Buying cameras from abroad

[digi-birder]

Having recently been trying to decide whether to change my camera or not, I have been looking at prices of various models and came across an American website that has some really good prices.

I checked the customs and excise website and it seems that there is no custom duty payable on digital cameras. Even taking into account paying VAT (if the parcel gets checked, that is) it still works out cheaper than buying one here.

Has anyone had any experience of purchasing a digicam from abroad?

I know about the situation with the Coolpix's different coloured flashes depending where it's purchased, and that Nikon UK would probably not want to service an imported camera. Can you tell the source of any brand of camera? The one I'm eyeing up looks exactly the same as on the UK sites.

Of course this could all be academic if I have, as it appears at last, got the hang of the 995!

[Leif]

I would be careful as there are some really dodgy American sites that will try and do you over good and proper. I have the impression that American consumer protection law is rather weak in comparison with ours.

This site has a page with customer feedback for a huge number of photo stores:

Photo Net (http://www.photo.net/)

Note that of you buy in the States, you will have to pay import duty, shipping and VAT. The tax demand will come in the form of a letter after you receive the goods.

[jayhunter]

I bought my Fuji Finepix in Singapore was about £200-00 cheaper than Dixons at the time of purchase. But as with everything the prices in this country do come down, I haven't as yet come across any problems with the camera. I brought the camera in through Customs myself and bypassed the scrutiny of actually shipping it in from America with all the Customs Declaration forms, which almost infer you are going to get charged.

[robinm]

The other problem I have had heard is that it is difficult to get them fixed if they go wrong.

[digi-birder]

Gosh, this has come out of the archives!

I did a lot of research before deciding not to bother buying from the USA. There would, in fact, only have been VAT to pay, as digital cameras are duty free, but the shipping charges put it almost up to the UK prices. With this in mind, I didn't want to risk the camera going wrong and having a lot of expense shipping it all the way back.

In the end I found the best UK price at Amazon and went to Jessops, who price-matched it saving me £130.

I went for the Canon G3 and an excellent camera it is too.

[paulsnokia]

I would not purchase any equipment from abroad if was readily available in the UK.

Whats wrong with buying from your home base?????

Most decent retailers will price match..

[digi-birder]

Originally posted by paulsnokia
IWhats wrong with buying from your home base?????

Because sometimes the prices are way above what you can buy them for overseas, due to the UK being ripped off for most consumer goods.

Case in point - my EagleEye 5x OpticZoom. Check out EagleEye's own prices, remembering to add VAT to their website prices, and then look at Photosolve.com - even with postage it cost less than having it delivered from the UK.

[Blade]

perhapse I should check out the states for my weekly shop3:-)

Tesco's will be pleased when i stroll in and ask them to price match walmart in the states;)

Whats wrong with a good haggle :t:

[alanhill]

I bought my Fuji s602Z from a company called DigiFocus in Singapore, e-mail: digifocus@f2s.com - I think there might also be a website. As far as I can remember I might have got the details from a recommendation on Birdforum. Anyway it was a lot cheaper than I could get it in the UK and it has been absolutely fine. The guy who runs the business mailed me several times to see if everything was OK. However I don't know what I'd do if anything went wrong with the camera, but (touch wood) I don't expect it to.

Alan Hill

[Leif]

5 years ago I bought some items from B&H Photovideo in the States at prices much lower than the UK. For example I bought 200mm macro lens for £500 + £100 shipping, import duty and tax. In the UK second hand examples were going for ~£800.

That was a few years ago and now the exchange rate is nothing like so favourable so it is probably not worth it.

[Grousemore]

In fact the exchange rate is currently about the same level as 5 years ago,but during those 5 years has fluctuated significantly.

[POP]

Alan with regard to your camera buying from abroad,do the customs and excise not tax you,i have bought from the states for jazz cds etc and have been stung by the customs.

John

[digi-birder]

John,

As I mentioned in one of my above posts, digital cameras are, at the moment, duty free. You will only be charged VAT.

