Grey imports gone up?

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Just been looking at a couple of lens and like to check out panamoz and hdew but seems as if the prices have rocketed as no real saving from UK prices and in some cases actually cost more.
What's happened for such a change around?
 
I was looking at the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 but also checked a few other lens just to see how they were priced. Last time I was looking they seemed to of been a good 20-30% lower than UK prices.
 
The exchange rate is rubbish at the moment. It's less than 11 hkd to the pound at the moment. In the last 12 months it's been as high as 12.3 but even that's pretty rubbish as I've seen it as high as 14.x in the past.
 
The pound is tanking because of the Brexit fears. Nothing to what will happen if Brexit does!
 
Economy is getting unpredictable and it could go so many ways. Chinese economy could fail in a big way taking down HK and possibly Japan. US may be headed for a big crisis. EU / Greece / Italy woes could implode. Geopolitical stability in middle East and Africa could contribute. The Brexit, etc. Probably the Euro is faring the worst now.
 
Hong Kong and Chinese sellers have evaded UK import duties and UK VAT for years, costing billions in lost revenue.
HMG has finally woken up to this and is introducing measures to stop it, and will shortly place the responsibility for the cost of this tax evasion on Ebay and Amazon.

So, it will soon be goodbye to dodgy ebay sellers, and higher prices for everyone, including of course those who think that it's wrong for other people to benefit from tax evasion but OK for themselves.
The current increase to prices may or may not be due in part to exchange rates, but that's nothing to what is still to come.
 
Panamoz often do this with items they don't have in stock (put the price up). Not so sure about lenses but they seem to buy phones in batches from wherever they can get a good price and when the stock is gone it's gone.
 
When I asked Panamoz their best price for a lens (£40 more expensive than Wex new) their reply was:

'...in this instance, we're offering our best price already. On lower price items (usually less than 500 GBP), we're sometimes less competitive, as our import and shipping costs are expensive. At this time, we've stopped our bank transfer service. We accept secure online payment only.'

DigitalRev were also more expensive than Wex. The gap is most definitely closing
 
Still all good if buying Sony gear...

a7RII £2600 UK vs £1900 grey

Obscene difference that cannot just be accounted for by VAT etc.
 
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I do hope personally that this is the effect of more enforcement.
closing these loopholes for individuals avoiding tax and duties needs to happen.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Economy is getting unpredictable and it could go so many ways. Chinese economy could fail in a big way taking down HK and possibly Japan. US may be headed for a big crisis. EU / Greece / Italy woes could implode. Geopolitical stability in middle East and Africa could contribute. The Brexit, etc. Probably the Euro is faring the worst now.
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So apart from that things are looking good:eek:
 
I actually had an email from Tina at Panamoz this morning reference something I was wanting to buy which had shot up in price. They said that the price increases are purely down to the value of the Yen against the pound.
 
Mr Bump said:
I do hope personally that this is the effect of more enforcement.
closing these loopholes for individuals avoiding tax and duties needs to happen.
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It's galling though when you see new gear released in the US at $x and we pay £x a difference of 31% at todays exchange rate
 
f/2.8 said:
I actually had an email from Tina at Panamoz this morning reference something I was wanting to buy which had shot up in price. They said that the price increases are purely down to the value of the Yen against the pound.
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The response I got the other day was from Tina also. Slightly different from her response to you f/2.8.

jimgallaher said:
It's galling though when you see new gear released in the US at $x and we pay £x a difference of 31% at todays exchange rate
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It surely is. When the Sony a6300 came out it was $999 or £999 body only!
 
jimgallaher said:
It's galling though when you see new gear released in the US at $x and we pay £x a difference of 31% at todays exchange rate
Click to expand...

GalJulie said:
It surely is. When the Sony a6300 came out it was $999 or £999 body only!
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Llamaman said:
The U.K. one comes with free health care ;)
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Doesn't the advertised US price not include US sales tax as each state has their own rate to apply. So it's the advertised US price + sales tax whereas as advertised UK price includes VAT.
 
Yup, and the US one still doesn't come with a welfare state but does have a high chance of Trump.
 
rob-nikon said:
Doesn't the advertised US price not include US sales tax as each state has their own rate to apply. So it's the advertised US price + sales tax whereas as advertised UK price includes VAT.
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Yes it does. We pay an extra £135 compared to ordering from B&H Photo - shipping, duties and tax included.
 
& get a better warranty & where included, a UK power adaptor ;) Not sure if it's the case on an A6300 but previously European Sony bodies could switch between NTSC & PAL whereas US ones were NTSC only.
 
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