purchasing abroad

Thanks Ken

perfect answer, have a great holiday

Tim

Hi there - and Happy New Year! I’m interested to hear if you managed to use the voice control aspects of US version of the Move 2 without any issues once you got it back to the UK?

There’s no “US version of the Move 2”. All Sonos speakers are the same all over the world. Voice control does depend on where you are because Amazon and Google do not support their voice assistants all over the world, but US and UK are supported. Sonos voice control is supported more widely and should work the same in the UK and the US.

Thanks for the reply - sorry, that was my poor terminology, I appreciate the speakers are the same, I should have said ‘a US bought Move 2’. Main thing I wanted to check is if there was any potential for the voice control of a US-sourced Sonos not working as you’d expect once you got back to the UK.

For that matter does Wi-Fi operate any differently between the US as the UK? In the US the FCC is the regulatory body for that sort of thing, and I have no idea if they use exactly the same Wi-Fi frequencies there as over here in the UK...🙄

This is probably one of the reasons Sonos wants to know where you live. Probably the only new thing you need when using the speaker in the UK is a plug.

As someone who regularly works in the US, it would be silly not to take advantage of the (much, at times) cheaper prices, and you’d think that if buying a travel speaker (I am considering the Roam) you would have no issues then, you know, travelling with it. Time will tell though, so I’ll let you know how I get on once I have one back here...

I think there is some aspect of local sales tax to consider…it’s all included in the UK and EU prices, while each jurisdiction in the states has different tax rates, which are not reflected in the US prices.

Yes, there is - that’s the same for pretty much anything you buy in the US, although some States do have zero tax on some items, such as kids clothes...

Is there a UK tax on electronics found in personal luggage? In the US Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no state sales tax, however, some cities impose local sales tax regardless of or in addition to the state sales tax.

In my past, I used to manage hotels here in the US. Most locations love to levy extra taxes on hotel rooms, it’s found money that doesn’t impair the locals, for the most part. If memory serves, outside of DC (NoVa), we were forced to charge 17% on top of the room rate. 

Do you mean is there a tax if importing in to the UK, even for personal use? The answer is ‘yes’ but only if it is above the current limit on goods bought in, which is £395. Anything over that (in theory!) you pay tax on… assuming you declare it of course.

The one thing there is no tax on, either in the UK or the US however, is… electricity! What I mean by this is in todays world where everything is rechargeable, no-one is monitoring whether all the items you brought with you to the hotel you’re staying in when overseas with work needed recharging when you arrived, and if they were fully charged when you left. So make sure you charge up that Sonos Roam / MacBook / Samsung phone / power bank you have with you when you’re at the hotel, not at home! 😁