[POP]

Diane I am afraid my mouth was in gear before my brain,after i had posted my message I read your intial posting on customs duty.

john

[digi-birder]

No probs. :t:

[Roy191]

Here is an online shop in Auckland NZ to compare prices, i buy all my gear from here. I bought my Oly 750 for $849 NZ when they were retailing for $1299 in most other outlets. They are a wholesale outlet. address is ( etown.co.nz ) . Convert prices back to British pound, be hard to beat...Roy.

[ChrisK]

Alan, I have news for you. I have been looking for a S5000 from the states for a while now- before I started I asked Fuji in the UK where I stand with the warranty should anything happen to a camera I bought from overseas. I got a reply stating very clearly that ALL fuji cameras are covered by a World-wide warranty- all you need is your original reciept and the warranty card that is in the box. (I'm still trying to find a shop in the US that will ship it to the UK by internet order, but I'll get there)
Sorry for just jumping in, but I found this thread through Google, and thought you'd like to know.

[esmondb]

Alan, I have news for you. I have been looking for a S5000 from the states for a while now- before I started I asked Fuji in the UK where I stand with the warranty should anything happen to a camera I bought from overseas. I got a reply stating very clearly that ALL fuji cameras are covered by a World-wide warranty- all you need is your original reciept and the warranty card that is in the box. (I'm still trying to find a shop in the US that will ship it to the UK by internet order, but I'll get there)
Sorry for just jumping in, but I found this thread through Google, and thought you'd like to know.

Is this advertising? B&H Photovideo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home) ship worldwide.

Having bought cameras, lenses and microphones from them in the past, both over the 'net and in person (the shop has to be seen to be believed) I can heartily recommend them.
Customer service is second to none and all the staff I spoke to were extremely knowledgable.

When I visited they had customers who'd flown in from Japan to pick up goods - the prices even when including the cost of the flights made it worthwhile.

[ChrisK]

If youre talking about my post- no its not advertising.
Just thought I'd share the info

[Grousemore]

If youre talking about my post- no its not advertising.
Just thought I'd share the info
I think Esmondb was asking whether his posting of a link to B&H Photovideo constituted advertising(which it did not)
If you put the mouse pointer on B&H,you get a direct link to their website.

And welcome to Bird Forum,we look forward to your further contributions;most people are,like Esmond,very helpful in providing information.

[Highway Man]

John,

As I mentioned in one of my above posts, digital cameras are, at the moment, duty free. You will only be charged VAT.

Hi Diane

If only that were true we'd all be buying them from the States.

In my previous employment I worked for 10 years as a postman. Many times I would have to deliver parcels from outside the E.U which had been inspected at random by customs. Not only was there a request for the V.A.T (via a cash on delivery request) but also a customs handling charge and post office handling charge, coupled together these two were MORE than the V.A.T. Imagine one ladies face, when I turned up at her door with a silk suit from Hong Kong (costing a few hundred quid) and a C.O.D demand for nearly £200!!!

You have been warned.

As far as I know items purchased within the E.U are exempt from charges.

Mark

[Sven W]

In my previous employment I worked for 10 years as a postman. Many times I would have to deliver parcels from outside the E.U which had been inspected at random by customs. Not only was there a request for the V.A.T (via a cash on delivery request) but also a customs handling charge and post office handling charge, coupled together these two were MORE than the V.A.T. Imagine one ladies face, when I turned up at her door with a silk suit from Hong Kong (costing a few hundred quid) and a C.O.D demand for nearly £200!!!

You have been warned.

As far as I know items purchased within the E.U are exempt from charges.

Mark

Mark's observation is valid for the situaton in Sweden as well, and I think the same rules apply within the entire EU. Last year I bought a new digital camera, the prices in USA was about 25% lower so I did a check on which fees I would have to pay and it turned out to actually be quite a bit more expensive to import it.

