~2012 was the same thing. The usd was very low compared to eur, but the apple store sold things in ~same value in eur + tax. So you could legit buy an airplane ticket (not even a low cost, regular line was ok), visit NY for a weekend and buy a macbook, come back, and end up paying the same amount.

It's been true (maybe still is? Haven't checked) for quite awhile; people I know would always hit up the Apple Store when visiting the USA and return bearing gifts, because the price savings was quite noticeable.

In the 1980s, a friend got his start by buying packaged software in bulk from the US and reselling it in Europe. The retail price differences were large enough he made bank on it.

It's called arbitrage.

Eventually, other people figured it out and the prices leveled out.

Arbitrage opportunities crop up all the time.

I remember when Adobe Creative Suite came out (I think?) and Australian said that a first class flight to Los Angeles and the American price were less than the Australian price. Hoping Bruce or Sheila [1] Cunningham [2] can chime in

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNBy1D1Y0h4 damn I was only familiar with the audio; this aged extremely poorly.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham's_L...

not really, they paid import duty

> Flying to the USA is a bit risky right now.

Please be serious.

Most places with heavy duties/tariffs also intercept mail and apply said duties/tariffs (and sometimes just seize everything).

There are small suppliers in Hong Kong who sell refurb enterprise drives at less-exorbitant prices. I've had good luck with this over the years. I stuck with reliable, well-known models like the 4TB HGST, 16TB Seagate Exos (X16), etc.

I used to get them with a year or so of warranty remaining, though last order I got units that must have been from a bulk OEM purchase and weren't warrantied through the manufacturer.

Regardless, I've had good luck this way and failure rates have been within expectations. I started with a few different suppliers to mix inventory in case one source turned out to be a dud, then eventually consolidated on a single supplier who does a great job and has consistently delivered good drives. This method has worked for me for over a decade. Definitely easier than flying around countries, and in my case cheaper than if I'd physically gone to the US like this guy.

Brazilian customs figured this out awhile ago, be too obvious and you’ll get one hell of a fine.

A brazilian coworker bought a suitcase on his trip here (circa 15 years ago) and then bought a playstation and an xbox to bring back.

Weirdly for me: IKEA. I’m within ~240 miles of an IKEA in Canada and an IKEA in the US.

While they’ve started to inflate some items to meet currency conversion rates, some items are still cheaper for me to purchase in Canada directly and bring back to the US.

For instance, even at small scale: one BILLY bookcase, article number 205.220.46, is $90 CAD (~$65.70 US) at IKEA CA and $79 USD at IKEA US.

YMMV coming back across the border but in my experience I just got waived through the border every time I told them I was “just coming back with some cheap crap from IKEA”.

Labor-intensive products. Custom suits, leather jackets, etc., are so, so much cheaper in places with lower costs of living. For individual items, flights might make it a toss-up, but on the scale of an entire wardrobe, flying to Turkey, having a bunch of tailored clothes made up, and then flying home would definitely work out.