Paying for a pj with bank wire?

12-02-2003, 12:28 AM

I am ordering an AE300 from Pricejapan tomorrow and was thinking of paying with a bank wire to Citibank Japan, rather than use my credit card through Paypal. My thinking is that Paypal will take too much of a cut. Also, after spending a month trying to get my account verified, I am not sure they will be any help if I have problems.
So, has anyone else paid by bank wire, or is it too risky to consider?
Thanks.

spiderv6 · 12-02-2003, 1:19 AM

Interested to hear replies as I am in the same situation.

My thoughts are, though:

Pay by credit card and you are potected by the CC company if it all goes t**s up (worth the 3,3% premium I reckon).

PayPal (as I understand it) don't take any additional payment/charge from you, they charge PriceJapan.

Any other thoughts (real experiences?).

And a question, to those who have used them - how was the DHL tracking - did it work?

12-02-2003, 2:08 AM

Well I decided to go for payment by Amex. If anything goes wrong I will just let loose the dogs of war from Amex. Not that I expect there to be problems, but for an extra $120NZL it seemed good insurance.
So now I just have to wait for it to turn up. Geez the stress of it all!

james

Ethereal · 12-02-2003, 2:20 AM

I too am hoping to go for the AE300 at the end of the week and am waiting for my Paypal verification. So any info from anyone about how they have paid pricejapan would be welcome.

Also, taking the AE300 as an example, how does the import duty work out? Is it $2003 + 5% then 17.5% VAT on the total or are there any other costs that I'm missing.

One last thing. Did anyone use the dead pixel checking service I've heard mentioned?

12-02-2003, 2:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jamesdoc
after spending a month trying to get my account verified

what happened? are you trying to verify the same card for the second time? Thats what I do, lost my first membership number, cancelled the card, added it again and now waiting for verification already 9 days. Afraid, there is some problem. However, it seems more to be due to the local bank. Angry because $ seems to rise again.

gothmog · 12-02-2003, 3:14 AM

Ethereal, the projector will be marked as a computer display device and as such will not be liable for import duty.

Can't dodge the VAT though

I haven't had my bill yet so it now counts as 'next months budget'

All told it came to £1300 on my credit card via paypal.

The PayPal transaction took 5 minutes and their exchange rate wasn't too bad, dunno what rate a bank will charge you for the wire+exchange but it'd have to be good to make up for the convenience of PayPal (assuming you can get your account verified

).

As long as it doesn't blow up (touch wood

) it's a bargin

I didn't take out the pixel/warranty return insurance, however I got lucky and didn't get any bad ones.

-- Jon

12-02-2003, 1:31 PM

lets hope you psu does not blow like my AE200 just did. Its going to cost $490 AUS to send it back and get another. I too thought that it would not happen to me.
A wise person once said....
Buy locally even if it costs a bit extra!!!

BTW it cost me 10% extra in duty. You cant dodge it since DHL automatically pays it for you then sends you a bill.

**LV426** · 12-02-2003, 2:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jamesdoc
I am ordering an AE300 from Pricejapan tomorrow and was thinking of paying with a bank wire to Citibank Japan, rather than use my credit card through Paypal

Bank wire transfer is, effectively, the same as sending them cash. Absolutely no comeback. So, you would only do this with a supplier that you have good reason to trust......

12-02-2003, 3:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jbalat
lets hope you psu does not blow like my AE200 just did. Its going to cost $490 AUS to send it back and get another. I too thought that it would not happen to me.
A wise person once said....
Buy locally even if it costs a bit extra!!!

BTW it cost me 10% extra in duty. You cant dodge it since DHL automatically pays it for you then sends you a bill.

Do you have a choice over what method to send the projector back? If you sent it by Australia Post with insurance, it may take a couple of weeks to arrive but it may cost a lot less. I assume pricejapan.com would send it back by DHL so you would still have to pay for that.

I am VERY close to ordering an AE300 from pricejapan.com but the reliability problems (particularly the power supply) of the Panasonic projectors has me worried.

12-02-2003, 3:42 PM

Be very afraid. From what I have read, the PSU problem is across the 100,200 and 300 which means that Panasonic have obviously not taken the problem seriously and have probably used the same power supply in all models. I also assume that they do not repair the PSU and have no fix for them. ??? (just a theory)

On the other hand.
PriceJapan were great. The projector was here within 7 days and that was over the Christmas period. Email response is usually within a couple of hours. As far as I am concerned they are quite trustworthy. I paid into a National Bank who have some kind of link with Citibank. Citibank have no branches in Vic. Price Japan have a Citibank account and they will send you all the details for the transfer... It was a bit risky and the National were a little reluctant to transfer that sum but it worked out ok and they had the money within a couple of days.

