Purchasing Hartan Buggy IX1 baby stroller and PUKY Dreirad CAT S6 Ceety bicycle in Germany

I had successful experience in shopping for Britax/Römer car seat in Germany. So when I needed a baby stroller and a trike (bicycle with 3 wheels) I decided to check prices in German shops. As previously I was looking for German online stores with prices lower than in Russia. And of course I wanted a shop shipping outside the European Union and excluding VAT. I’ve reviewed baby strollers and bicycles before making my purchase, so I knew I wanted the Hartan Buggy IX1 baby stroller and the PUKY Ceety bicycle. I will show the shop I’ve made purchase from and compare prices below. And I will also show some useful tips.

Comparing prices onto Hartan Buggy IX1 and PUKY Ceety in Germany and Russia

According to Yandex.Market Hartan Buggy IX1 costs almost 500 EUR:

Yandex market: Hartan Buggy iX1

Compare with 239 EUR (including shipping to Russia) at KidsRoom:

KidsRoom: Hartan Buggy iX1 with shipping to Russia

Click onto the Hartan Buggy IX1 at KidsRoom link, add it to the shopping cart and choose your country to see for yourself).

Puky Ceety bicycle is new, so I wasn’t able to find its prices on Yandex.Market. The lowest price I was able to find was 9500 RUB. Of course it was cheaper on KidsRoom.de (200 EUR), but not twice cheaper as with Romer/Britax car seat or Hartan Buggy IX1 baby stroller:

KidsRoom: Puky Ceety with shipping to Russia

Saving even more

I’ve bought 2 Puky Ceety bicycles and the Hartan Buggy iX1 stroller. As a new year gift I got Puky Wutsch (50 EUR) for FREE. Shipping for all these items was only 60 EUR:

kidsroom: Hartan Buggy iX1 and Puky Ceety

This purchase was sent in 3 packages by DHL.

So you can bundle your purchase to save on shipping. But make sure not to exceed 1000 EUR to avoid any customs fees and duties in Russia.

Mistake by paying with Paypal

This time I tried to pay for my purchase with Paypal instead of my debit card. My Paypal account is in USD, and Paypal has charged almost 4.5% for USD to EUR conversion. When I pay with my debit card, the conversion is usually only 0.5 – 1.0%. So I don’t recommend to use Paypal in German shops when you purchase from outside the European Union.

Links

• KidsRoom.de
• Yandex.Market (price comparison and reviews)

Buying a car seat in Germany (Britax Römer Baby Safe Plus SHR II at kidsroom.de vs. Russian online stores)

Most of my online purchases these days come from american private shopping clubs (fashion sale sites), Amazon USA and Buy.com. But sometimes I have to shop elsewhere either due to high shipping costs from the USA to Russia or due to some kind of incompatibility of standards.

This was exactly the case with a car seat. I wanted to buy one of the safest car seats, so decided not to go for a universal one. After researching crash tests results I decided to purchase Britax Römer Baby Safe Plus SHR II with the ISOFIX base. I could have bought a similar car seat on Amazon USA, but I wasn’t 100% sure that LATCH and ISOFIX were compatible. While some drivers say that LATCH and ISOFIX bars are almost identical, few European and Japanese cars have the top tether anchor.

It was an obvious step to look for Britax Römer car seats in Germany and the UK. I really liked the prices in German shops. And I was glad that some of them do ship directly to almost any country in the world including Russia. When such shops ship outside the European Union, they exclude VAT (19%). This was exactly the case with the German online store KidsRoom.de.

kidsroom.de: Britax Römer Baby-Safe Plus SHR II Trendline including Isofix Base

Now the question is did I manage to save anything by purchasing the car seat in Germany and not in Russia or not. I did manage to save a lot! The price of Britax Römer Baby Safe Plus SHR II with shipping from Germany to Russia was more than 40% lower than the lowest price I was able to find in Russian online stores!!!

The cheapest Romer Baby Safe Plus SHR II with ISOFIX base in Russia

kidsroom.de Romer Baby Safe Plus SHR II receipt: price + shipping = 281 EUR

Price without shipping at avtokresel.net: 19 800 RUR
Price with shipping to Russia (!) at kidsroom.de: 281 EUR

So basically you can buy Romer Baby Safe Plus SHR II with ISOFIX base and ship it from Germany, or you can buy Romer Baby Safe Plus SHR II without ISOFIX base in a Russian online shop!

Another reason for buying German car seats from Germany is to avoid fake items.

KidsRoom.de is not the only web-site recommended by Russian shoppers.
There are several other baby shops in Germany that ship to Russia directly and exclude VAT, namely: maxis-babywelt.de, babyshop.de, kidscomfort.eu, Loopoo.de, PingPong Online.

German shops usually ship to Russia by DHL and accept debit/credit cards and/or paypal/moneybookers.

Please note that it is always a good idea to compare prices before making a purchase. Some items cost the same, and some items are more expensive in Germany than in Russia.

Update (2012/01/14)
Also please note that if you ship outside the European Union, you may add all items that you want to purchase into the shopping cart to see the price excluding VAT but including shipping:

KidsRoom.de shopping cart: Britax Römer Baby Safe Plus SHR II with shipping excluding VAT