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Nerdorama for All Your Geeky Needs 213

Posted by michael from the toy-story dept.
kasperh writes "After 10 months the Danish geekshop Nerdorama.com is now doing business across Europe. Nerdorama sells t-shirts, gadgets and a lot of other geek things for nerds within the EU. Now European nerds can buy geekstuff without paying big taxes when buying outside EU as you don't pay taxes when buying from other European countries."
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Nerdorama for All Your Geeky Needs More

Nerdorama for All Your Geeky Needs

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  • Dear sirs, (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gazbo ( 517111 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:02PM (#10374410)
    I too would like a featured advertisement on this "web-site". Please could you fax me your rates so I can decide what type of story would be best for me.

    • Re:Dear sirs, (Score:2, Funny)

      by Branc0 ( 580914 )
      The add I get is for the Sybase Database... quite ironic if you ask me when all the site gives me is:

      Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs / include/db.php on line 9

      Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs/ include/db.php on line 10



      Database problem!

      Such is life :)

    • Re:Dear sirs, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by PhilHibbs ( 4537 ) <snarks@gmail.com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:09PM (#10374548) Journal
      I hadn't heard of Nerdorama. I find this story to be interesting. It's news, it's for nerds, what's your problem?

    • Not Fair! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by big ben bullet ( 771673 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:18PM (#10374642) Homepage
      What? Like it's OK when they did it for ThinGeek, but now that they also feature a European geekstore it's solely an advertisement and suddenly not that interesting anymore.

      I'm very pleased to find out about that store this way. This is news for nerds, and stuff that matters. Maybe not that interesting for american nerds, for sure, but it is for me and probably a whole bunch of other slashdot users.

      And I think those guys are probably even proud to be slashdotted. Just as the guys at thinkgeek [thinkgeek.com] were.
      • Not to mention, ThinkGeek is part of OSTG these days (like /.), so that's kind of a vested interest. It's great to see that they're happy to acknowledge competition (even if it's not totally direct since they're catering to a different market).
      • Like it's OK when they did it for ThinGeek,

        ThinGeek? Is that like WeightWatchers for nerds?

    • Re:Dear sirs, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by spoonyfork ( 23307 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [krofynoops]> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:23PM (#10374686) Journal
      I am fed up with the slashvertisements so I've added slashvertisement [wikipedia.org] to the wikipedia. Now it is named.

    • Re:Dear sirs, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by danimrich ( 584138 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:42PM (#10374869) Homepage Journal
      If they considered it an advertisement they wouldn't post it because they're affiliated with Thinkgeek.

      If you were in Europe you'd think differently about that. Thinkgeek charges quite a lot for shipping to Europe and you have to worry whether your stuff gets stuck in customs or not. Plus, import taxes are about 20 per cent.
      • I'm in europe and we already have LOTS of online places to buy plastic gadget crap from without needing slashdot to advertise them.
      • I just saw that their shipping rates are horrendous. I won't pay 32 to have a 16 T-shirt shipped to me.

  • Svee the l0vely M00se! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gkelman ( 665809 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:03PM (#10374439) Homepage Journal
    Database problem! Vi beklager meget, men lige nu kæmper vores server med at følge med de mange forspørgsler. Tak for opmærksomheden. Vi håber at du vil besøge siden senere.

    And instantly I thought of the start of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

  • EuroCentric (Score:5, Funny)

    by cain ( 14472 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:03PM (#10374440) Journal
    Why are stories on slashdot always so Euro Centric? What about us poor US geeks? We get almost no coverage here on slashdot. :(

    • As they are using UPS for European shipping, I wouldn't be surprised if they start selling to the US pretty soon.

      (Although the wording of the intro made me think that they are trying to flog their products here to Danes who pop over for the weekend to their relatives in Norway, saving the VAT. Naughty!)

  • We've killed Nerdorama (Score:5, Funny)

    by burgburgburg ( 574866 ) <splisken06NO@SPAMemail.com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:03PM (#10374442)
    Database problem! Vi beklager meget, men lige nu kæmper vores server med at følge med de mange forspørgsler. Tak for opmærksomheden. Vi håber at du vil besøge siden senere.

    Med venlig hilsen,

    Nerdorama

    That just can't be good.

    • Database problem! Vi beklager meget, men lige nu kæmper vores server med at følge med de mange forspørgsler. Tak for opmærksomheden. Vi håber at du vil besøge siden senere.
      Med venlig hilsen,
      Nerdorama
      Translation:
      Database problem! We are very sorry, but right now our is struggling to keep up on serving the many requests. Thank you for visiting. We hope that you will visit later.
      Kind regards
      Nerdorama
  • This must be a new record...

