I`m done

L

limpet9

Messages
67
Name
Keith
Edit My Images
Yes
I`ve made comments about this subject on here before, but now I`ve decided that I`ve had enough.

I was looking at buying a Pentax K5 iis and did a bit of shopping around.
I was extremely disappointed to discover the price of the body compared to the U.S.

In the UK the body is basically £700 everywhere that is not a grey import, which converts to $1141 approx. at current exchange rates.

In the U.S. it can currently be bought for $696 inc. a FREE Pentax D-GB4 grip and Sandisk 64 Gb card.
Now as far as I can tell from the HMRC website there is no import duty to pay on a digital camera so even if in the U.S. they have to add 20% VAT ( which my research tells me is unlikely ) then that makes a total of around $840, maximum, for a package that would cost
£700 ( body ) + £200 ( grip ) = £900 = $1467.
A 74% premium for an identical item.

Further to this, currently the K3 can be bought inc. GB 5 battery grip for $1096 and I dare not even look at what that would cost in the UK.

I have written to Pentax UK about this, both electronically and by snail mail and received grudging replies consisting chiefly of mis-information, waffle and crapola, so until the prices converge significantly then I`ve decided I`m out of the market for any Pentax ( actually all manufacturers ) products. After all, it seems that Pentax seems to be charging whatever they think they can get away with in the UK and possibly even overcharging the rest of the world to enable them to discount in the US.

So basically, it comes down to the fact that I don`t like people ( Pentax ) trying to take me for a fool. I`ll keep my money in my pocket until things change significantly.

I`ll make do with my ebay bought second hand K100D Super

As per the title .......I`m done.
 
Grey import or direct from US and buy an extended warranty
 
how much would a cheap flight to the states be ... may be a long weekend and stock up on camera kit while you are there
 
sorry but how is that any different from 99% of everything else out there in the market?
mobile phones, ecigs, cars, laptops and computers, all brands of camera gear .
More than likely the problem lies with the the british pound being so weak and that most companies in china where these products are manufactured work in dollars.
Fuji is the same. when the xe1 was released it was the same price in dollars as the UK pounds price.
 
Plus the fact that its go to be cheaper/more cost effective to get 100 containers over to america then 1 or 2 to little ole' blighty
 
limpet9 said:
I was looking at buying a Pentax K5 iis and did a bit of shopping around.
I was extremely disappointed to discover the price of the body compared to the U.S.

----- 8< --------------------------------

So basically, it comes down to the fact that I don`t like people ( Pentax ) trying to take me for a fool. I`ll keep my money in my pocket until things change significantly.
Click to expand...


It's called.. "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" ......
 
  • Like
Reactions: ST4
give it a couple of years and you'll be able to buy a k511s for peanuts second hand - last gen tech , its where its at
 
mattyg said:
Grey import or direct from US and buy an extended warranty
Click to expand...

Shouldn`t really have to do that, it seems that the nasty old globalism only works for some people.

big soft moose said:
how much would a cheap flight to the states be ... may be a long weekend and stock up on camera kit while you are there
Click to expand...

Again, shouldn`t really have to do that either

dean messenger said:
sorry but how is that any different from 99% of everything else out there in the market?
mobile phones, ecigs, cars, laptops and computers, all brands of camera gear .
.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and I will not be buying any of that crap either

More than likely the problem lies with the the british pound being so weak and that most companies in china where these products are manufactured work in dollars.
Click to expand...

£1 = $1.62 = 173 Yen = £1 etc. etc. It`s circular....it`s a none argument


mattyg said:
Plus the fact that its go to be cheaper/more cost effective to get 100 containers over to america then 1 or 2 to little ole' blighty
Click to expand...

Slightly cheaper perhaps, but I can`t see it putting 40 or 50 % on to the cost of an item. Shipping containers are the cheapest form of transport on the planet.
Cameras from the same factory, same production line, identical spec, driven to the same port, get on a different boat that`ll be an extra 50% please muggins :(

KIPAX said:
It's called.. "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" ......
Click to expand...

I am famous around here for being an Olympic standard nose chopper :)

It would be nice to have one but I can live without it. It`s become a point of principle. And to be fair I was only venting, I don`t expect anything to change anytime soon, if ever.
 
