iPhone Australia Forums

hey i was just wondering if anyone knew the process of buying a iPhone from a US store? if someone i knew were to goto the us could they buy one? do they require US id etc?

i know a few people going over in the future and was wondering if they could buy one while they were there (then bring it back for me of course)

cheers

to buy an iPhone from a US Store you unfortunately need a US credit card. they stopped taking cash so people couldnt buy and then resell. its has to be US credit card so they know the person is from US (could say your buying for friend but i think they have rules against that.

currently the best way of getting it cheap without having to go through dodgy ebayers is from macpro

they are selling 8GB iPhones for 549.99
http://www.mac-pro.com/Apple-iPhone

they change price often so dont know if that includes shipping.

otherwise there is always the chance you could stumble upon someone who is selling really cheap ($500) it does happen

hope that helps

Peter.

my friend is going to state early Mar,he tells me that there's a limit for each person which is 5 sets(399 bucks each maybe).
i do know they only accept credit cards(US),but i don't think my friend got any US card.and so far,he's already got a 5 sets order from his friends(i don't even know who they reli r,shame).
what im thinking is,i do have friend there,is't possible that he buying and sending one to me?
anyway,hope we can get iphone here ASAP!

I have a friend in the US who has offered to purchase an 8gb iPhone for me (once I transfer him the money) - which go for $399usd (which is around $423aud).
They have free shipping in the US, so I don't have to pay the extra to have it shipped to him. All I have to do is pay the extra $30-or-so shipping fee to let him mail it to me.

Overall I'll be paying around $450aud for an 8gb iPhone that is genuine from Apple.com. I'm fairly happy with the price, and I can just jailbreak it myself.

I think your forgetting US tax. And the chance of GST over here as well. But be interesting to see how you go. Keep us informed.

unless the item is declared a gift you will HAVE TO pay GST + duties tax... based on the fact the item isn't avail here customs told me it would be a higher preium. your best bet, pay $44.00 for USPS 6 day turnaround postase, includes insurance, tracking and as long as 'you friend' in the u.s says its a gift, your set (to be declared as a gift your item must be worth < $1000.00)

My friend over there said that he's going to gift-wrap it before sending it to me, and claim it as a gift. He said theres many tax's you can dodge by doing that and customs won't tear it open either (This is just what he tells me. I've never been in this situation before! heh)
I'm hoping to get it as cheap as possible.

Also, quite off topic here - If i'm not going to be using the iPod function on the iPhone, is it worth getting a 16gb at all? I'm just curious if 8gb will be enough.

What can we say, one gives 8gb of data, one gives 16gb. I've owned a 30gb ipod in the past, so I know I'll be wanting the 16gb as I love to have a lot of variety. It's your personal choice. Is 8gb of extra data worth another $100?