Hacker News Reader

Comment by hordeallergy | Hacker News Reader

Why was buying a computer problematic? SA has computer shops, has had for decades. I bought a zx81 there. Am I missing something?

View on HN

Buying a computer in SA to SA from Australia is difficult, yeah.

I'm afraid this just isn't reality, voting down won't change that. SA is backward but it's not that backward. It has e-commerce, you can buy things online. It's had the web since the mid 90s. Eg first search attempt, incredible.co.za . It just isn't difficult. SA has poverty, as extreme as poverty can be, it's horrible, it's heartbreaking, but it's not all like that. This is a bugbear, ABC, BBC, crap media outlet of choice more interested in creating a story than accurate representation. I wouldn't trust them with my coffee.

I'm sure it's not difficult if you're in SA, it was hard from Australia, because quite a few of those ecommerce sites won't take international cards (to protect against fraud).

We got there in the end.

Also, ABC is anything but a crap media outlet. A vision of SA from outside that may not tell the whole story, sure, but they do great investigative journalism.

No, it is not difficult at all, and it wasn't 10 years ago: kalahari.net was launched in the late 90's or early 00's. The steps are no different from anywhere in the world - find an e-commerce site you like (there are dozens that sell computer equipment), add computer to cart, pay with credit card, enter shipping address.

I didn't mean to indicate that it was a problem with buying a computer in SA. Rather that buying from Australia was problematic.

Aside from the roadblocks, such as preventing the use of international cards, there was also just not knowing who was reputable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com