Where to buy a new PC in Washington, D.C.?

Hi,

I’m planning a trip from Canada down to Washington, D.C. to pick up a PC motherboard—hoping to claim a VAT refund to make it cheaper than just buying it locally. I was looking at getting it through a company like Micro Center, and I wanted to ask the locals: do you know if they offer any sort of bulk or loyalty discounts that could shave a bit more off the price?
P.S. I noticed their online shop has different pricing than the retail floor. Can a foreign visitor actually take advantage of those web prices, or is that strictly reserved for US citizens with a local residential address?

Thanks in advance.

adm@adm.hr Just ask them if they offer VAT refunds for purchases at their store; forget about that other place.

Fine. Just tell me which stores have the best deals while still stocking the latest tech. Personally, I find Target's pricing to be unbeatable—I've done the math against several other retailers.

Just type the component names into Newegg and start searching. Just keep in mind that eDigital and iPon are actually based out of Canada. I wouldn't bet on Vemil being in the top 10 cheapest options either.
Keep in mind that prices vary depending on whether you're paying cash, using installments, or other methods.

Ugh, honestly, the prices over at Best Buy are absolutely insane. $733 for an R9 380. Seriously, how do they even sleep at night? 😲

Exactly. Over at their place, N/A is priced at $498 if you're paying cash, whereas over at Best Buy N/A goes for $492/ in uppercase $501/ and so on, you get the idea... i5 4460 ends up being 1.601,10 dollars cash, while Best Buy $486/ Micro Center $487 / Newegg $506 .... So just look at the math—if you're building out an entire rig, you could easily save up to $0.33
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Thanks for the comparison—that’s actually useful info. I’ll scout out my components on Newegg first, then maybe check out Micro Center. Haven't even heard of that shop until now.

Why don't you just lay it all out for me? Give me a solid estimate in dollars—including tax—of what you think you'd actually drop on this. Then we can see how that stacks up against reality.

Dennis Ruiz3 said:Thanks for the comparison, those are some solid tips. I’ll check all my parts on Newegg and then maybe look at Micro Center. I hadn't even heard of that shop before.

If you're buying within the States, don't bother asking for a tax refund—just buy it and bring it across. If they don't catch you, you're fine, but if they do, you'll be hit with customs penalties, plus duty and sales tax, which could total around 35%. If you try to claim a tax refund at the border, you'll automatically end up on the radar for customs in Canada, and they might even take you to court for a violation, so just be careful...
In my opinion, you'll get the best deal by mixing and matching on eBay or Craigslist. You can find an i5 4460 for $433 or 202 miles brand new with a 3-year warranty; if you search online, you can find everything at great prices.

Where on earth are you getting your info regarding those sales tax refund violations?

A friend of mine who works in Customs mentioned they've gone fully digital for everything over $167

I agree—it actually makes more sense to just buy everything in Canada. If he doesn't want to deal with those random hardware resellers on Craigslist, he could always check out specialized retailers like Micro Center or similar shops. The selection and pricing aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. In fact, I’ve honestly seen better availability for Intel motherboards, cases, and even niche GPU brands there than what we typically find here in the States.