  • Welcome to the Internet, Nerdorama. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Conspiracy_Of_Doves ( 236787 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:03PM (#10374444)
    This is your baptismal slashdotting.

  • Hmm Slashdot... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:04PM (#10374447)
    Depriving European geeks of cool stuff since 2004.

  • Give them the Leaden trophy! (Score:3, Funny)

    by csmacd ( 221163 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:04PM (#10374454) Homepage
    For one of the fastest slashdottings ever!

    That's gotta hurt!

  • i got an idea.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LiquidMind ( 150126 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:04PM (#10374455)
    for a nerd shirt design...

    "would you like to geek out with me?"

  • mmm... the load crushed them.
    slashdot did it again

  • You pay taxes (Score:5, Interesting)

    by heikkile ( 111814 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:05PM (#10374467)
    Of course you pay taxes when you buy inside EU. Actually, Denmark has one of the highest VATs in the world, at 25%. But you only pay taxes once, probably by the rate in the receiving country, and the seller will have to collect those taxes, so there is much less hazzle about paying them... And no customs or duties, and again no paperwork to clear those
    • Of course you pay taxes when you buy inside EU. Actually, Denmark has one of the highest VATs in the world, at 25%.

      I believe (and this is deep evil legal magic, so don't anyone base anything on it) that whether you pay their rate or your rate depends on how much business they do with people in your country. I.e. if they start to sell lots of nerdy stuff to people in, say, the UK, then they will be able to operate as if a UK company and charge UK customers the UK VAT rate.

    • Re:You pay taxes (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dot.Com.CEO ( 624226 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:31PM (#10374754)
      You either pay taxes at the country of origin or the destination country. For VAT to be levvied at the rate of the destination country, the company has to be registered there or the buyer be a VAT registered company.

      That is simplifying it a bit, most likely they will charge Danish VAT and get it over with. At 25% it is truly shocking, but it still beats importing stuff from the states.

    • Re:You pay taxes (Score:3, Interesting)

      by frostman ( 302143 ) *
      Interesting point about VAT. In Hungary it's also 25%, though people have a lot less discretionary income.

      However, in Germany it's 16% -- so the next time I buy a computer in Hungary I'm going to look very carefully at the prices in Germany and consider just having it shipped down.

      Part of the reason they can get away with the 25% in Hungary is that so many people have small companies. Income tax also being ridiculously high, most people who have the option have some sort of company and use some measure
      • However, in Germany it's 16% -- so the next time I buy a computer in Hungary I'm going to look very carefully at the prices in Germany and consider just having it shipped down.

        Hi, I live in Germany and the computers (and equipment) seem much more expensive here compared to the US. For instance I looked at a monitor from dell and the same monitor was 520 euro in the US and 740 euro in Germany!! Anyhow, equvalend laptop and desktop versions seem to cost more too. However there is *no* tax on personal impor
    • For mail-order within the EU normally you pay the VAT of the destination country. When buying in a brick and mortar store you pay the VAT of the country where the store is located, except for cars, for which you pay the VAT, and any other applicable tax, of the registration country. Note that customers in the EU are supposed to be charged the VAT of their home country when they purchase "immaterial" goods over the internet from wherever. Thus for example if, hypothetically, a European customer could acce
    • I've always wondered... as a consumer, what's the Value Add in paying yet another exhorbitant Tax? Do I get any benefits of value from it? Maybe insurance against DOA products or something? The VAT has to be one of the biggest misnomers yet.
  • So now can we expect Slashvertisements for these guys like we already get for Thinkgeek?

    • We just got one that's more intrusive than the Thinkgeek ads as I can't exactly block front page stories with squid without losing possible valid content.

  • Purpose (Score:3, Insightful)

    by devilsadvoc8 ( 548238 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:05PM (#10374469)
    Is this truely a story or is it advertising?

    What a good deal for this company. Thanks Slashdot for all the free advertising. Shouldn't the /. editors disclose any ownership with this company (if any)?

    • Re:Purpose (Score:4, Insightful)

      by attam ( 806532 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:48PM (#10374937)
      wtf is everyone's problem? did you all bitch and moan when there was a front page story about (for example) Microsoft Music Store? sheesh, it's something new, and i am sure there are plenty of people who are glad they got a heads up about it. go on about your business now.

  • Err ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hattig ( 47930 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:05PM (#10374480) Journal
    Now European nerds can buy geekstuff without paying big taxes when buying outside EU as you don't pay taxes when buying from other European countries.


