Compare the price.

I think it might help if you were to state your purpose and categories for comparison, e.g., do you wish to visit and shop, or dwell and enjoy? Are you asking about luxury items or necessities?

I wonder how much a polar survival outfit costs in the tropics due to its scarcity even though its quite unnecessary? Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Its a tough question to answer. Milk is around 7 bucks a gallon down here, but rum is $2.50 a bottle. Overall though just about everything is much more expensive here.

The camera would probably be right around $150. We don't have all the big stores, but we do have Radio Shack, Kmart, Office Max. The prices at named stores are usually about the same. Problem is they don't always have the item you are looking for, and there probably won't be anyone working in the store that can explain the features.

That is like asking how much is a car.
That is hard to answer. What quality of camera. You can buy one for $100 to $1000.

What we have less of is selection. Not much in the way of competition either, everything's about the same price at most stores when it comes to electronics. It's also extremely difficult to get them shipped here as we are considered international and if you only have a po box you are screwed. So bring your gadgets and toys with you, its important to have good family stateside that's willing to ship things to you once in a while too.

Groceries, electric, clothes, are expensive here. Grocery wise you try to buy whats cheap when its on season or on sale so it can be hard to stick to family recipes. Electricity, well we all have ways to conserve. Clothes I buy once a year at the end of summer when its all on sale stateside, either online or in person.

But most of all you just learn to do with less. The things I miss most of all are entertainment things (like nice movie theaters or regular theater) and restaurants. I would kill to be able to go to a daytime weekday matinee. But the theater here can't afford to be open all week during the day. The material things you can usually do without or you go back home.

EBAY!

I use ebay but i'm never going to trust the people selling there the way I would when I buy something from best buy or frye's, etc... I never know what kind of condition something is going to come in or if it will even really come. Its always a little bit of a gamble with all the scams that go on on ebay.

Second that "I would kill to go to a daytime matinee". Most things are more expensive here.

Rum is $2.50 a bottle? What rum and where? Cruzan is $6-8 depending on where you go. Milk is about $5.

Everything's going to be more expensive here b/c of the shipping. I like to buy locally, but sometimes you just can't. Bestbuy delivers here, most of the time with free or $2 shipping. Amazon is another one that ships here and is inexpensive (i just paid $3 on 2 DVD box sets). I guess like everything, shop around. Remember that if you buy electronics in the states, most places won't honor a warranty if shipped here.

You can usually get games and dvds from amazon if you have an address that does not look like a po box. I haven't seen shipping that cheap from them but I usually order books which are heavier. So thats good to know. But if you try to order electronics you will find it much harder.

You can definitely get rum for around 2.50 the light or dark, not the flavored. Milk for a Half Gallon is about 5 dollars so a gallon is like $10 and only plaza offer the gallon size at $5, last time I checked plaza.

Yep I agree with you about the warranty thing, but even if you buy it here, like from a store from Kmart they may not honor the warranty. My husband bought his xbox360 there and of coarse like many many xbox360 users he got the ring of death (it broke, they were buggy). He argued with xbox for a month, they said they wouldnt fix it because they didnt sell down here, etc... He finally got tired of arguing with them and just shipped it to them and when they accepted it they were stuck with fixin it. But it was another two months of arguing to get it back. Luckily for you xbox users they changed it about 3 months ago to include the usvi.

So there's not right or wrong I guess just whatever works for you, we all have to find a way to do that here and there and everywhere.

I have found a refrigerator online that I reall want. It is not available on island. So, I have decided to take the "gamble" and order it. The deciding factor was yesterday I was in VI Cargo for the first time, and they were just starting to unload a trailer. It had refrigerators, washer and dryers, big TV's, etc. So I figure obviously it's working out for some people.

The fridge is available from many retailers in the states. Anyone had better luck ordering appliances from a particular store?

Hey!! Dont forget that you can get rebates through the VI Energy Office if you buy from an approved vendor! (tu)

REBATE AMOUNT - 20% off Purchased Price

Thanks for the reminder Cory. Do you know if I buy from an approved dealer in the states, and have it shipped here, will the VI Energy Office issue a rebate, or does it need to be bought locally?

no..only from approved vendor in the territory... You can see the list of approved vendors here: http://www.vienergy.org/