For some reasons, manufacturers think UK is some kind of cash cow. For instance, gap, Levis etc in america a pair of chino or jeans would be 60 and 90 dollars respectively but here they are £60 and £90 that's a tidy 60% mark up. And often this is the case. What's more annoying is that when our currency depreciates like when it was 2008/9 they yank the prices up. Now the currency is at a high when compared with dollars and Japanese yan, they never come down again. I got a feeling we are not a big market for them so they can screw us like this.

If this was at us, they would have started an anti trust investigation by now. And our civil servants at the exchequer is probably far too busy playing buddy buddy with all the babk boss than to worry about consumer rights and market competitions. All you got to see is the various sectors. Energy...big six "monopoly", transport...monopoly. Food....big 2 monopoly. The only sector of retail works in terms of market competition and true capitalism is clothing...
 
Last edited:
I don't know how you come to this conclusion. Pentax K5 iis is £599 at Jessops etc which is £480 before tax and $777 which is not far off US price. I don't think you can count promotions as they happen here too and are not synchronised with USA. There are major differences in the warranty situation in favour of UK.
 
big soft moose said:
how much would a cheap flight to the states be ... may be a long weekend and stock up on camera kit while you are there
Click to expand...
Hi, Yep agree, Holiday to the USA, get value in the exchange rate, cheaper prices and a great place to for photography, in the cities or the countrside.
Just make sure you activate your credit card before you go!!!!!!!
 
sphexx said:
I don't know how you come to this conclusion. Pentax K5 iis is £599 at Jessops etc which is £480 before tax and $777 which is not far off US price. I don't think you can count promotions as they happen here too and are not synchronised with USA. There are major differences in the warranty situation in favour of UK.
Click to expand...

The K5 ii is £599 in Jessops, The K5 iiS is £698 = $1117

It`s regularly available in the US for $699 ( = $840 if you add 20% vat which is unlikely over there ) and very often comes with freebies like a Metz flash or Pentax grip. The grip alone is £200 over here.

$840 ( remeber they wont be paying that much ) to $1117 = 33% difference before you even think about the fact they don`t pay anywhere near that amount of tax or the relative quality of the freebies.

Yes I`ve seen the UK offers like buy this for £700 and get a free lens cleaning cloth....so tempting
 
When I was looking for my K3 I checked USA prices, by the time you've included delivery, import duty and taxes the price actually worked out pretty close to SRS in the UK. Two year warranty from SRS too.
 
Keith, people have been complaining about this on forums for donkey's years. We have the same situation in South Africa, and UK prices are a bargain compared with ours. Importing might be an option, but check all the costs involved and the warranty situation, before you decide. Other than that, or visiting the US, there's not much you can do about it.
 
Does anybody know how prices compare with suppliers in France or Germany?
 
I found out how much petrol is in America. I wrote to BP, Shell and Esso and they fobbed me off aswell. As a protest I've decided not to buy petrol any more. It's a right pain though.
 
B&H do the option of pre-paying for all import duty & tax to be above board and avoid surprises. They'll do the K5 iis, free grip and card, international shipping and UK tax, for a total of £600.
 
Ignoring the whole international vs UK pricing debate, even £600 is a fair old premium to pay for a new k5-iis vs a decent quality second hand k5 @ £300.

I know it's apples vs oranges, but my point is it's always possible to get a "better" deal by buying something different. If you're after a UK-sourced, UK-warrantied camera then your options are to buy from the UK (I think). If you don't mind compromising then you can look overseas/grey, or second hand. Is the lack of an aa filter that critical?
 
WelshNoob said:
I found out how much petrol is in America. I wrote to BP, Shell and Esso and they fobbed me off aswell. As a protest I've decided not to buy petrol any more. It's a right pain though.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure there's that much difference in the price, it's cheaper yes but you can't compare the price gallon for gallon because their's is smaller. (in case you didn't know that)
 
Steep said:
I'm not sure there's that much difference in the price, it's cheaper yes but you can't compare the price gallon for gallon because their's is smaller. (in case you didn't know that)
Click to expand...

You can compare it, just takes a bit of calculation and currency conversion. How does 59ppl sound? Sounds like alot of difference to me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ST4
That does actually sound pretty good :)
 
The W said:
B&H do the option of pre-paying for all import duty & tax to be above board and avoid surprises. They'll do the K5 iis, free grip and card, international shipping and UK tax, for a total of £600.
Click to expand...
Yep B&H has been offering services like that for a while. Tho still nice to plan a trip to NYC and visit their store.
 