As Mark noted, purchases within EU are exempt from charges. The only surprise might be the VAT which should be payed in the country of the seller or of the buyer depending how much the seller sells per year to the buyers country. The seller should be able to tell you before the deal. This might make a small difference. For instance last week I payed a software renewal to a company in Irland and payed Irish VAT instead of Swedish, a 4% saving for me.

It often pays off to look around a bit, but I normally stay within EU except in extreme cases.

[digi-birder]

Hi Diane

If only that were true we'd all be buying them from the States.

Well, I've just been to the TARIC website (http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/cgi-bin/tarchap?Lang=EN) again, which is where I found my previous information about 0% duty from the USA. It looks like something's changed, as I couldn't find the category where digital cameras were showing 0%.

Searching under the Browse button on the above page goes through the photographic sections, but doesn't mention digital anywhere. You have to choose 'other' and you end up with 4.2% duty. They give the code as 9006590000.

However, I looked elsewhere through the site and found another search page (http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/en/tarhome.htm) where I searched on 'description' putting in camera, and this eventually gives you the code 8525401100, which does mention digital cameras and the duty is still indicated as 0%.

[gripper]

will everyone be happy when all the local independent camera shops close down because everybody is buying over the net and from overseas ??
and then moan because they cant get to see the latest camera/scope/bins before they buy and say things like 'was'nt it nice when we could walk into so and so's and talk to that knowlegable and helpfull assistant" and "ok so i had to pay £30 more but they were there when i had a problem' !!!!!
there is more to buying your new/camera/scope or bins than how cheap can i find them for !!

and yes i work in a camera shop and yes i am a birder and yes i get p@@@@@d off when someone comes in and takes and hour of my poorly paid time to get an in depth look at several cameras/bins/scopes , get all his questions answered using my knowledge built up over many years and then asks "can you match this price off the internet" (why do people think we make lots of profit on this stuff ?? we dont) or worse says 'thanks i will give it some thought" and then goes and buys off the net saving himself a few quid !

keep on like this and the camera shop will soon be a thing of the past !

tell me i am wrong !

[Grousemore]

keep on like this and the camera shop will soon be a thing of the past !

tell me i am wrong !

I don't think you are wrong at all.

[esmondb]

will everyone be happy when all the local independent camera shops close down because everybody is buying over the net and from overseas ??

This is what is known as a free market.

If your company doesn't also sell over the 'net then that is its own problem.
If it sells over the 'net but charges the same price as retail then that is to its detriment.

I have no wish to see any trustworthy independent retailer go out of business, but if the mark up in price is subsidising your prime retail location, your 1000s of pounds worth of goods sitting on shelves which won't be sold for months and your inconvenient opening hours then I'll quite happily shop elsewhere.

When the difference in price comes to hundreds, not tens of pounds, of my hard earned money, I know exactly where I'm going to spend it.

Here's an idea - why not stock a small amount of grey imports and price them accordingly. When a customer asks all about the differences explain them and see where they put their money.

Caveat emptor as the Romans used to say

[gripper]

"This is what is known as a free market."
free maybe but fair no !

"If your company doesn't also sell over the 'net then that is its own problem.
If it sells over the 'net but charges the same price as retail then that is to its detriment."

no we do not


"I have no wish to see any trustworthy independent retailer go out of business, but if the mark up in price is subsidising your prime retail location, your 1000s of pounds worth of goods sitting on shelves which won't be sold for months and your inconvenient opening hours then I'll quite happily shop elsewhere."

i wish that we could mark up to cover the high st costs !,
the shop i work in has been in the same location for 3 decades ! we have no control over what we are charged for being there, prime loation or not and who is to say we are in a prime location ? 1000's of pounds worth of stock means we can offer choice ?? and it wont sit on the shelf for too long because we are good at what we do and buy the right stock at the right time
what is inconveinient about mon-fri 9-5.30 and sundays 11-4 ??

"When the difference in price comes to hundreds, not tens of pounds, of my hard earned money, I know exactly where I'm going to spend it."

give me an example of hundreds of pounds difference !