Good luck if you should decide to take on this mission. I probably wouldnt do it again but thats just me.

BTW. The projector WAS great. DVD's were awesome via the Matrox G400TV but gaming was just unbelievable. Some games even support the wide screen modes...

12-02-2003, 4:41 PM

This has been discussed before but I wonder if the power supply issue has something to do with the unit being run at 240V. I cannot remember reading any instances of peoples Panasonic projectors giving them PSU trouble while being run at 110V (I am sure someone will give me some examples though).

Were you running you projector with 240V? Also, were you using a mains cable that has ground pins at both ends?

13-02-2003, 10:23 AM

I was using 240v just from a standard power socket which I suppose is grounded. The power cable that cam with the unit did not have a ground wire so I guess the unit was not grounded.

I think the guys at panasonic could probably tell us whether the PSU for Australia is different or not ?

Would it not just blow either right away or after a few minutes if the powersupply was the cause ?

12-02-2003, 12:28 AM	#1
jamesdoc Guest Posts: n/a	Paying for a pj with bank wire? Advertisement Want to Advertise? I am ordering an AE300 from Pricejapan tomorrow and was thinking of paying with a bank wire to Citibank Japan, rather than use my credit card through Paypal. My thinking is that Paypal will take too much of a cut. Also, after spending a month trying to get my account verified, I am not sure they will be any help if I have problems. So, has anyone else paid by bank wire, or is it too risky to consider? Thanks.
	Quote

12-02-2003, 1:31 PM	#7
jbalat Guest Posts: n/a	lets hope you psu does not blow like my AE200 just did. Its going to cost $490 AUS to send it back and get another. I too thought that it would not happen to me. A wise person once said.... Buy locally even if it costs a bit extra!!! BTW it cost me 10% extra in duty. You cant dodge it since DHL automatically pays it for you then sends you a bill. Last edited by jbalat; 12-02-2003 at 1:34 PM.
	Quote

12-02-2003, 2:08 AM	#3
jamesdoc Guest Posts: n/a	Well I decided to go for payment by Amex. If anything goes wrong I will just let loose the dogs of war from Amex. Not that I expect there to be problems, but for an extra $120NZL it seemed good insurance. So now I just have to wait for it to turn up. Geez the stress of it all! james
	Quote

12-02-2003, 3:42 PM	#10
jbalat Guest Posts: n/a	Be very afraid. From what I have read, the PSU problem is across the 100,200 and 300 which means that Panasonic have obviously not taken the problem seriously and have probably used the same power supply in all models. I also assume that they do not repair the PSU and have no fix for them. ??? (just a theory) On the other hand. PriceJapan were great. The projector was here within 7 days and that was over the Christmas period. Email response is usually within a couple of hours. As far as I am concerned they are quite trustworthy. I paid into a National Bank who have some kind of link with Citibank. Citibank have no branches in Vic. Price Japan have a Citibank account and they will send you all the details for the transfer... It was a bit risky and the National were a little reluctant to transfer that sum but it worked out ok and they had the money within a couple of days. Good luck if you should decide to take on this mission. I probably wouldnt do it again but thats just me. BTW. The projector WAS great. DVD's were awesome via the Matrox G400TV but gaming was just unbelievable. Some games even support the wide screen modes...
	Quote

12-02-2003, 4:41 PM	#11
blph60 Guest Posts: n/a	This has been discussed before but I wonder if the power supply issue has something to do with the unit being run at 240V. I cannot remember reading any instances of peoples Panasonic projectors giving them PSU trouble while being run at 110V (I am sure someone will give me some examples though). Were you running you projector with 240V? Also, were you using a mains cable that has ground pins at both ends?
	Quote

13-02-2003, 10:23 AM	#12
jbalat Guest Posts: n/a	I was using 240v just from a standard power socket which I suppose is grounded. The power cable that cam with the unit did not have a ground wire so I guess the unit was not grounded. I think the guys at panasonic could probably tell us whether the PSU for Australia is different or not ? Would it not just blow either right away or after a few minutes if the powersupply was the cause ?
	Quote