Where to buy fairly priced electronics? (monitors, harddrives, etc.)

A big part of why electronics seem overpriced in Vietnam is import tariffs.  Electronics that are made in Vietnam just enjoy the higher prices.  I suppose the government attitude is the common one to apply taxes where there is an ability to pay.  Both locals and foreigners who can afford smartphones, computers and accessories are assumed to be able to bear a slightly higher burden.

THIGV wrote:

A big part of why electronics seem overpriced in Vietnam is import tariffs.  Electronics that are made in Vietnam just enjoy the higher prices.  I suppose the government attitude is the common one to apply taxes where there is an ability to pay.  Both locals and foreigners who can afford smartphones, computers and accessories are assumed to be able to bear a slightly higher burden.

Makes a lot of sense. I have a hard time imagining everybody is buying that shiny latest tech on a normal basis though
A grab driver once bought me to a backyard shop for an HDMI cable. I guess it's a little bit like going to vinMart or a little private street shop next door.

Still wondering why almost all the tech stores are the same though and they have so many of them all filled to the ceiling with Bose speakers and what not. And then my friend tells me how in their company they are sharing computers in day and night shifts just so that everybody has a workstation.

I guess I'll try Lazada then, although sometimes it's just nice to see and try what you buy first.

flothus wrote:

THIGV wrote:

A big part of why electronics seem overpriced in Vietnam is import tariffs.  Electronics that are made in Vietnam just enjoy the higher prices.  I suppose the government attitude is the common one to apply taxes where there is an ability to pay.  Both locals and foreigners who can afford smartphones, computers and accessories are assumed to be able to bear a slightly higher burden.

Makes a lot of sense. I have a hard time imagining everybody is buying that shiny latest tech on a normal basis though
A grab driver once bought me to a backyard shop for an HDMI cable. I guess it's a little bit like going to vinMart or a little private street shop next door.

Still wondering why almost all the tech stores are the same though and they have so many of them all filled to the ceiling with Bose speakers and what not. And then my friend tells me how in their company they are sharing computers in day and night shifts just so that everybody has a workstation.

I guess I'll try Lazada then, although sometimes it's just nice to see and try what you buy first.

Also tiki.vn. I've used them a couple of times and they are pretty much the same. Found them cheaper actually for what I was buying.

re. electrical shops on street. here in Vung tau, I've found the chain ones are a lot more expensive than if it's a lesser known one/two branch outlet. Bought a fruit juicer about 6 months ago on sale at one of those lesser known places (still on a major road though) and it was the same price as lazada.

At the store, they unboxed it, showed all the bits and pieces, plugged it in to check, then boxed it again, and I could use it straight-away. I believe they also had a delivery service, but box was quite small so I bought it home on my motorbike.

Tiki.vn looks really good, will try that.
The storm tomorrow might hit us quite hard in Da Nang. So I should get all I need while I can and hope it will be fine    

Will ask the grab drivers, maybe they will be able to show me the lesser known stores around.

Vietnam IT market is not mature as in US, Europe or some Asian countries.
You will find the popular models / mainstream models in Vietnam but indeed at higher price (Not the same volume, not the same go to market / price structure,...) and you will find big variance of prices among all the resellers...
What is troublesome for me is many items that got great reviews from US or Europe, but are not "mainstream" / Volume based type of products, will be near impossible to find in VN. So the choice is not much.

Personally for all my purchase of electronics, I first good the models that I want (Based on reviews, feedback,...) and then I use https://websosanh.vn/ to check where is the cheapest price.
Websosanh doesn't list all resellers, so another google search can also help, but it does the job to get some good prices.

For Danang, I hope you purchased a UPS (Like APC Back UPS or Smart UPS) to protect your electronics or avoid any power outage or that bad quality of power damage your equipment.

dudumomo wrote:

For Danang, I hope you purchased a UPS (Like APC Back UPS or Smart UPS) to protect your electronics or avoid any power outage or that bad quality of power damage your equipment.

