[Update November 1st, 2013] Nexus 5 was launched today and it will be atleast a couple of months before it arrives in India. So, if you want to order Nexus 5 immediately from US play store, this is the ultimate guide you need to follow.

And the best part is, ordering from US play store will not only get you Nexus 5 much earlier, but you will actually end up saving good amount of money compared to buying it from India.

Follow the guide given below, and you should not have any problems.

Google Nexus 5 INR Price if you Order in India from US Play Store

[Price calculated at Rs. 62 exchange rate]

Details Nexus 5 16GB (INR) Nexus 5 32GB (INR) Price 21638 24738 Google Shipping (3-4 days Normal Shipping) 930 930 Google Taxes 1116 1116 Shop & Ship India Shipping 620 620 India Duties (@7%) 1612 1860 Total Price 25916 29264

Note: The prices may vary slightly depending you are address in the US as taxes differ from state to state.

Please keep in mind that guide below was prepared for Nexus 4, the process is exactly the same for Nexus 5

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If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, by now, you know that I am a proud owner of Google Nexus 4. It is definitely not the most expensive or the most terrific phone out there, but when I got it for the first time, it felt like I had achieved something.. and by the end of this article you will know why I had that feeling. Nexus 4 is not available in India through regular Google Play store. Of course, you can buy it on 3rd party websites like ebay, grabmore and many other sites, but you need to pay atleast 30 to 40 percent premium on the pricing. Now, I could have bought by paying the premium, but it would not have given me half the satisfaction. Buying a Nexus 4 via Google play store in India is an arduous task, it really is, and it will probably remain so till the time Google decides to release it in India. I doubt if a normal non-techie, non-geeky person can manage through the whole process successfully (unless you have a friend who will bring it from US / UK for you ). This article will try to simplify the process for those…

Step 1 – Getting to Google Play Nexus 4 “Shop Now” page

While you can visit Google Play Nexus page by going to http://www.google.com/nexus/4/, once you click on “shop now” button, you will be first presented with a screen that says: The devices on Google play are not available in India, so you will need a workaround. To get around this problem, you will need to first use a proxy, that essentially tells Google store that you are logged in from US or UK. Google identifies it based on your IP address, so you will need to use a proxy to achieve that. I used a desktop client called Tunnelbear, which offers 500 mb of proxy data free. There are many similar proxy clients that you can use to achieve this. If you are not comfortable with Tunnelbear, just search Google for a US proxy or VPN client, and you should get many others as well. You will need to download the Tunnel Bear client, register with them and you are ready to go. Once you have started the tunnel bear client, go to your browser window and when you click on “Shop Now” button, you see the actual Nexus 4 screen from where you can make the purchase. Here you can choose your model (8GB or 16GB). I chose 16 GB, as the phone does not have mini SD card slot, so if available, you should opt for 16GB (its only USD 50 more). But once the phone is in shopping cart, you are faced with another issue. You need to 2 things – A US Credit card with and US shipping address because Google does not ship outside of the US. So, before you actually go through the process, you will need to have these 2 things in place.

How to Get US Shipping Address

There are few online portals who offer you virtual US post box addresses. Shopandship.com, is one of the leading sites who offer you US, UK as well as China shipping addresses. I used the same to order my Nexus 4. I have had really good experience with shopandship for 2 orders I have placed with them. In both the cases they have been able to deliver me the product in less than 7 days! Update: There is another site called HopShopGo, an alternative to shopandship.com, you can try that one out as well. [Hat Tip: @akkiman]

However, please note that you will need atleast 2-3 days for your account to get activated and your shipping address being assigned to you. So, before you head to the Google Play store, please make sure that you have your US shipping address in place.

In regards to the US credit card, there is a workaround. You can use your Indian Credit card itself and for billing address, you can give any US address. That worked for me. I gave my previous US address, where I lived and it accepted it without any complaints.

Update: March 19th 2013: Many people who have tried to order are facing issues with Billing address, when I ordered the Nexus, it accepted billing address which was different than one registered with the Bank, however, looks like Google has stopped it from February 21st 2013 (One of the commenters has pointed out that “Google play now accepts only US credit cards with US address. It does a check on every credit card by verifying the address registered with the issuing bank.“. Here is a workaround for that: Please visit www.usunlocked.com, another service from Shopandship. You can get a US debit card with local US address. You can use that card for ordering.

If you don’t have a credit card and have a debit card from banks like HDFC, they offer virtual netsafe credit cards to be generated, which could be used!

Placing the Order on Google Play

Coming back to placing order on Google. Once you have selected the Nexus 4 model and entered the shopping cart, enter you credit card and US shipping address and in all probability your order should get through. I placed my order on January 30th and they shipped the phone on the 4th. Shopandship received it in their mailbox on the 6th and on 11th, I had Nexus 4 in my hand.

India Shipping, Customs & Duties

Luckily Shopandship does everything on your behalf. Once they receive the product in their mailbox, they assess the weight, and custom duties based on the category of product. In Nexus 4’s case, duty was just 1 percent and shipping charges worked out to less than Rs. 600. Buyers need to send shopandship proof of payment and invoice, so they can speedily process your shipment custom duties.

Exact Cost of Google Nexus 4

Here is the exact break-up of cost on Google Nexus 4.

Sr. No Details Cost in Rupees 1 Google Nexus 4 including shipping + Taxes (USD 395) 21107 2 Shopandship India Shipping 486 3 Custom Duties 612 Total Rs. 22,205

Note: In Pune we are still levied the ridiculous Octroi, which came to about Rs. 1200 taking the cost of Nexus phone to Rs. 23,405. However, in most other cities in India, Octroi is not there. So, even with slight change in exchange rates and other things, the cost of your Nexus 4 phone should not exceed Rs. 22,500/-. For that price, Google Nexus 4 is definitely worth it! Also, once you have shopandship account, you can buy any goods from US. Just make sure the weight is not too much, otherwise it works out quite expensive. Google Nexus was just 1 pound and hence the shipping charges were quite low. Also, they had a scheme where I got 10 percent off on shipping and hence the low cost. Like I said, it is an arduous task buying a Nexus 4 in India… but in the end, it was all worth it! If you have any questions, do drop us a comment and I would be more than happy to clarify it!