    Err, if the company is still based in the EU then they will have to pay VAT of the rate of the country that the company is based in.

    If you buy from outside the EU then you are liable for import duty except for items below a certain value (£25 for UK I think). This is why so many DVD/CD stores are based in Jersey now.

    I think I got tha right. I think that the topic should be about avoiding import taxes, not taxes. Anyway, it is just a big advertisement.
  • My country is in Europe, but not in European Union - taxes still apply.

  • For a second I thought you said Nerdodrama (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    An all nerd-based soap opera would really be news, but this is just some ad.
  • Database problem! Vi beklager meget, men lige nu kæmper vores server med at følge med de mange forspørgsler. Tak for opmærksomheden. Vi håber at du vil besøge siden senere.

    Mein lieben!

  • Google Cache (Score:5, Informative)

    by Plake ( 568139 ) <rlclark@gmail.com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:06PM (#10374502) Homepage
    Well, here's the cache'd version from google.

    Here. [66.102.7.104]
  • Like, legal weed and xanax and shit? Sign me UP!
  • Thanks anyway /. - as much as I love ThinkGeek's stuff, the import duties here in the UK are an absolute killer. Between shipping and duty (and then even duty on the shipping!) stuff costs more than twice as much as it does for you US types.
    • Sorry but I can't be made to feel sorry for you UK guys in such cases. Just an example. I'm in an EU country, but e.g. amazon@UK doesn't count us in the EU, not in Europe, but in the rest-of-the-world category, having prices equivalent to those in US but in pounds (i.e. a $50 book costs 50pounds) and shipping costs are so high that in some cases ordering the same from the UK is almost the double (!) than ordering from the US.

      And to the topic: I for one don't think this news was one that shouldn't belong
  • Google's cache of the frontpage [google.co.uk] - nothing special to look at

  • DB conncetion pooling (Score:5, Funny)

    by ehiris ( 214677 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:07PM (#10374511) Homepage
    I wonder if they sell any books on how to do that :)
    • These are the exceptions that the slashdoting caused:

      Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs/ include/db.php on line 9

      Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs/ include/db.php on line 10

    • Re:DB conncetion pooling (Score:4, Funny)

      by JamieF ( 16832 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:43PM (#10374874) Homepage
      Gosh... I guess choosing MySQL *doesn't* automatically eliminate database performance problems.

      You mean you have to actually RTFM and then test stuff before rolling it out? With more than just one's own web browser?

      If only someone had ever written a web load tester that was multithreaded! But since they haven't I guess I'll have to write my own...

  • The Best T-Shirt (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dan_sdot ( 721837 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:08PM (#10374519)
    Maybe they will have the best t-shirt I ever have seen that they stopped carrying on ThinkGeek from some reason. It just said:
    rm -rf /bin/laden
    My friend had one that he got on ThinkGeek, but by the time I went to the site to buy one, they didn't have it anymore! I want one!!

  • "Good News Everyone!" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Trikenstein ( 571493 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:13PM (#10374588)
    We broke their server and now we can bitch about it and make fun of them!

  • OMFG Slashvertised again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by spoonyfork ( 23307 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [krofynoops]> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:13PM (#10374592) Journal
    Could the submitters or editors at least try to make it look like news? Perhaps a bloggers review of the site or a comparative analysis of nerd shopping sites? This and the press release ad for the rugged PDA article a couple hours ago make me no likey Slashdot.

    If I wanted a content-free website of ads there are already plenty to choose from.

    • Matter of taste, I guess, but personally I'd rather see a straightforward announcement of a new product or service of interest than have it disguised as one of those Ask Slashdot non-questions or a bogus review.
  • Well, at least they WERE a hot place to buy all your geeky goodies in the EU, until Slashdot burnt their ephemeral store down...

    Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs/ include/db.php on line 9

    Database problem! Vi are seeink wery beeg traffik und der blinken lights are not blinken no more.

  • Hmm....an attack on a competitor? (Score:5, Funny)

    by C. Mattix ( 32747 ) <cmattix&gmail,com> on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:16PM (#10374620) Homepage
    Passes out the tin-foil hats.

    Hmm...could this be an intentional "Slashdotting" of a competitor to Thinkgeek.com? This is a very effective legal DDOS attack on the e-commerce site of a competitor of a company owned by the same people that run Slashdot.

    • I just realized the moderation of your message changes the tone completely. When I was reading it, it was +2 Insightful, which made me want to reply and smack some sense into you. Then I hit the reply button and it shows as +3 Funny. Now I am laughing at the hilarious joke you posted.

