Buying X200s in the USA

[Jagoop]

I'm afraid this post might be slightly off-topic, since I'm not directly trying to purchase anything through this board.

I'm staying in Denver, Colorado in the US for a few days, later this week. While visiting the US, I would like to purchase a X200s - but alas, my knowledge of US prices is lacking.

How large is the price difference between doing such a purchase online and in a "real" store?
Can I even expect to find a X200s (with high resolution LED) in a store in Denver?
If I must make my purchase online, which stores can I expect fast delivery from (it wouldn't be nice to have a Thinkpad arrive at my hotel the day after I leave...)?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[aau007]

There are 2 problems you are facing.

1. I am not aware of any retail stores (national or local) that will carry any x200s as inventory.
2. If you try to purchase online to be delivered to your hotel, most online retailers are not willing to do that, especially if you have a out of country credit card. Most online retailers are only shipping to credit card billing address or any alternate address you have registered with your credit card company.

Your best bet is to go online to lenovo.com and start searching for a channel partner in the Denver area. Call them up and see if they will order one for you to pick up at their location. If you have an out of country credit card, they may ask you to pay with cash, a cashier check from a local bank or a USPS money order. How you get the cash or cashier check is going to be your problem.

[sparta.rising]

Maybe buy.com? I haven't had personal experience with them, but they have an inexpensive 2-day shipping listed.

http://www.buy.com/prod/lenovo-thinkpad ... 22852.html

[Jagoop]

Thanks for the advice so far.

A couple of years ago I purchased a T61 from cdw.com - they had no problem shipping to an "unknown address" and nothing against my Danish credit card. Is this reluctance regarding cc purchases something new? In most of Europe there are absolutely no problems shipping to a foreign address, and except for lenovo.co.uk I've never encountered a company that didn't "like" my foreign cc.

[aau007]

Things have definitely changed from a few years ago. Foreign credit card number together with a ship to address that is in a different continent than billing definitely sets a red flag nowadays. Shopping in EU might be different but US vendors are now on high alert on these things. If you have bought from cdw before, you can try again. If your customer information is still in their database, they might let it thru without problem. If a stranger calls me up on the phone and try to put an order thru with a foreign credit card and asks me to ship to somewhere in Denver, I would rather lose the sale than taking the risk. There are many many vendors that think like me, just for your reference.

[archer6]

I would suggest that CDW.com (as you mentioned earlier) is the place to call. I am doing more & more business with them, because they have great customer service, a large number of ThinkPads in stock and will ship overnight. If you go to their site you will find and 800 toll free phone number which is the fastest way to find out their latest inventory. Each time I've called and placed an order, I've received it in 24 hours or less. I cannot say for sure, but I believe they will take your card and ship to your home location as well. It may be worth checking with them.
.
Cheers...

[Jagoop]

Thanks for the advice. I've placed an order with CDW and are eagerly awaiting the new "toy".

[CoffeeBeans]

So they're OK with sending a TP to Denmark?

[Robbyrobot]

Things have definitely changed from a few years ago. Foreign credit card number together with a ship to address that is in a different continent than billing definitely sets a red flag nowadays. Shopping in EU might be different but US vendors are now on high alert on these things.

Why? From what I hear, credit card fraud is more prevalent in the States than elsewhere. I can understand a seller being hesitant to ship anything to Nigeria, but Europe is civilized nowadays. Payments by foreign buyers to sellers in the States are complicated enough without any extra hurdles.

I generally pay by check on my US account, but most foreign buyers don't have that advantage - nor do they want to trust their money to such a "windy" outfit like PayPal. So the main option is to use their European credit card - the same VISA or MasterCard you have in your wallet now.

Payments are much easier in Europe, where you can do a direct account transfer inside the EU without bank charges. I recently bought something from a Portuguese Ebay seller, and directly transferred the price to his account in Portugual (from my account in Germany). The transfer took around 4 days.