That is true everywhere.  I had a problem in HCMC that in final analysis was not voltage but cycles related.  Help me on the tech as the term escapes me, but I think you need one that truly takes in the electricity and converts it on a continuous basis as opposed to one that lets the current through until it senses a problem.  I looked for and couldn't find an APC or similar in HCMC (this was 2013) so I bought a Chinese made one at Phong Vu.  It solved the cycles problem but couldn't work fast enough to keep my iMac from shutting down in an outage.  Actually it could run but I had to reboot on the backup power.  Not all models are the same.  Stick with the brands mentioned by dudumomo.

I'm actually facing the same here in HCMC, i live in Vinhomes Central Park, that is supposed to be quite new/modern but I have monthly power outage (some are planned outage to test the generator, some are unplanned, or due to human error haha).

I had to buy an APC back ups. It's available now in Vietnam. Works great and it's probably the most trusted brand out there. Glad to see them here.

I guess I should have taken that advice earlier. I have some slight stray current on the case of MacBook and the battery is slightly bulging. Could be some improper insulation on the board. But I was also wondering if it could have something to do with an unstable current. I thought the chargers are designed to mitigate that, but probably it's not sufficient... 

Anyway, will have to bring it to the next certified repair shop (400km),  which I can't because I might have to go into quarantine coming from Da Nang... 

flothus wrote:

I guess I should have taken that advice earlier. I have some slight stray current on the case of MacBook and the battery is slightly bulging.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but how old is your MacBook?   A bulging battery is usually a symptom of age.  It is also a little risky as it could leak into the device if it gets bad enough.  It also may interfere with the trackpad depending on the model.

Stray current also seems to be a problem with many Apple computers at least when used in Vietnam.  They are designed and marketed with the assumption that they will be plugged into circuits that have a ground wire which all but the very oldest houses have in the US.  I had to run a wire from my iMac (desktop for those not part of the cult  ) to a solid ground.  This was even after I had resolved the issue of improper or fluctuating cycles by using the battery backup.  There may be models that do, but with mine the ground did not go through the UPS device.  One thing you might try if you can find it is to put your laptop on a grounding mat that is designed to discharge static electricity and used in computer repair shops.  I think they are cloth with metallic wires embedded.  It will likely have a wire with an alligator clamp coming from one corner.  Another thing you can do is just charge the laptop at night and use it unplugged.   That would be after you replace your bulging battery.

THIGV wrote:

flothus wrote:

I guess I should have taken that advice earlier. I have some slight stray current on the case of MacBook and the battery is slightly bulging.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but how old is your MacBook?   A bulging battery is usually a symptom of age.  It is also a little risky as it could leak into the device if it gets bad enough.  It also may interfere with the trackpad depending on the model..

MacBook owner here: you're absolutely, a bulging battery is usually a sign that it should be replaced. In MacOS, on the menu where you check the state of charge, there's also a battery health indicator. There's a good chance that it says ‘Battery needs service' or something like that (mine says that, after 7 years and about 800 cycles though, so I'm not complaining...). Also true about the trackpad: the bulge pushes against the pad from underneath and makes it hard or impossible to click.

THIGV wrote:

dudumomo wrote:

For Danang, I hope you purchased a UPS (Like APC Back UPS or Smart UPS) to protect your electronics or avoid any power outage or that bad quality of power damage your equipment.

.  I looked for and couldn't find an APC or similar in HCMC (this was 2013) so I bought a Chinese made one at Phong Vu.  It solved the cycles problem but couldn't work fast enough to keep my iMac from shutting down in an outage.  Actually it could run but I had to reboot on the backup power.  Not all models are the same.  Stick with the brands mentioned by dudumomo.

A relatively inexpensive UPS, designed for use at home, doesn't have enough battery power to run a computer for more than a few minutes. It is designed to prevent loss of data by keeping your computer running just long enough to shut it down safely if there's a power outage.

THIGV wrote:

A bulging battery .

Is a sign you should dispose of it as quickly and as safely as possible before it explodes and burns your house down

NOW is a very good time.

And most of them will also have an AVR function to improve the quality of the power.

Hope you will be able to fix your mac.

