Prices going down?...

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Has anyone notice lens prices going back down after the recent price rises? Since the January low (and price rises) the exchange rate between the pound and EUR/USD/YEN have been steadily rising, not back to normal but nowhere near the lows we were seeing in January.

For example the USD was $2, went down to $1.4 in january and back up to $1.6+, same with the yen.

I assume there will be a bit of a lag between the rate and prices but if prices are going to drop back to where they were before the rises they should start doing it soon (if they ever will).

It's a shame camerapricebuster seem to have got rid of their price/time graphs on their website as they could have been interesting to look at.
 
I've noticed some prices from Hong Kong becoming more affordable again (because they are pegged to the US dollar), but I've not noticed UK prices going down...
 
TBH that is my opinion too, they use the exchange rate as a (legitimate?) excuse to raise prices, but then don't decrease them when the exchange rate goes back down...

Having said that did the prices in Japan and the US go up as well? As if they stayed relatively static I assume as those prices go down again (relative to pound/yen exchange rate) then there will be more people buying off the bay and people like kerso, which would possibly force the prices down again?

EDIT: It also appears camerapricebuster have their graphs up again, they weren't there yesterday or a few weeks ago, maybe they saw this thread... :p
 
I sometimes think malla1962 and myself are the only people round here with a basic grasp of economics.

It's a very competitive market. That mean retailers can't use the improving exchange rate to improve their margins, because they'll be undercut by someone who can accept slightly smaller margins. Eventually prices will come back down to where they were, other things being equal.

Of course other things aren't equal in the short term - the big manufacturers have cut capacity, there's a recession on, and so on. But in the long term prices will come back down.
 
But does that not depend on the manufacturers, if canon keep their prices up the manufacturers can't increase their profit margins/reduce prices?

However I assume that although the manufacturers have an almost monopoly on their own systems they will realise that if one of the big players (Nikon or Canon) reduce their prices substantially people will come flocking over from the other?
 
I sometimes think this is a photography forum not an I and them are better forum :) prices are like the tide they go up and go down. It’s just one of those life mysteries :) I made use of high prices by selling off some of my equipment, making the most of the also buoyant used market. It is odd seeing stuff you have bought dearer now than it was then though.
 
StewartR said:
I sometimes think malla1962 and myself are the only people round here with a basic grasp of economics.

It's a very competitive market. That mean retailers can't use the improving exchange rate to improve their margins, because they'll be undercut by someone who can accept slightly smaller margins. Eventually prices will come back down to where they were, other things being equal.

Of course other things aren't equal in the short term - the big manufacturers have cut capacity, there's a recession on, and so on. But in the long term prices will come back down.
Click to expand...

sorry Stewart,

I think thats possibly a bit simplistic. Sure the exchange rate will improve, but as we've seen in previous recessions inflation will probably increase as we leave it.

It is a competitive market but then both Canon and Nikon were accepting falling margins for a long time as the exchange rate worsened. Now they've seen what the market will bear then I suspect they're likely to ride out the current time by leaving prices as they are.

I don't believe that having seen they can 'get away with it' for want of a bettter term, then they'll drop prices again. I think its likely that inflation in the future will erode the relative value of these goods, but thats it.

One other consideration is they can't just drop prices without having an impact on their customers, sure its good for some, but bad if you've bought a lens at 50% above where it was a year ago. This will be a consideration, how would you feel if your stock decreased in value by 50% overnight?

I don't think price falls will be tied to just the exchange rate. Many of the people includeing myself, in this thread said they didn't believe they would fall, thats not because of a lack of a basic grasp of economics, but I just don't believe they will for the reasons badly explained above.

Cheers

Hugh
 
Just had a quick scoot over to camerapricebuster, looking at the price trends. On the majority of the lenses I looked at the prices have certainly stabilised and are no longer rocketing skywards. Although, I've yet to spot any showing a decrease in price yet.
 
I called Park Cameras today and they said prices were on the up for about 5%

But then she was hounding me almost to take the deal which i didnt.

Dont know how much help it is but if you quote what digital cmaera june edition there are quite a few prices on there cheaper than now and they were going to honour it for me.

kate her name was and she was very pleasant
 
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