Any Europeans have experience with buying Binoculars from USA? (1 Viewer)

keithdrengen said:

Ok, i thought USPS was within United States only.
Carsten

Click to expand...

That's what the more expensive companies would like everyone to believe. And some stores actually don't ship overseas using USPS. I think it's because constant tracking is not possible. But with registered or insured mail there is no problem. And that is still much cheaper in the end. I buy a lot of model railroad stuff, so I know from extensive experience.

Jos Stratford said:

With flights so cheap and the dollar so weak, just fly there for the weekend, have a couple of days birding in Central Park and Jamaica Bay, for example, then return with your new binoculars.

Click to expand...

You still have to pay duty and VAT on them.

Of course, you can just walk through the nothing to declare channel, but if you get caught the customs have the powers to jump very hard if they choose.

hi again, as mentioned previously ups, fedex etc can accrue unexpected brokerage fees, usps do not. i have realised that there was no tax or duty on my bushnell elites :>) making them a great deal.

Well, now I ordered something from warehouseexpress.com (UK - site) and I get this message in a mail half an hour after I placed my order:

"Dear Carsten Jorgenensen,



Many thanks for your recent order



We are having difficulties in obtaining address verification on the credit card details that you have supplied. Can you please confirm via e-mail or our sales lines the address to which the card is registered? (Please note: this may be different to the delivery address)



To speed up the process, if you could please send us a copy of the card statement, verifying the card number and the registered address by fax on 01603 481837 or email to [email protected] so that we may then process your order.



We are unable to despatch any goods at this time."

I called my bank, and they suggest that I dont provide Warehouseexpress any of that information..

Have any of you guys experienced this before?

Thanks,
Carsten J

gweller said:

I would think that anyone living in the "Eurozone" might want to think about buying from England given the current exchange rate between the pound and the Euro.

For example in Holland the Swarovski EL 8x32 typically costs around 1450 euro. Warehouse Express has them for 869 ukp, which I reckon at today's exchange rate is about 1088 euro. So even plus postage there are probably some good savings to be made!

Click to expand...

Seconded.

I bought a pair of Minox recently from Ace optics in Bath. I was pleasantly surprised at the price. Good company too. Very helpful on the phone and the bins arrived to Ireland within three days. No problems with VAT etc.

I see you (Carsten) went for the euro versus sterling savings from warehouseexpress in the end. I have no experience of them but I hope your problem is sorted soon.

I was also considering buying from America but it just seemed like a huge headache with regard to VAT, delivery and warranties.

For anybody thinking of buying Minox bins Ace prices beat warehouse etc by a considerable margin at the moment.

Best of luck
Tom

See my first (and last) experience ordering from Optics planet

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=115373

Cheers Peter.

Have dealt with Warehouse Express on several occasions - have had no problems whatsoever with them. Presumably the address issue is something to do with the credit card people and they want to make sure it's a legit transaction. Hope it all got sorted out OK.

Have dealt with Warehouse once (today) sent me a Opticron Taiga 8x25 and a Kowa Ts-501 20x. Opticron fell apart once out of the box, cant focus. So i threw it out. After all the Kowa(inclucding the Opticron) ended on the same price that it costs here in denmark. But it still sucks that they send me a faulty piece. No matter what. In the future ill stick to Denmark and Non-chinese toys. I have tried 2 opticrons now, both faulty, had a Nikon monarch (chinese bin) couldn´t focus on long range. And my friend have a Honda 125 MC (Made in Taiwan) that starts to fall apart in the engine, after 10000 mileage.
Kowa, made in japan, no problems with that mmmm.
Thanks for listening, i feel better now ; )