"Here's an idea - why not stock a small amount of grey imports and price them accordingly. When a customer asks all about the differences explain them and see where they put their money."

we do not sell greys because of warrenty issues ! all goods we sell come with a UK warranty this is for the consumers benefit


"Caveat emptor as the Romans used to say"

i agree with this sentiment but i think it applies to the net far more than the high street as you dont have a person to deal with on the web just a page of text that can be hidden behind ?!
************************************************** **********

[esmondb]

what is inconveinient about mon-fri 9-5.30 and sundays 11-4 ??



When do you do the majority of your sales - that may tell you about convenience. I know I'm being facetious, but if you're open when I'm at work and can't get to you, but you're not open when I finish work at 5.30 what good are you to me?


give me an example of hundreds of pounds difference !


Three of the earlier posts spring readily to mind.
Jayhunter:"I bought my Fuji Finepix in Singapore was about £200-00 cheaper than Dixons at the time of purchase."
digi-birder:"In the end I found the best UK price at Amazon and went to Jessops, who price-matched it saving me £130."
Leif:"I bought 200mm macro lens for £500 + £100 shipping, import duty and tax. In the UK second hand examples were going for ~£800."

If I'm buying camera, lenses, scope, binoculars and tripod that saving COULD nearly pay for that birding trip to the Amazon rainforest.

we do not sell greys because of warrenty issues ! all goods we sell come with a UK warranty this is for the consumers benefit

Please explain. From earlier posts I was under the impression that many manufacturers offer a worldwide guarantee, what are the benefits to the customer of the UK warranty/guarantee.

This is starting to sound like a personal diatribe, which it is not meant to be and I must apologise if it comes across that way.
All my questions are directed to ALL retailers in general, but particularly to the independent retailers of which you are but one.


"Caveat emptor as the Romans used to say"

i agree with this sentiment but i think it applies to the net far more than the high street as you dont have a person to deal with on the web just a page of text that can be hidden behind ?!

My point too. When you pay your money, you take your choice. Which is also why many people would rather shop with you than with many of the big high street chains.
You've survived the big chainstores and the out-of-town warehouses, I'm sure you'll survive the on-line revolution.

[Grousemore]

It's not sounding like a 'personal diatribe' to me,more a polemical nonsense.
gripper's point about people trying out the various items in retail stores,with the intent of only selecting and not buying(buy later on the internet as cheaply as possible),was the point that I consider was well made.
If these local,specialist retail outlets do not make sales,then they will eventually go out of business and there will be nowhere for anyone to test products and receive expert advice.
Everyone has to make a living and obsession with driving everything down to the lowest price can be taken to extremes.

[gripper]

"When do you do the majority of your sales - that may tell you about convenience. I know I'm being facetious, but if you're open when I'm at work and can't get to you, but you're not open when I finish work at 5.30 what good are you to me?"


in the main weekends, but there is no pattern to spending or purchasing anymore,
retail shops are open longer hours now than they ever were, even in recent memory half day closing was common and sunday opening was a big no no perhaps we should start opening at 8 in the morning and stay open till seven in the evening after all we are only shop workers ! we dont have homes and we are all stupid so we wont mind ( i realise you did not infer we were stupid but the great british public in general look down on shop staff in my experience thinking that because we choose to work in a shop we are unable to acheive anything else ,as it is i have a good education and between myself and my collegues there are two degree's and an MBA and over fifty years of accumulated photographic and optical knowledge and on an salary most people would not get out of bed for !)



"Three of the earlier posts spring readily to mind.
Jayhunter:"I bought my Fuji Finepix in Singapore was about £200-00 cheaper than Dixons at the time of purchase."
digi-birder:"In the end I found the best UK price at Amazon and went to Jessops, who price-matched it saving me £130."
Leif:"I bought 200mm macro lens for £500 + £100 shipping, import duty and tax. In the UK second hand examples were going for ~£800."

