Originally Posted by
traveler18
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Frankly - almost anything at the duty free stores can be purchased in the US for less or similar prices.
I needed to replace a high end Braun shaver. It was close to $500 at the duty free. I ordered from Amazon pre-boarding and it had been delivered in the US before I landed - for $230
Yeah, apart from the kick to have purchased something "without" tax (but with extremely increased profit margin for the vendor), there aren't many reasons to purchase at duty free stores.
Some 25 years ago, I got "stopped" by plain cloth custom officers for carrying a nearly brand new laptop, when -nearly legit- passing the employee gates at a major EU airport. I got accused to have purchased the thing "duty free", etc. It did take them a while to understand, I am not the idiot who thinks it's cheaper to purchase "duty free", than as a company (with VAT reclaim) from a major local outlet in the country, etc. Only after some 15-20 minutes the coin dropped, they were making a fool out of themselves, I got "instructed" to move on and "warned" that I should always carry the relevant invoice, etc. Being the nasty me, I kept on nagging them with all kinds of friendly questions.........