask to see the items that you have purchased. So carry them along with you.

I have availed this when I visited Berlin for the first time. I did submission, when we were travelling back from the Global Blue office at the airport and got some tax refund. And the whole process only took 30 mins.

Jordan: Returned 2 days back and was happy that there wasn't much to buy from there and bags were well below limit while returning.
However everywhere we go, irrespective of price/exchange rate we need a supermarket visit to buy meats that aren't allowed here and better cheese which is expensive here.
We bought Local artefacts, Jordan Dates,local Sweets, a lot of Dead Sea Products and I bought a few Vaping Liquids and Coils.

Very informative thread.

Will be transiting Sharjah next month. Any advise to pick up iPhone 15 and maybe MacBook Air M2 in the airport Dutyfree.

Going to Kyrgyzthan. Limited shopping there. Return flight has a 5 hr layover at Sharjah.

Anything else which can be picked up at these 2 places?

SouthKorea (Seoul)
I bought myself a PS5 (digital) during a sale for 30k INR!
(For the 20K advantage, I procured a Logitech G29 Steering and Pedal set with a friend from Germany).

Samsung phones retail at a cheaper rate (more so, if its an old model).

Regular household and quirky items (at Daiso) are a great buy over there. They're cheap but have a very good quality for the price (30INR to 300INR max).

Hey, where did you get the Arai from in singapore? Any places you can direct me to? Will be visiting next month. Looking for a tour cross/XD4. TIA

Singapore

Watches duty free (around 15 to 25 % discount). Omega, Tag Heuer (which have international warranty). It is better to wear the watch and send watch box through mail (from post office in airport). It minimises the hassle of duty at airport. (I used overseas credit card).

USA

(My brother brings them after buying during black Friday sale, usually carries in check-in luggage. As most of the items are opened and there will be gap between date of purchase and its arrival, they are deemed as used items).

- AV receiver (Yamaha 1070). It is way cheaper. (We will need step up transformer from 110 to 240 volt)
- Shoes
- Leather jacket
- iPhone and it’s accessories
- MacBook and it’s accessories
- Used Xbox

Australia

Dynaudio Evoke 20 Speakers - got it on discount during offer (had to bear cost for extra weight). Luckily, I got those piece which were manufactured in Denmark as compared to recent stock from China. (I used Australian credit card). It was opened and packed in check-in luggage - I guess it will be deemed as used product (it was bought 30 days before travel date). I was unable to claim 10% refund (as part of TRS) as bill/invoice was in my name and the speaker went with my and child in a different flight!

Search for a place called Chiap Lee Co (+65.6294.6550). They stock Arai and I had picked up my RX 7X from them earlier this year.

They don’t have any meaningful catalogue info online unfortunately nor are they very helpful on phone so you have to end up visiting them to figure whether they have what you want.

Thank you, this was the place I noted down but as you said, nothing meaningful available online. Will have to try my luck. Thanks:thumbs up

Will be going to phuket also, will try my luck for the iphone 15 pro max. Will have to find out how to book it online so that I can pick it up from the store.