Whilst there’s a huge amount of interest in Windows Home Server outside the USA, the range of hardware available to buy there is wider and often cheaper than in Europe and Asia. One solution is to import your hardware directly from the States, an option I know many readers have considered. But how do you do it? What are the risks? How long does it take? In this guest post, Denison Chapman talks through his experience of importing a home server from the US.
First, why would you want to?
Well, although home servers are starting to be sold in Europe it has been very slow compared to the USA. HP finally decided to release, in selected countries only, the smaller, EX490, of their two latest Media Smart Server models late last year. The more powerful EX495 is still only available in the USA with no release plans in Europe. Other companies have been similarly slow to release in Europe.
Personally I was looking at buying a WHS for 18 months due to the fact that my existing systems were only just coping with the increasing load of my media files. I have seen from other posts on this web site that in the past quite a few people have arranged cross border purchases. So at the end of last year when my file space finally gave out and HP released the third generation MediaSmart servers I decided to buy. Given that a server is probably going to have to last up to 10 years, you are not likely, unless it breaks, to change it as often as a PC. My strategy would always be to buy the fastest and largest capacity available so I was a bit miffed when HP only released the smaller model here in Europe.
A quick check on the web showed that prices are substantially cheaper in the USA. No surprise there then, so off I go the arrange an import.
Issues with Importing from the USA
Finding a way to actually purchase a machine: The first problem is that most web sites will not ship outside the USA and Canada. In fact I could not find a retailer who would. The second is that very few, if any, European dealers are selling the EX495. I could not find any of these either.
So the easiest and cheapest way to import is to use a trip you would make anyway to the USA, buy a home server and then carry it back in your luggage. No carriage charges, no restrictions on where to buy, and, if you ‘forget’ to declare it, no import duty.
In my case I had no trips planned. However I do have a lot of friends based in the USA and these days that applies to a large proportion of the population. So my friend Jim agrees that I can arrange a delivery to his house and that he will forward it on to Europe. From this point on it’s easy.
I checked about 10 web sites, picked the cheapest, typed in Jim’s address in the USA, my VISA number and 4 days later, Jim received the home server.
Protecting your money: In the UK, though not elsewhere in Europe, buying with a credit card offers some protection if the box never arrives. In my case, as it happened, the cheapest retailer was selling via Amazon.com as well as direct which adds another level of protection.
Shipping: You have a few choices including the likes of DHL but we chose to use the US postal service. Estimates from DHL, FedEx, etc ranged from $135 to $190. USPS office was “only” $ 83.90 including insurance. I have to say that the downside of this was a somewhat slower service and poorer international tracking . DHL would guarantee 3-4 days. USPS took a week to get it out of the USA and then it got stuck for more than another week in customs clearance this end. Finally released into the snow, it was stuck another week getting to the local post office, by which time we were on holiday.
Here you have to be very careful because the local post office will automatically return parcels not delivered and then not collected within a set period. The period varies by country. In the UK I think its only 10 days and in the Netherlands, 21 days. So if you are not at home and don’t get back in time you may find the long awaited box has vanished, never to return, leaving you to sort out the mess with the supplier.
Packaging: One worry is bound to be ‘will the package be damaged in transit’? In fact the HP box is very secure and well insulated from dropping or being squashed in any way. Plus the supplier encased Hp’s box in another outer box. It arrived in perfect condition.
Prices and Costs
USA list prices are EX495 = $699 and EX490 = $549. In early December 2009 you could get 50 dollars off these prices and that’s when I bought. Since then prices have fallen another 50 dollars to around $600 for the EX495 and $450 for the EX490.
Current street prices (mid Jan 2010) in Europe for the EX490 Celeron processor, with 1 TB storage and 1 year guarantee are between 440 and 500 euro or say $650 to $750
So what did it cost me? Purchase price $650, shipping $85, local import duty $130 (89 euro). So, the total cost of the EX495 with 1.5 TB, Pentium dual core processor was $865 or 590 euro and a month later maybe you could take 50 off these prices. In essence I got the faster box I required at a good price, equivalent to not more than the imagined street price were HP ever to release it in Europe. I am happy with this. It was stress free – I never left the house except to collect the package from the local post office.
Obviously if you were to bring it over personally and avoid import duties you would get the faster box for the same price or less than the smaller one.
First experiences
Lots of teething troubles. No problem so far with HP though. Support seems normal even though it’s cross bordered. But, that’s another story.
Thanks to Denison for a great post! Feel free to share your own experiences importing a home server below, or if you have any questions, feel free to submit a comment and hopefully Denison will be able to tell you more.
