If you can’t wait for a September retail launch of the new Nexus 7 in Australia, or for Google to settle on a launch date for Google Play, then you’ll want to consider sourcing your new Nexus 7 from the US.
Aussies have been combing the Internet for places to purchase, and seem to have settled on B&H PhotoVideo – a New York based retailer – as a preferred vendor. Besides charging RRP for the tablet, they also offer direct shipping to Australia and are familiar with the requirements of handling international orders.
I’ve just received my new Nexus tablet, ordered last week from B&H PhotoVideo. The order process was pain-free, and I thought I’d share the basics so you can check it out for yourself. Bear in mind that the US$ to AU$ conversion is always fluctuating, so pricing may vary when you purchase.
Price
B&H currently has listings for both the 16 GB and 32 GB version of the 2013 Nexus 7.
The 16 GB model is listed as in-stock, priced at US $229 while the 32 GB model is listed as ‘New Item, Available for pre-order’ and is priced at US $269. Despite the “pre-order” listing on the 32 GB model, B&H shipped me a 32 GB Nexus 7.
It’s worth noting that B&H doesn’t allow you to order more than 2 of each type of item per-order. This seems to be a common limitation and was also observed on other US online retailers. If you’re going for a group buy, consider the split of 16 GB and 32 GB orders.
Payment
Submission of payment details through the site was straightforward and the order was processed quickly.
Jason also has some advice:
I submitted an order at the same time, but had to answer a couple of questions from B&H’s Verification Staff in order to get them to process the order. This was pretty straightforward, and just required me to answer an email. I happened to be looking at my inbox when their email arrived.
Be sure to keep an eye on your Inbox for anything requiring your attention if you’re ordering from B&H.
Notably, this was a much more straightforward process than I encountered through Best Buy, who cancelled 3 orders despite me speaking to phone operators whose job was supposedly to help international customers place orders. Best Buy was never able to provide an explanation of why my orders were cancelled, essentially settling on “the computer did it”. This was pretty disappointing – they missed out on about $1000 of sales, and cost me a good half hour phone call for nothing.
Moral of the story: B&H is familiar with international commerce and deserves your custom.
Delivery
B&H offers delivery via USPS Expedited Shipping – delivery occurs within 4-6 Business Days Delivery and costs around US $38.86 per item – you can save a little if you order multiple items. My Nexus 7 shipped on Friday afternoon, and arrived here this morning – it took just 4 days to get here, even faster than advertised.
You can also opt for free shipping to US addresses if you choose to use a shipping forwarder like ShipItTo or ComGateway, and you can pay a bit more if you want to speed this up.
If the shipping price seems expensive, remember you’ll probably pay $20 shipping if you order the device from Google Play, and the device itself will likely be more expensive than the converted US price.
Accessories
B&H have listings for the new Nexus 7 covers from Asus – priced at $23.99 – however, the covers are not yet available, and carry the status of ‘New item, not available yet’. However, this was and still is the status of my 32 GB Nexus 7, and it was shipped soon after I placed my order.
Warranty
In their live chat, B&H customer service advised me that Asus supplies no international warranty for the Nexus 7. This means that if issues were to occur, the tablet would need to be shipped back to the US for warranty claim.
However, Ausdroid Reader Alex Hutton found that on the Asus Support Website, there is actually an international warranty on the Nexus 7 (2013).
As an alternative, B&H recommend their ‘SquareTrade warranty’, which apparently provides international coverage with the added bonus of giving two years of warranty coverage on the tablet – but it’s at an additional cost of USD $57.99.
Alternatives
There are other options, shipping forwarders such as ShipItTo or ComGateway will gladly help you out if you decide to order from another online retailer such as Amazon, who has the tablets listed as well as some official accessories, like the travel covers and screen protectors.
With the Nexus 7 retailing at under $1000 in the US, there’s no extra GST charges to worry about when you import it (unless you’ve bundled a few together making the package value over $1000). Check the Australian Customs website for further information.
This is purely based on my experience importing the tablet. You can also order from local importers like Mobicity or Kogan
Have you found a good or better deal on the 2013 Nexus 7? Let us know in the comments!
