Travel Technology - Buying a laptop in the USA is difficult without a us credit card.

hi all Fters,

i have a dilema and like to hear opinions.

Im currently in need of a laptop to use and like to have it by around 7 jan. I will be in usa at that time. My basic requirements are that it has be wi-fi enabled, enought ram(min 1gb) and harddrive(100gb or so) and if possible a 12" screen.
i thought i found a good one in toshiba u205-s5034 with good reviews.Problems is that every US online store i have tried either said thay do not accept international credit cards or not possible. the usual suspects like circuit city either are sold out or charge very high due to taxes.

any advise?

Online stores almost never take non US cards, though you may be able to call their telesales departments and have them manually run the card. Isn't this something you can pick up in store instead? Some online sites allow you to order online and just authorize the purchase with a CC for pickup in store. Stores usually don't have a problem with non US cards.

I'm pretty sure that frys.com accepts non US cards, as does Tigerdirect.

You won't be able to get away from the taxes unless you plan to ship it to a state with no sales tax, we all have to pay it.

thanks for the quick response. frys.com doesn't have laptops that are 12" screens, tigerdirect charges usd200 more than circuit city or its competitors.

you are right that online stores almost never accept non-us credit cards and thats the problem and me picking up from the store is something im considering pending on how far the store is from my hotel.

The Apple Store can take non-US credit cards if you call in the order. I believe the US toll-free number is 1-800-my-apple. They're open 24/7.

They don't have a 12" laptop right now either, though.

I will be happy to charge the laptop for you if you'll pay me cash/cheque in US dollars. :)

I will be happy to charge the laptop for you if you'll pay me cash/cheque in US dollars. :)

Would that be on a credit card that gives, say, reward FF miles?

The Apple Store can take non-US credit cards if you call in the order. I believe the US toll-free number is 1-800-my-apple. They're open 24/7.

They don't have a 12" laptop right now either, though.

Apple sells Toshiba laptops? :confused:

Apple sells Toshiba laptops? :confused:

I was just going to ask the same.

I think that the poster is referring to a similar laptop being sold at the Apple store.

I think that the poster is referring to a similar laptop being sold at the Apple store.

I know what the poster meant, my response was a little tongue in cheek, and a little "yawn" as the "buy a mac" advise is getting really really boring.

I understand the never ending need for some members to convert people to the Apple side, but when someone says they want a specific Toshiba model, the correct answer is NOT "Call Apple".

I know what the poster meant, my response was a little tongue in cheek, and a little "yawn" as the "buy a mac" advise is getting really really boring.

I understand the never ending need for some members to convert people to the Apple side, but when someone says they want a specific Toshiba model, the correct answer is NOT "Call Apple".

I agree.

/E

Wasn't meant for conversion purposes. Just a data point.

People search these threads sometimes (or so we'd liketo think), and someone looking for something other than a 12" lappy might come along. Or who knows? Maybe there'll once again be a 12" Apple at some point.

It's nice to be able to publicly speculate after 7 years of that not being allowed.

Would that be on a credit card that gives, say, reward FF miles?

Ya think? ;)

I didn't know there was any other kind of credit card. :D

Amazon take non-US cards, and the have the one you are looking for at $1,173.99 after rebate - though you will likely have difficulty claiming the rebate, which would make it $1,248.99. Free ship and no tax in most states.

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-U205-S5034-Widescreen-SuperMulti/dp/B000IXD86W/sr=11-1/qid=1167416157/ref=sr_11_1/105-4393297-2838860

I share the OP's pain... It's like a child looking at all those yummie candies... yet unable to get any of them :(

I will be happy to charge the laptop for you if you'll pay me cash/cheque in US dollars. :)

A friend of mine received a gift of $2000 USD in American Express gift checks from an unknown person in the Republic of Benin - a close neighbor of Nigeria. If you buy me something worth $1000, I can get you $2000. ;)

Ah, just like Lionel Hutz's old business card.

Original: "Works on contingency. No money down."

Lionel to Bart and Lisa who actually want him to work on cotingency: "Oh, they got this all screwed up."

Modified: "Works on contingency? No, money down!"

That's my policy too. ;)

Ive never had a problem using my (UK) credit card with Amazon, all tax free too. On what grounds do the other stores refuse non US cards? Surely one valid and authorised Visa/Amex/Mastercard number is as good as the next to them...