If I'm buying camera, lenses, scope, binoculars and tripod that saving COULD nearly pay for that birding trip to the Amazon rainforest."

hmm.. well dixons are always more expensive than almot anyone due to the fact that they require a set profit margin from all the products they stock, amazon are a pain they make tiny amounts of profit and work on the pile it high sell it cheap principle (in my humble opinion)
as for the macro lens well the rarity factor will make this expensive especially as a s/h buy more so if its deemed 'pro' and some retailers have been known to use this fact , we try to price s/h fairly so it does not collect dust but realises a small profit quickly



"Please explain. From earlier posts I was under the impression that many manufacturers offer a worldwide guarantee, what are the benefits to the customer of the UK warranty/guarantee."

not all m'ftrs use a worldwide g'tee and because of net and grey imports they are reverting to geograpical g'tees ( i will double check this but i belive things are moving in this direction) also you will find smaller shops and independants are now taking a firmer stance on g'tee issues ie: if you did not buy it from us , then you must deal directly with the manufacturer

"This is starting to sound like a personal diatribe, which it is not meant to be and I must apologise if it comes across that way.
All my questions are directed to ALL retailers in general, but particularly to the independent retailers of which you are but one."

no offence taken at all , my first post was borne from months of frustration seeing a trade i love and have put my time and energy into starting to suffer and possibly seem that (long term) its days are numbered so i apologise for getting on the soapbox just thought it was time something was said !



"My point too. When you pay your money, you take your choice. Which is also why many people would rather shop with you than with many of the big high street chains.
You've survived the big chainstores and the out-of-town warehouses, I'm sure you'll survive the on-line revolution."

i realise this and i hope you are right we have seen a few online only retailers falter already, internet cameras direct to name but one but i have heard they are still breathing and are coming back in all but name ! (that law still need changing )

kind regards

gripper

[Mike D]

Hi Diane,
My only - and last - experience of buying in the States was not good.
Bought a Casio top-range camera in Jan 2001 over the counter, including 'Full insurance, Sir, Yes, applies World-wide' Nonsense!
I had it knocked out of my hand while I was in Curacao two weeks later. This lost the zoom control button, stopped the flash and the USB from working.
Got back to UK several weeks later and sent a letter to Casio, enclosing a copy of the 'Insurance and WWWarranty', only to be told that the warranty etc rested with the vendor, and I would have to take it back to the shop I bought it from to make a claim. Quick trip to Miami? No, I don't think sol. And it cost me over one hundred UK Pounds to get it fixed.
So I no longer entertain Casio, their manner was curt, almost rude, and I don't buy from abroad, even though I travel a great deal in my job.
Buy local, local laws apply, you have redress through your local laws.
Mike

[CDK]

Please explain. From earlier posts I was under the impression that many manufacturers offer a worldwide guarantee, what are the benefits to the customer of the UK warranty/guarantee.

What about buying goods say in the US, who offer a life time warranty, I think that you will find that if the goods are manufactured in Europe then most European distributors will give the manufacturers warranty, which may not be lifetime.

This is not directed personally to you, but I am sure that it is the case with many that take the cheap option after taking local expert advise.

You do not want to use the nearest supplier, but where do you go if things go wrong, or you want an exchange, yes I bet you go to your nearest dealer and complain should they not give you a replacement. Is it not the case that the first point of contact is the retailer from where you purchased the goods. How does a distributor from a different Country know that the goods you purchased are not seconds which may have already been re-furbished or repaired by a non authorised repairer, which may invalidate any manufacturers warranties.

Surely if you trade within your own Country then such checks can be made, and the other benefit is the assistance of the manufacturer or supplier, as part of good customer service.

[giantbluemarlin]

Hi. I know all about buying all manner of photographic gear from abroad. - Both EU and outside.

Let me firstly make a definitive statement.

ALL photographic equipment bought outside the EU IS subject to VAT AND duty, if it costs over £30ish (including postage).