Yes yes, I absolutely should, unfortunately I have to keep using it at least until the next deadline is done. I already checked if it's possible to get a replacement device but it's just very complicated with those things in Da Nang.

What is worse is that it's only barely a year old and I could probably just get it replaced or refunded if I was back in Germany... with some luck even change it to the new model and get rid of this pesky 2019er one (so many design flaws, thermal issues, throttling and what not...)

So at the moment I'm measuring the bulging every day and hope that it holds.    I contacted Amazon, where I bought it (offered to replace it but only in Germany) and Apple (Vietnamese number but got connected to New Zealand...) and they can't do much here. There is no official Apple store, only certified shops and the next one is in Vinh...

With the older 5-pin mag connector it was at least possible to isolate the middle pin and the battery wouldn't get charged, but with the usb-c connector there is not much to do. So I try to strain the battery as little as possible.

You guys in HCMC at least have some stores, but the best is probably hoping not to run into hardware issues with a Mac here...

Grounding the MacBook is a good idea, I will check if I can get those mats or connect it to a tap :-)))  And then probably look for a battery generator/ or APC... or however they are called.

If it catches fire at least I won't have to worry about a replacement anymore 
Just hope it will last until somewhen next week. So far it has been stable the last days.

Kurterino wrote:

THIGV wrote:

dudumomo wrote:

For Danang, I hope you purchased a UPS (Like APC Back UPS or Smart UPS) to protect your electronics or avoid any power outage or that bad quality of power damage your equipment.

.  I looked for and couldn't find an APC or similar in HCMC (this was 2013) so I bought a Chinese made one at Phong Vu.  It solved the cycles problem but couldn't work fast enough to keep my iMac from shutting down in an outage.  Actually it could run but I had to reboot on the backup power.  Not all models are the same.  Stick with the brands mentioned by dudumomo.

A relatively inexpensive UPS, designed for use at home, doesn't have enough battery power to run a computer for more than a few minutes. ....

Just learnt about the Goal zero sherpa:
https://htcamera.vn/en/product/goal-zer … bank-220v/

remember reading elsewhere that some can power laptop over two battery charge cycles. Seems a bit more expensive that UPS. Different function though.

sanooku wrote:

flothus wrote:

THIGV wrote:

A big part of why electronics seem overpriced in Vietnam is import tariffs.  Electronics that are made in Vietnam just enjoy the higher prices.  I suppose the government attitude is the common one to apply taxes where there is an ability to pay.  Both locals and foreigners who can afford smartphones, computers and accessories are assumed to be able to bear a slightly higher burden.

Makes a lot of sense. I have a hard time imagining everybody is buying that shiny latest tech on a normal basis though
A grab driver once bought me to a backyard shop for an HDMI cable. I guess it's a little bit like going to vinMart or a little private street shop next door.

Still wondering why almost all the tech stores are the same though and they have so many of them all filled to the ceiling with Bose speakers and what not. And then my friend tells me how in their company they are sharing computers in day and night shifts just so that everybody has a workstation.

I guess I'll try Lazada then, although sometimes it's just nice to see and try what you buy first.

Also tiki.vn. I've used them a couple of times and they are pretty much the same. Found them cheaper actually for what I was buying.
.....

Careful when using tiki.vn. Prices may be low, support is not great, and they don't respect privacy as much as lazada.

On lazada if you leave a review, your name appears as Joe B., on tiki.vn it appears as Joe Bloggs. If you are concerned about this best to ask tiki.vn how to change your name/nickname used on the site.

I believe most users don't bother doing this. You could potentially leave a review (or ask a question) for a product like this:

https://tiki.vn/newest-sexy-sleepwear-f … 36922.html

and the whole world will become aware that you bought it.

I asked a question about a less personal product and upon realising that my full name was appearing on Google search results asked tiki.vn to remove the question (the product is no longer sold on tiki.vn - product lisiting says 'stop business'). After first receiving an email saying 'Khong hieu' ('no understand'), I had to explain again.

Then I received an email saying it cannot be done. After several further emails they reply saying 'checking with the relevant department'. That was a while ago. Not heard from them since.

Lazada support is much more efficient by comparison.