      Unfortunately once I hit reply I fear you will be at -1 Overrated, and therefore I just wasted my time.
    • Hum, not really: the /.-ing will only last for a few hours, while the site itself will be remembered far longer, specially by european readers. All in all, if that was an attempt to take them down, it was a lousy one :)

  • #1 selling Nerdorama T-Shirt (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:18PM (#10374638)
    Item #69: The Consultant. Cotton T with the following text: "We were paid to scale this website, but all we did is buy these lousy T-Shirts."

  • Adblock! (Score:5, Funny)

    by jchawk ( 127686 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:25PM (#10374702) Homepage Journal
    I tried clicking on this ad, but apparently it's in some new format that Adblock doesn't recognize! :-P

  • Guerilla market Slashdot? No way!

    Maybe I need to pay Roland Piquelle to promote my site. Will some karma or some flames do?

    -Electrawn
  • buy geekstuff without paying big taxes when buying outside EU as you don't pay taxes when buying from other European countries

    Trust me, in the EU you always pay sales tax/VAT/MWST/IVA/BTW (whatever you cal lit) in the country you order your product. Geek goods will almost always be taxed at a rate varying between 14 and 20%.

    And then there are sooo many shops out there that don't care to go through the hassle of not charging taxes for countries outside the EU (like .ch). So sometimes you wind up being t

  • Spanish site with T-shirts (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It is also popular on spain, this site ropafriki [ropafriki.com]. It have all the thinkgeek T-shirts with spanish slogans. And without taxes, only the burocratic process of the aduane cost 50, and then the European taxes, and then the bordes taxes. I bought http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/6806/ and they tax me with the "wool" tax. it more tha douvble the prize.

  • Paid (Score:4, Funny)

    by xilet ( 741528 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:57PM (#10375045)
    This slashdot article paid for by thinkgeek.
  • Although their website is completely unreachable ...

    What have you done America .. ./ a poor European link ... which of still reminds me; why is bandwidth much cheaper in the US than the EU?

    Guess I can check out the shop in about 96hrs right ?

  • Advertising, and not even that guerilla (Score:5, Informative)

    by mkro ( 644055 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @01:16PM (#10375233)
    Yes, this is pure advertising. Submitter's login: kasperh. If you Google "Kasper" + "Nerdorama", you find the phrase: "Nerdorama was founded as a one person company by Kasper Hartwich". Ouch, that is ugly. And coincidentally I recognized the name, as he used to be (Still is?) in the Amiga scene group I was/is a member of. Hi Bakerman, your tricks are dirty, but I blame the editors rather than you.
    Luv, allanon.

    • Mod Parent Up. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mekkab ( 133181 )
      Its not that I am particularly outraged by the blatant self-aggrandizment, (I'm an American, we actually look quite favorably on it) its more that I want to remove any doubt from everyone's mind about what this is.

      And frankly, /. should be getting a cut.
      • Does it really matter who submitted it? It's still news for nerds and quite worthy of getting posted - there are nerds in the EU too you know ;) Ps. I'm a Dane but I'm in no way affiliated with them.
        • How is it news at all?!?! "Online shop opens up!"
          Thats pretty much the extent of it.

          If they at least had the decency to wrap it up in a story, it would be okay. - For example, an online weekly diary of a small business starting up; all they have to go through, permits for this, tax issues, supplier problems, online-fraud, etc. That would be totally friggin cool. AND it would be great advertisement. Everyone wins.

          This is just plain advertisement. Buy a banner ad, friggin' euro-cheapskate! ;)
          • Bah...it's still news for nerds - even though I live in Denmark, I didn't know about it. I found it quite interesting. It's been missing for Europeans for a long time and now it's here - that's news for god sake - maybe it isn't that interesting for you fat, stupid, Bush loving americans (okay, that was a joke, only to counter your last line ;)), but you're not the only ones that read /. ;) Furthermore, /. mentions new products and such all the time - new music shops, company X announces new ultrafast PC's
  • The message should read: Server børked
  • I think we ate up enough bandwidth that the store usually consumed in a month.
    Thats losses for a months worth of nerdyware.At least make sure your site has enough bandwidth before posting on slashdot OR use one of those caching things :-p
  • ...they are geek-releated (nerd merchandise, cheap hardware, unusual appliances, things geeks might pay for). However, commercial content should remain the exception on ./ rather than the rule.

    --
    Try Nuggets [mynuggets.net], the mobile search engine. We answer your questions via SMS, across the UK.

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