On what grounds do the other stores refuse non US cards? Surely one valid and authorised Visa/Amex/Mastercard number is as good as the next to them...

On the grounds of their merchant account agreements. The merchant banks charge the merchants rates (percentage of sale and per-transaction fees and in some cases, monthly servicing fees) based on the amount of expected fraud for their business category, if they do mail/phone order or not, etc. Apparently they rate those accepting orders using foreign addresses and foreign based credit card accounts much higher than those that don't. As I recall, at one time, address matching wasn't available for most foreign based accounts either, which is a good method of fraud prevention. Plus, in this case, a foreign account holder wants to use a foreign account to have an expensive purchase shipped to a domestic address that isn't on file with the credit card company. All those things add up to a lot of red flags for the merchant bank, even in this case where the purchase is probably legitimate.

I'm not defending these practices, so there's no point in arguing them with me. :)

At any rate, it shouldn't be a problem buying it at a brick and mortar store once the OP gets here, if she/he can find it in stock.

-David

On what grounds do the other stores refuse non US cards? Surely one valid and authorised Visa/Amex/Mastercard number is as good as the next to them...

Though Billing address and Shipping address are both in the Bank records that issued the card, ready to be verified... :

Thank you for purchasing from Compusa / Newegg / ..., however, we have cancelled your order because we have determined your credit card to have been issued outside the U.S. and we do not accept this form of payment.

Though Billing address and Shipping address are both in the Bank records that issued the card, ready to be verified... :


The credit card number tells them who issued the card, so they don't even need name/address to tell that. The first several digits identify the issuer.

Well, at least when we had a merchant account, the merchant banks couldn't do address verification on non-US issued cards and non-US addresses. I don't know if that's changed or not, or is something subject to EU privacy rules or some other reason they don't do it. You would think in the era of global commerce that this stuff would be easy to do.

If you're a merchant, you have to abide by the rules of your merchant bank agreement, or you risk losing your ability to accept credit cards. You have to run the credit card through their system for authorization for the charge. They are the one's calling the shots for this type of stuff. Obviously, it's possible to accept foreign issued cards, since many merchants do it regularly, but it isn't the norm here. I'm sure the really big etailers pay for that service and probably can negotiate reasonable pricing deals with their merchant banks for doing it, but for smaller retailers/etailers, the cost of accepting those cards for internet/phone orders is much higher (for all their transactions, not just those few foreign-issued ones) than not accepting them if your merchant bank will even permit it.

-David

Have you considered getting something like a temporary virtual credit card (which is really more like a debit card than credit card)? I'm not sure whether they will be accepted either but if they are issued in the US that I would think they are, but obviously the problem is then transferring the money over to put into these "virtual credit cards" before you make the purchase.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9789/temporary_credit_cards_for_online_shopping.html

Again, I have not tried it myself but then, if you are in the US and can wait until you arrive and then buy it, then you don't have to go through all that hassle.

It won't help the OP, but I assume that the Americans don't consider Canada to be non-US :). I use my Canadian card all the time for online purchases and have them either shipped as gifts to friends or send them to my hotel when I visit.

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

The difference is Visa/Mastercard NA (north america) vs. Visa/Mastercard Intl.

Both of the intl companies do not support AVS. Visa/MC NA rules for MOTO merchants states that they must use AVS.

So when your non-north american credit card authorization goes through the system here, it rejects it because of no AVS. It IS possible to run charges through manually but many it is a LOT of work to manually process a transaction. Some etailers have decided to simply not accept non-north american cards.

The anger/frusration/etc should be directed towards Visa Intl and Mastercard Intl. It is their antique system that isn't fully compatible with their north american counterparts.

Would something like an Amex Travelers Cheque card issued in the US do the trick (i.e. get it in the US and top it up from your none US credit card)? Or is this going down the same road as a temporary virtual card?

The difference is Visa/Mastercard NA (north america) vs. Visa/Mastercard Intl.

Both of the intl companies do not support AVS. Visa/MC NA rules for MOTO merchants states that they must use AVS.

So when your non-north american credit card authorization goes through the system here, it rejects it because of no AVS. It IS possible to run charges through manually but many it is a LOT of work to manually process a transaction. Some etailers have decided to simply not accept non-north american cards.

