[Help] Buying Steam Deck locally vs internationally
-
https://www.douane.gouv.fr/fiche/volume-and-value-based-customs-and-tax-allowances
Value-based allowances, which apply to goods you’re carrying (purchases or gifts), mean that you don’t have to fill in a customs declaration or pay tax or duty. You don’t have to declare goods (including gifts) so long as their total value or their quantity doesn’t exceed the allowance limits.
The overall market value of goods cannot exceed the following amounts:
Arriving by plane or ferry: €430Any item whose value exceeds the limit must be declared and you will need to pay the amount of value added tax (VAT) and customs duties that would usually apply. These duties and taxes apply to the full purchase price on the receipt or an agreed-upon estimated value.
If you are bringing multiple items into the country, each item will count toward your overall limit; once you reach the limit, any surplus goods will be taxed.
Also note that the Steam Deck contains a Li-Ion battery and thus isn't allowed in the cargo hold. So you'd have to take this into your carry-on onto the plane.
EDIT: Oh, and since it has a Li-Ion battery, you'll have to take it out of its packaging and have it scanned separately during the security check. At least that's how it usually is when travelling in the EU.
So you have to pay taxes if you bring your phone with you ? (Since it is probably more expensive than 430€)
That a doesn't seem to be how it goes.
-
So you're saying buy the US one, throw the charger that comes with it in the trash, then buy another?
Wasteful.
I didn't have a USB PD charger that went above 15W until the one that came with my Deck. I use it as a slightly slightly faster phone charger, too.
And no, the vast majority of new ones do not go above 20W, either. It just checked. Sure they all work, but your claim that "any" charger hits 60W is complete nonsense.
Eh I'm not petty pinching e-waste on a charger
-
Eh I'm not petty pinching e-waste on a charger
I'm having trouple parsing this comment into a sentence that makes sense. You don't penny pinch e-waste? What?
Either way, a lot of people won't think about this in terms of mere monetary value. Every bit of plastic counts.
And that's before considering that not everyone can afford to make trivial purchases. And even if you can afford it, I can't imagine making purchases without thinking about it beyond whether I have the money. That some people don't think past that, contributes to tons of problems.
I could easily afford a more convenient and smaller GaN charger to replace the one I got with my Deck, but it wouldn't really bring me any new value. Every cent I'd spend on that purchase would be more efficient when used for something else.
If not for my needs, then someone elses.
People care. And they should. You bother me, because behind your comments, is the suggesting that we shouldn't. To you, one less piece of waste is "not worth it". That's wrong.
-
I'm having trouple parsing this comment into a sentence that makes sense. You don't penny pinch e-waste? What?
Either way, a lot of people won't think about this in terms of mere monetary value. Every bit of plastic counts.
And that's before considering that not everyone can afford to make trivial purchases. And even if you can afford it, I can't imagine making purchases without thinking about it beyond whether I have the money. That some people don't think past that, contributes to tons of problems.
I could easily afford a more convenient and smaller GaN charger to replace the one I got with my Deck, but it wouldn't really bring me any new value. Every cent I'd spend on that purchase would be more efficient when used for something else.
If not for my needs, then someone elses.
People care. And they should. You bother me, because behind your comments, is the suggesting that we shouldn't. To you, one less piece of waste is "not worth it". That's wrong.
Nah man thats a waste of time. There are much better way you can reduce e-waste and buy 1 more charging brick.
-
Nah man thats a waste of time. There are much better way you can reduce e-waste and buy 1 more charging brick.
That's false mutual exclusivity. What other thing could you not also do, without buying an extra one?
-
So you have to pay taxes if you bring your phone with you ? (Since it is probably more expensive than 430€)
That a doesn't seem to be how it goes.
Technically, yes. And you would be able to ask for those taxes back upon returning to your home country (with the same phone). But since this would create huge queues at the airports, nobody actually enforces that.
However, travelling with e.g. 2 Steam Decks or with one in its original packaging raises suspicion and you could get stopped when going through the green portal at the airport.
-
So you have to pay taxes if you bring your phone with you ? (Since it is probably more expensive than 430€)
That a doesn't seem to be how it goes.
wrote last edited by [email protected]The difference, like the other commenter already pointed out, is whether you take something across a border, and then leave it there.
If you take the stuff you brought with you, back when you leave, then you didn't import it. Import tax is exactly that, a tax on stuff moving from one country, to another. If you bring it in, and then out again, nothing changed.
As such personal items aren't subject to this, because the owner is coming and leaving with them. Technically there's a whole song and dance that should happen when you come and go, but that's massively inefficient, so customs will just sit there and trust that if you have something to declare, you will.
And a lot of the time people don't. Like a phone they bought while abroad. That's technically something you need to pay for, but it's not that harshly enforced. It just doesn't matter compared to the import taxes collected for large commercial shipments.
-
Mostly just EU consumer protections and ease of warranty service. If you buy in the EU you should get the standard 2y consumer electronics warranty but only 1y in NA. Verifiy that you can actually get a deck in france, apparently availability is spotty. Typically warranties are handled where you bought the item too, so if you ever need to make a warranty claim you might have to send the deck to Canada if you buy it before you leave.
Also, warranty is usually region-locked, even if the device is not.
Buying a steam deck in Canada usually gives you warranty in Canada. So of you then use the device in France and it breaks, then you have to first ship it to some friend in Canada, so they can do a warranty claim.
-
This is a really good point, thank you!
Especially considering that warranty is usually region-locked. You usually can't claim warranty from outside of the country where you bought it.
So if your friend in France has to claim warranty, they'd have to first ship it to Canada so that someone else (e.g. you) can do the warranty claim for them.
-
The difference, like the other commenter already pointed out, is whether you take something across a border, and then leave it there.
If you take the stuff you brought with you, back when you leave, then you didn't import it. Import tax is exactly that, a tax on stuff moving from one country, to another. If you bring it in, and then out again, nothing changed.
As such personal items aren't subject to this, because the owner is coming and leaving with them. Technically there's a whole song and dance that should happen when you come and go, but that's massively inefficient, so customs will just sit there and trust that if you have something to declare, you will.
And a lot of the time people don't. Like a phone they bought while abroad. That's technically something you need to pay for, but it's not that harshly enforced. It just doesn't matter compared to the import taxes collected for large commercial shipments.
If you're a professional travelling with expensive equipment you'll need a carnet which is precisely the "song and dance". Basically a list of all the stuff, they look at it and at your stuff when you come in, then again when you come out.