I find that after postage, the customs handling fee (£8ish) VAT (17.5% onto the total after postage) and duty (8%ish onto the whole new total), the cost of paying for goods abroad (bank charges, commissions, exchange rates etc), you can still sometime save a small amount on high value new items off the lowest UK price (normally internet NOT high-st). Maybe you can save £50 off a £1000 digital SLR. The problem is, that the small saving is simply not worth the potential risk. Also you will find that the warranty is not valid or not economical to use if you need to. Also the items will have foreign plugs and or different voltages requiring adapters at further expense. Non-UK items also lose a HUGE amount of their second hand value and quite understandably so. A buyer after a second hand item, will always wait for a UK model to become available unless the foreign item is significantly cheaper. They will know feel more comfortable about it's history and operation. What you save on the purchase you will lose on the sale and then some.

If you think this isn't correct, you are probably looking at the wrong places in the UK. FORGET Jessops on the high street. If you compare Amazon, Dabs and Warehouseexpress websites you will almost always come away with the best deal (at home or abroad (outside the EU) after all the above costs).

In short, buying outside the EU is only worth doing if you are actually travelling somewhere yourself and buy the item while there. This eliminates the risk, any fees, and sometimes VAT and duty too! ;)

I hope you get this before a potentially expensive and extremely annoying mistake.

Tips on cameras. AVOID the recently released 8mp digicams. The small sensors with the tightly packed tiny photodiodes introduce a LOT of "digital noise" into your pictures. Most consumers think that megapixels are everything. You can actually produce better photographs with more detail from a 6mp sensor with less noise than a noisy 8mp sensor.

Hottest digicam at present is the recently released Nikon D70 Digital SLR - this is the ONLY choice at present. It outperforms AND undercuts any other digital camera under £2000 at present not bad for £800. I can't wait to see what Canon's reply is though! ;) Whatever it is, if it's better than the Nikon D70 (and surely it'll have to be), I'll almost certainly buy it.

Best price/performance for a compact digicam suitable for digiscoping is the Canon Powershot G5. It's just been superceded and so prices are dropping. This is an absolutely superb high spec camera with amazing features. If you want a long zoom built in, and like point and shoot functionality, check out the bargain Olympus C750UZ - just superceded. If you only want to shoot at the long end without a tripod, you might consider the Minolta Dimage A1 with it's built in image stabiliser - again, it's just been superceded by a noisy 8mp replacement (A2) and so prices are dropping.

Consumer digicams are not really improving much and the new models are the same price as the old. With digital SLR's the new ones are better AND cheaper than the old! Shame you need lots of expensive lenses and a sack to carry them in though!

I hope this helps.

Regards,

GBM

[digi-birder]

GBM,

Thanks for the advice, and the email.

Everyone who has posted recently may not have noticed that my original question is now a year old! As it turns out, I did not buy the camera from overseas, as I mentioned in post no. 5, so this is all academic now. I've even upgraded again from the camera that I was thinking of ordering from the USA. I decided, as you point out, that the saving wasn't worth the hassle. So when Jessops price-matched the Amazon price, I jumped at it (it was a Canon G3). My recent camera purchase (10D) was also from a high street photographic retailer, but I didn't do any price-matching.

Your comment about duty has me puzzled still. I keep looking on the TARIC import duty codes website and it still comes out as 0% duty on digital cameras. Last time I looked there was another route to browse to digital cameras and they came out at 4.2%. When you mention 8% duty, you appear to be referring to photographic equipment, which may be subject to this amount of duty, but digital cameras, which was the subject of my question, are either exempt or at 4.2% according to whichever way you navigate the TARIC website. I'm not sure when the conflicting evidence appeared, but it was definitely at zero when I was thinking of ordering from the USA.

Still confused of Rotherham!!

[Adey Baker]

Hottest digicam at present is the recently released Nikon D70 Digital SLR - this is the ONLY choice at present. It outperforms AND undercuts any other digital camera under £2000 at present not bad for £800. I can't wait to see what Canon's reply is though! ;) Whatever it is, if it's better than the Nikon D70 (and surely it'll have to be), I'll almost certainly buy it

Not sure by how much the D70 'outperforms' other cameras.