I know how you feel. We're always encouraged to support the UK retail channel and not buy grey imports but what incentive is there to do so when we're continually fleeced? I know much of the disparity is down to duty and tax rates but the fact remains that we're usually charged significantly more for the same kit and it grates. Last straw for me was buying a 5D3 during the Canon spring cashback scheme, only for Canon to double the rebates during the final week, basically shafting anyone who'd availed themselves of the offer in the preceding weeks. Gee thanks Canon, that really gives me an incentive to support your UK retail channel doesn't it? Will buy grey in the future with a totally clear conscience thanks.
 
Vertigo1 said:
We're always encouraged to support the UK retail channel and not buy grey imports
Click to expand...

mah...i fully embrace the global capitalist market. market pressure drives the survival of the business. if people can offer me discounts of 20% while having the same product as well as offering a warranty of the same quality so why not!
 
From the 2 respective Pentax websites.............speaks volumes

http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/product/35312 $700 ( add 20% although they wont pay it = $840 ) Remember this is not a real "SALE" price. I`ve been checking this site for the last 5 months at least and it`s always been the same price.

http://shop-uk.ricoh-imaging.eu/k5-iis.html £799 ( Ouch!!! = $1278 ) Message from Pentax to the UK...........It`s official .........You are not worthy......You must pay a premium of 52% for the same product.

Well Pentax message received and understood......:)

I don`t see why I should have to get involved in a load of jiggery pokery buying Grey imports, or importing fragile electronic equipment from halfway across the world just to get a fair deal.
Don`t forget that this situation is going to apply to every lens and accessory also, to a greater or lesser degree. Do I have to do that with everything I want to buy?

Don`t get me wrong I understand that sometimes prices will not converge totally. I realised this when I bought my Les Paul, it was always going to be more expensive than in the US as the things are made in the US and they are likely to want to look after the local guys a bit if they can....fair enough. So if the cameras were cheaper in Japan ( ie the home market ) than everywhere else in the world then I could understand that, but I don`t see why we have to be overcharged here to enable them to discount in the US.

From what I can gather from talking to people in this country the attitude seems to be either,

a) Shrug and pay up or
b) Shrug, say it`s always been like that, and pay up

So with that sort of attitude we deserve all we get.
 
This seems to be the case with a lot of products..... BUT it can work the other way to.

When I worked at Game we often had people coming over from Germany on the Seaways ferry and buying loads of games as they said the games were three times as much over there and how lucky we were
 
John Young said:
This seems to be the case with a lot of products..... BUT it can work the other way to.

When I worked at Game we often had people coming over from Germany on the Seaways ferry and buying loads of games as they said the games were three times as much over there and how lucky we were
Click to expand...
That's got to be a long time ago before all the days of online subscriptions etc.

Matter of fact you will hardly ever see anything cheaper in the UK other than fashion items as the market is highly competitive.

Everything else is more expensive...even the home brands such as dyson brompton etc. In the US and maybe in the Europe the market is bigger there are more competition as well as the brand needing to establish a market share they tend to discount. Therefore the UK consumers are effectively subsidising company's profit margines as the UK market is a matured one and generally has a well established consumer base so they can fleece us.

Very disgusting to think that dyson sells his hovers which is mostly made in China for £300-400 a pop in the UK (thus having a massive profit margin, I read somewhere that the hoover can be made for less than 100US) when the equivalent is around 500 US...just becuase there are a lot more competition.
 
I wanted to buy a Cactus Wireless Flash Transceiver V6
Now I no it's not up there in the hundreds of pounds but just as an example.
WEX £49.99 + £4.99 P&P tot:- £54.98
Amazon UK £58 + £4.59 P&P tot:- £62.59
Ebay from Hongkong £40.98 or best offer + FREE post, tot:- after I made a best offer? Under £40 all in.
Best of all again Ebay :- T-Dimension UK store £43.98 + £30 P&P:naughty:
As for the rest of Europe to the UK some are a little cheaper if you shop around but Germany IMO more expensive on many things.
I still think it is better to import small items from the USA or even HongKong/China if your are happy to wait for it and if you want that 1DX then go to the USA for a holiday and bring it back.
 
Russell that's fine as long as you're prepared to accept you have effectively no guarantee, any problems and you'd have to return to HK seller, not really worth the effort on something in that price range.