The anger/frusration/etc should be directed towards Visa Intl and Mastercard Intl. It is their antique system that isn't fully compatible with their north american counterparts.

maceyr,
In order to apply for a US credit card - US documents are required that the non-US most surely will fail to comply. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

myfrogger,
Haven't tried with my AMEX (issued elsewhere) - Are you saying that with the AMEX I should be able to buy - and problem is only Visa/MC ? Thanks.

When I was resident in the states for 2 months I never had any problems using AMEX (issued in th UK with a UK address) to buy things online and get them delivered to my US hotel address.

Try your AMEX if you have one.

i thank everyone for their responses. I took up the advise of using amazon and am happy to report that i bought a sony vgn-c140G/B from amazon directly. it doesn't have a pc card slot but its cheaper than toshiba and has abt same specs.

I don't have much information using AMEX...I am about 75% sure that all AMEX cards are issued by the same company. I have a sneaking suspicion that an AMEX would work...but there is only one way to find out.

Report back to us and let us know...I'm very curious now that you bring it up!

Well, at least when we had a merchant account, the merchant banks couldn't do address verification on non-US issued cards and non-US addresses. I don't know if that's changed or not, or is something subject to EU privacy rules or some other reason they don't do it. You would think in the era of global commerce that this stuff would be easy to do.

It's not only EU privacy rules. Counties such as Australia have decent privacy laws too. This sort of thing is theoretically easy to do, but not easy to do when communicating the data to a country (such as the US) which has very lax privacy laws, such that allowing information to pass to such a country may breach privacy laws of the country they have come from.

Address checking is a lousy idea anyhow, since you may not want products delivered to your card billing address. (eg. All of my cards' billing addresses are my PO Box.) Use of the security code is a slight improvement on using card number alone. Use of the card's PIN should have been happened long ago, IMHO, rather than a series of other, less effective, measures, such as address verification and the security code on the card.

However, you can blame the merchants too. International address verification has been possible for many years, but not for automated systems. If the vendor puts the payment through Amex manually, it is possible to get the address checked by Amex's international department. However, most online merchants can't be bothered taking the extra effort.

Ive never had a problem using my (UK) credit card with Amazon, all tax free too. On what grounds do the other stores refuse non US cards? Surely one valid and authorised Visa/Amex/Mastercard number is as good as the next to them...


Nor I with a Canadian credit card on Amazon.com (as opposed to our own Amazon.ca site). I do this quite often when I am heading to the US and prices are cheaper on the US site. Just bought OFFICE2004 for Mac from Amazon.com for U$209 (upgrade version) and had it sent to my hotel in the US city I was visiting. No tax, no shipping charges, no credit card problem. But I know some sites do not accapt non-US credit cards, including a few airline sites (like USAir).

one minor issue is that amazon.com has emailed me wanting me to send a photocopy of my previous month's credit card statements or asking my bank to call amazon to verify my details. i called my bank and they told me not to do so. Expedia also called me(when i used an asia based credit card) asking me to verify my address details which i was very reluctant.

Just to reopen this topic...
Considering an Apple MacBook 2Ghz / 80Gb HD (white mid-range model)
with an Aussie c/c.

Amazon offers free shipping & no sales tax - still free to Kauai or Mauai, HI?
If so it might be worthwhile for me to arrange to have it delivered to my hotel.

Have you heard if Apple would ship to a hotel, or do I make arrangemetns with one of the very nice HI FTers? Alternatively I might be better to go to an Apple Store - can I find one in HNL?

Cheers and sorry to make it an Apple topic - this is virtually the same question as Trekkie's OP... ^

Just to reopen this topic...
Considering an Apple MacBook 2Ghz / 80Gb HD (white mid-range model)
with an Aussie c/c.

Amazon offers free shipping & no sales tax - still free to Kauai or Mauai, HI?
If so it might be worthwhile for me to arrange to have it delivered to my hotel.

Have you heard if Apple would ship to a hotel, or do I make arrangemetns with one of the very nice HI FTers? Alternatively I might be better to go to an Apple Store - can I find one in HNL?

Cheers and sorry to make it an Apple topic - this is virtually the same question as Trekkie's OP... ^

http://www.apple.com/retail/alamoana/week/20070325.html