I've only read one magazine test-report and one quick review, but I've also seen several comments on a photography website forum regarding other test-reports and there doesn't seem to be universal agreement on one model outperforming the other.

For instance, some report more noise, slower auto-focus and poorer quality jpegs on the D70 compared to the 300D or 10D. These are, of course, probably only matters of degree and I suspect that in use you wouldn't be disappointed with either make.

Like GBM, though, I'll be interested to see what Canon's reply to the D70 will be!

I haven't done a full check on lowest prices available but one well known UK discounter, (Park Cameras), for instance, has the D70 at £799 and the 300D at £713 - both 'body only.'

I suspect that once the initial rush to buy the D70 has calmed down the price will come down, also - especially if Canon come up with something new.

[Adey Baker]

I haven't done a full check on lowest prices available but one well known UK discounter, (Park Cameras), for instance, has the D70 at £799 and the 300D at £713 - both 'body only.'

Mathers, however, have D70 at £719 and 300D at £729 so it pays to shop around

[Andy Bright]

Mathers, however, have D70 at £719 and 300D at £729 so it pays to shop around
And Jessops will price match both, if the other shops actually have them in stock. What irks me is that shops like Jessops will sell a camera for £1000 to one poor punter who comes in off the street and then £700 to a guy who knows about price matching a few minutes later. I haven't been stung like that but know plenty who have.

[Leif]

And Jessops will price match both, if the other shops actually have them in stock. What irks me is that shops like Jessops will sell a camera for £1000 to one poor punter who comes in off the street and then £700 to a guy who knows about price matching a few minutes later. I haven't been stung like that but know plenty who have.

I'm not sure I'm keen on Jessops price matching. Their normal prices are high, so if they price match, they are taking a sale away from a cheap shop. In the end the cheaper shops will go bust, leaving Jessops to sell at their usual high prices.

It's odd that Jessops used to be really cheap, with long queues to get in. That must be 30 years ago now.

[Andy Bright]

It's odd that Jessops used to be really cheap, with long queues to get in. That must be 30 years ago now.
No chance of long queues in Watford, they've got 3 shops within 1km. I'm no fan of Jessops...swallowing up the small shops and putting spotty 17yr olds in charge who know next to nothing about photography, fortunately Watford still has one very good camera shop left (even that has to sell computer equipment to get by)

[rogerscoth]

It's odd that Jessops used to be really cheap, with long queues to get in. That must be 30 years ago now.Yes Leif,
That was when they had just one shop not far from the centre of Leicester with a small counter in an area the size of a shoe box! But the prices were good!

Roger

[Leif]

Yes Leif,
That was when they had just one shop not far from the centre of Leicester with a small counter in an area the size of a shoe box! But the prices were good!

Roger

Across the road from the Magazine IIRC. Eeeee, when I wuh lad ...

[Bunzab]

HI Peoples

I am coming into this thread very late and it's my first post so hello...

Anyway I have been looking to buying an Eos300d and have come across a couple of foreign (American and Hong Kong) retailers offering it for anything from £500 to £600. Being an eternal sceptic I have looked into every detail before splashing the cash. What I have found is that after VAT, this mainly applies to e-bay read the fine print!!!, postage, then duty and then VAT from UK the price is the same if not more than it is from Amazon.

I was told that you will rarely be charged VAT and duty if you were a private individual. This is often stated on e-bay as well, so I though it best to hear it from the horses mouth. I rang HM customs and excise and this is what they told me:

Digital cameras are liable for duty of 4.2% and then a VAT of 17.5% on the total sum. So the final price would be camera price plus shipping plus 4.2% of this total and then 17.5% of the total sum added on top. You will be charged VAT if the item has been properly declared. Many aren't but this does not mean it is guaranteed of avoiding the liable fees and it could end up being stuck in customs for weeks.

After a month of humming and haaaing have decided to buy from the UK and avoid the risk. The minimal savings are just not worth it in my view.

Hopefully I will be posting my first bird snaps soon.

Good luck
Darrell