Sometimes it does work out better to buy abroad, I've bought a lot of Astro stuff from Germany, generally the prices are a bit cheaper but more importantly for me delivery is a damned sight cheaper. I've had a 35Kg item delivered for £25 from Germany when delivery for the same item from North England was going to be almost £60.
 
Steep said:
Russell that's fine as long as you're prepared to accept you have effectively no guarantee, any problems and you'd have to return to HK seller, not really worth the effort on something in that price range.

Sometimes it does work out better to buy abroad, I've bought a lot of Astro stuff from Germany, generally the prices are a bit cheaper but more importantly for me delivery is a damned sight cheaper. I've had a 35Kg item delivered for £25 from Germany when delivery for the same item from North England was going to be almost £60.
Click to expand...
Hi, Yes maybe so on G/Tee side of things but it was more the price I was trying to point out, don't you get fed up when you ask "why this item is so expensive" and the reply sometimes includes "shipping costs have to be taken into account" but on a lot of stuff from HongKong/China is FREE postage and that is where a lot of camera equipment is made anyway.
Just a side note here but is there a sticky on places to shop within the EU or just UK?
Thanks
 
No sticky I think but a quick search will pull up info on most known sellers, if they're out there somebody will have used them.
 
Steep said:
I'm not sure there's that much difference in the price, it's cheaper yes but you can't compare the price gallon for gallon because their's is smaller. (in case you didn't know that)
Click to expand...

Three quarters of a litre is nowt when the price over in Oregon or up and down the west coast varies from $3.69 to $4.10.

All in all, about half our price!
 
ricky1980 said:
mah...i fully embrace the global capitalist market. market pressure drives the survival of the business. if people can offer me discounts of 20% while having the same product as well as offering a warranty of the same quality so why not!
Click to expand...

but is it a 20% discount in real terms once you've paid import tax and vat ?- i'm sure no one here would advocate smuggling to avoid those charges , so the real key is to use an importer who either operates from a uk base and pays them, or who will refund you after you've paid them.
 
big soft moose said:
but is it a 20% discount in real terms once you've paid import tax and vat ?- i'm sure no one here would advocate smuggling to avoid those charges , so the real key is to use an importer who either operates from a uk base and pays them, or who will refund you after you've paid them.
Click to expand...
Its probably more. As UK retail price has VAT, import duty as well as overheads and profit margins build in. And those overheads are probably large when compared with grey importers.

One straight example, D610 available from popular grey importer for £950, nearest available UK retailer is £1300, so go figure...

Also as the OP observed the price differential between UK retail and US retail or HK retail etc are not equal to the mere 20% VAT + differences in Import duties between EU market and US market.

Basically when you strip all the tax etc out the price of the stuff leaving factory is generally higher for UK than US or another explanation is that the retailers are building in more overheads and profit margin than the US ones. Then again photography shops always complain that they are running on virtually no margins on hardwares so...
 
Last edited:
ricky1980 said:
One straight example, D610 available from popular grey importer for £950, nearest available UK retailer is £1300, so go figure...

Also as the OP observed the price differential between UK retail and US retail or HK retail etc are not equal to the mere 20% VAT + differences in Import duties between EU market and US market.
Click to expand...

But that example shows pretty much that it is equal - £950 + 9% import tax = 1035.5 + 20% vat = £1241.10

so assuming the no shipping charge is no greater than the uk carriage, by giving up your manufactuers guarantee, and possibly having to ship your nice shiny niikon back to say hong kong/US for repair (like when you discover its spraying oil all over the sensor) you've saved about 50 quid. Each to their own but i'd rather spend the extra 50 quid and have the peace of mind
 
big soft moose said:
But that example shows pretty much that it is equal - £950 + 9% import tax = 1035.5 + 20% vat = £1241.10

so assuming the no shipping charge is no greater than the uk carriage, by giving up your manufactuers guarantee, and possibly having to ship your nice shiny niikon back to say hong kong/US for repair (like when you discover its spraying oil all over the sensor) you've saved about 50 quid. Each to their own but i'd rather spend the extra 50 quid and have the peace of mind
Click to expand...

Nah I was quoting for grey import as the 950 would be what u pay for as the custom charge etc will be refunded by the importer as per your latter point. But the point is the price differential is too large for just tax and import duties.

The price of the camera is even lower if you want to convert to HK dollars. I think its around £800 or less equivalent. Price.HK is the HK price comparison site.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top