Buying equipment from the USA?

[Snapper Baz]

Hi gang, I know many UK and European members on here often look into buying equipment from the USA as I have recently done. There is a decent Camera dealer/shop right next to my girlfriends house in LA and I got her to get me some prices yesterday...they gave me their best which was'nt that good actually so I began to search around more and I found this site which maybe of interest to somebody. The site has excellent reviews etc which can be read up on and their prices seem to be very good. I havn't looked into their prices for shipping abroad as I won't need it but take a look if your interested?
They can be found at: www.expresscameras.com and they are a huge wholesaler along the lines of Dabs.com here. Hope this is of some help. Maybe somebody has already had dealings with them??

[Hubble]

Hi Baz

I bought my Canon EF 400mm F2.8 from the States. Got it from Adorama through a friend in Texas, saved me a bundle. At the time it was retailing in the UK at £5500, I paid around £4200, including Canon 2x extender, shipping NY to Tx, Tx to UK, duty and VAT. Was a long process, but worth it.

Phil

[Davhut]

Here's one around the corner from me. Very trustworthy.

http://www.photographxunlimited.com/

[Tim the Grey]

B&H in New York had a .co.uk address for a while... Not sure if they still do.

I've bought quite a chunk of kit from Arlington Cameras in Tx, as Jim used to sell a LOT of Olympus kit to Europe, including my 11-22, 1.4 TC, ad a load of Hoya HMC filters, saving me yet another bundle, even when P&P, VAT etc are included.
One point that MAY be of interest is European sold gear has a TWO year guarantee, under EEC consumer law.
I believe Nikon don;t have a worldwide warranty, so check what, if any, warranty you get, and factor that into the decision...

[Hubble]

Canon's guarantee is worldwide if it's a Canon Japan manufactured item, but only a US guarantee if it's a grey market (ie Malaysian) version. I opted to pay the extra $500 dollars (total $7500) for my Japanese lens, although now I am a CPS member I wouldn't worry so much about that

[thebear]

I have acted as a `consolidator' for eBay puchases for a friend in Italy. He bids and pays for items that can/will not be shipped out of the US. I re-ship them to him for a small uplift to cover my PayPal fees.

It would be necesary to add my US address to your PayPal account as a "gift' location.

Shipping via US Postal Service has become quite expensive recently. Most lenses/camera bodies will ship for USD 30. If it is a small item that will fit in one of the `flat rate' envelopes or boxes (up to 1.8kg) it will ship Global Priority Mail (~7 day delivery) for ~USD 11.

PM for detailed information.

[Snapper Baz]

Thanks for all the help so far on this guys-it helps us "stung price wise" folks here in the UK a lot!

[James North]

Just remember that customs can be a bit of a lottery.

[ss_collins]

fly out with empty camera bags - fly back with full ones?

[James North]

A most wonderful, if slightly expensive suggestion

The flights from the UK would cost significantly more than import duty.

[thebear]

Originally Posted by Snapper Baz

They can be found at: www.expresscameras.com and they are a huge wholesaler along the lines of Dabs.com here. Hope this is of some help. Maybe somebody has already had dealings with them??

I have and they are not forthright in their sales methods. I did not trust the prices posted on the website so I called the toll free number. If you do not agree to buy their way overpriced accessories (spare batteries, extended waranty, filters, etc) at the same time they will take your order but NOT process it. Suddenly the camera/lens you want is on back-order with no scheduled delivery.

[hoffy]

Please do your research before buying equipment from the greater New York area.

I cannot remember the names of the places, but there are a few very very dodgey places running out of Brooklyn & New Jersey addresses. I'm not sure if expresscameras.com is one of them, but tread with caution.

I will look at my resources & give a definative answer later.

The best place, though, I have found is also in New York & that is B&H. Their services is second to none (New York to Adelaide Australia in less then 5 days, including clearing customs).

[hoffy]

OK, my fears have been confirmed. Express Cameras are to be avoided. Please also note, they have been known to use different trading names, so thoroughly do your research before purchasing online!!!:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7593_102...ssageID=488772
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Express_Cameras

[James North]

I was impressed with B&H, extremely fast delivery to the uk.

But I probably wouldn't order from the states again, unless the price was really stupidly lower than the best I could find at home. Because if the package gets looked at by customs, and the chances are that it will, then the government manage to completely negate your savings, and you probably end up actually paying more.

And certainly at the moment, there are some pretty good prices in the uk, that make importing much less attractive, when you take into account shipping charges and import duty.

[thebear]

Originally Posted by James North

But I probably wouldn't order from the states again, unless the price was really stupidly lower than the best I could find at home. Because if the package gets looked at by customs, and the chances are that it will, then the government manage to completely negate your savings, and you probably end up actually paying more.

And certainly at the moment, there are some pretty good prices in the uk, that make importing much less attractive, when you take into account shipping charges and import duty.

I have sold several used lenses and other photo items on e-Bay to UK people on e-bay and they report no hassles or excessive duty. That being said, however I am sending used equipment as a private party and marking it `gift' with a nominal value usually $US100 (stretching it a little).

I have had similar experiences shiping to Australia (reported that they don't bother if the stated value is under $AU200) and Italy.

Packages from commercial senders with full price insurance valuations are an obvious target.

. . . .

[Snapper Baz]

I was just about to bid on some stuff on Ebay and my gearbox has just let go...there goes all my money and more...damn!

[Alan Cherry]

don't forget your'e probably going to be charged tax on anything you import.
Just checked with the revenue bods re a new tin hat ( I bought one that I tried on at GPR late last year - first race at the ring, had a blinding headache after 1 hour, and nearly came in - tried it again at Brands, and still bl00dy uncomfortable ). If they send it via normal post, the post office and parcelforce are designated tax collectors for them, and will leave you a card in the door telling you your parcel has arrived , and if you pay them £x you can have it ( they also charge a handling fee ). If you use a courier, they will deliver the goods to you, and an invoice for the tax will turn up about 2 months later - just when you've forgotten about the bill. However, having said the above, a tin hat has a commodity code of 650618000 which attracts an import duty of 2.7%, then there is the VAT ( which you would pay in this country anyway ) Providing the postage isn't silly ( still waiting for reply from the dealer ) it's still a lot cheaper than buying in the UK. You'd have to phone the tax people to find out what the import duty is on lenses !

[Tim the Grey]

Duty on lenses? Zero. There's a Euro Gov website for EEC Duty rates. Probably a link from HMCE website.
Cameras are 4% last time I looked. Unless they do video, when the Duty skyrockets.

Thing is, they add any Duty to the WHOLE bill, including P&P, THEN put VAT on the revised total...

[Hubble]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Duty on lenses? Zero. There's a Euro Gov website for EEC Duty rates. Probably a link from HMCE website.
Cameras are 4% last time I looked. Unless they do video, when the Duty skyrockets.

Thing is, they add any Duty to the WHOLE bill, including P&P, THEN put VAT on the revised total...

Wrong.....duty on lenses is 6.7%. Other than that your info is spot on. It's what put me off buying from the US via normal channels......with the duty and VAT on my 400mm F2.8, it made the total price too close to what I would have paid in the UK.

So I took a different route.....and saved a fortune

Interesting that digital still cameras are free of duty, while film cameras attract a 4.9% duty