hopping for Electronics in Hungary: Best Tech Stores and VAT Refund Tips

The VAT is 27%, but the refund is 17 to 19%. You have to do it through a 3rd party. Electronics here are not cheap. With the refund you might reach US costs. The place to go would be Media Mkt. West End Mall location is probably easiest for tourists.

You are better off buying one in the US if that's where you are coming from.

Here is more poop on the subject: https://wise.com/gb/blog/vat-refund-hungary

Also note that the European version of a certain phone will differ in some ways from the U.S. version. Things like Esim capability, what 5G bands, and especially, which frequency bands it supports, is not the same as in U.S. I have a Galaxy S9 phone that came from Australia, and have no problems, it is Dual-Sim, which is very useful for me. Of interest to geeks, is that the actual processor chips and video chips often differ between phones for the U.S. and for other regions.

Travel guy, I didn't realize bands were still an issue. I've fit European phones with US SIMs and US phones with European SIMs. All worked fine. Guess I just got lucky.

Mr. E: I don't think the bands are really an issue nowadays, I just know that they do differ between U.S. models and various other ones. I've never had any problems that I knew about, either. I know that in my house, I can receive Tmobile on 700 mhz., and even though my local Tmo tower is on 2 other bands, I can't receive those others (they are much higher frequency). So if you were not able to receive a certain band, the tower you need to hear is also on several other bands, and usually you can get one of those.

And probably, the band thing was more of an issue with older phones that could receive fewer bands. My current phone, a Samsung S24, can receive a huge number of bands, so I expect zero problems with international travel.

Thank you very much for your help.I've decided to buy the phone from Hungary,but I still have a few questions.I've never bought anything from abroad before, so I'm not familiar with the tax-free process.First, will there be any issues if I start using the phone right after I buy it? I've heard in some places that the product must remain unopened.Second, I’m planning to get the tax refund at the airport in Hungary.How long does the process usually take?If I arrive at the airport 2 hours before my flight, will that be enough time to complete the procedures?

I have no idea what you are up to. Can't help. Sorry.

Thank you very much for your help, no problem

Generally, in order to get the VAT refund, the product purchased must be unused.

Here are helpful articles on the VAT refund process in Hungary. They all confirm that the “items must be unused."

https://wise.com/gb/blog/vat-refund-hungary

https://glocalzone.com/vat-refund-calculator/hungary

https://www.globalblue.com/en/shoppers/how-to-shop-tax-free/destinations/hungary

Where does you flight from Hungary land? If in another Schengen country, you may have to do the VAT refund paperwork at the point you depart the Schengen zone. ( my memory is a bit fuzzy so do your research) .

Read this for more info
https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation/vat/vat-directive/vat-refunds_en

Here is another set of instructions. I bet there is a 50/50 chance you will get your refund unless the store does it on the spot (somehow I am not overly confident that that will happen) https://helpers.hu/accounting-and-finance/duty-free-shopping-and-vat-refund-in-hungary/

in the sealed box unopened