Worried about cheap imports.

stu_the_flat

stu_the_flat

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Stuart
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is it just me that is getting worried about the cheap imported gear?

I own allot of high stuff that I can't really afford Most of it bought second hand or from Jessops.) But I have always thought I can sell it if money gets tight.

but I'm noticing more and more people in classified threads are saying "XXX can sell it for the same price of a packet of smarties why should I buy it second hand?"

You can now get a D600 for under £1400 from one supplier ! it just makes no sense to buy it from the UK shops, or second hand,

Is it a good thing? I'm not so sure.
 
I'm also a little unsure but the uk market is overpriced when it comes to newly launched cameras and I think it's about time the suppliers stop taking the ....
 
It's a bit of a conundrum Stuart isn't it, nobody wants to pay more than they have to but it does cause potential issues for others who have bought at higher prices.
Sellers obviously want to get back as much as they can for their kit and often sell their S/H stuff as having 'X months warranty left' but in truth that is meaningless, if they disappear there is no help, definitely no come-back!
In truth why should I pay more for something that is 2nd/3rd hand when I can buy it new with 'real' warranty for less?
 
It's not good for UK retailers, or people who buy new kit from them or the uk economy in general.

Simple truth is that the companies who are sending stuff to the UK are taking advantage of our inadequate border controls, whilst the punters (you and me) are implicit in this too (knowingly or otherwise) by purchasing from them.

UK high street prices inclued VAT. The people exporting from HK/USA do not (and cannot) charge VAT and so they will always be cheaper. They send the goods packaged as 'toy parts' or 'sample product' or such like and our border controls are not looking for this sort of description.

We all complain about prices
We all like to find the best deal for our £
We don't care who is loosing out

Just don't expect your high street to have a photography shop in future or your friends kids to get a starter job in such a shop in future either.:|
 
the main reason that grey imports are cheaper than Uk items is the VAT evasion which we all know is a painful 20%
beat me to it John and a much more detailed explanation
 
i have to say im a rigt scared cat from anything thats imported... bar my car anyway! haha

so i took the hit and got my lens for £799 from Jessop rather than the £639 i could of got it for, yes i took a near £200 hit but i dont mid as i have piece of mind and the lens is awesome so i dont mind.

All i think is what "if" it goes wrong and its imported with no warranty
 
Where do you think your Jessops lens came from?

:cuckoo:
 
But aren't manufacturers/suppliers taking the UK consumer for a ride anyway ... product X $2000 in the US so £2000 in the UK - Nikon shops in the UK can have a £400 difference on the same lens!
As for High Street shops, they are practically gone anyway, landlords and councils have wiped out half there trade and Internet suppliers (not just abroad) have wiped out the other half.
It isn't the sudden rise of HK suppliers that is causing what you describe.
 
20% plus a large amount more. The d600 is $1999, it's £1995, that's over a 60% increase. The rx1 is $2799 it's per order is £2799 that's also over 60% increase. VAT, yeah right.
 
FourRingCircus said:
Where do you think your Jessops lens came from?

:cuckoo:
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yes i do know this, but its a mental piece of mind for some people isnt it if you see what i mean.

Our mate gets all his gear from imports and apart from 2 lens he has never had any problems.. but thats just my preference.
 
I try to support local or UK shops and I've bought every big buy from them apart from my Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 and my excuse was that they were very hard to find at the time.

I'll buy cameras and lenses from the high street but I refuse to pay waaaay over the top for things like batteries and memory cards. I buy them from Amazon and the like.
 
dalegt4 said:
yes i do know this, but its a mental piece of mind for some people isnt it if you see what i mean.

Our mate gets all his gear from imports and apart from 2 lens he has never had any problems.. but thats just my preference.
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I buy from Jessops for a good reason, I've gone in a tried there gear and in some cases I haven't liked it. so they have saved me some effort buying it not liking it and trying to sell it.

In my opinion that is a service that is worth paying the difference.

Thing is I quite often go in for a chat in Calumet, but Jessops always beat them on price. I feel like I owe Calumet business!
 
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twist said:
20% plus a large amount more. The d600 is $1999, it's £1995, that's over a 60% increase. The rx1 is $2799 it's per order is £2799 that's also over 60% increase. VAT, yeah right.
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we were comparing settled market prices ie 600d 5dk3
you are looking at new releases which always have the must have premium like the i phone 5
The UK high street shops have massive overheads and the UK British workman that wants more money for doing less and more paid holidays
 
Rebel t3i said:
The UK high street shops have massive overheads and the UK British workman that wants more money for doing less and more paid holidays
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I agree with the standing costs stuff, overheads are a killer, but personally I think that UK workers on average work longer and harder than many in the world.
 
Still, both Jessops and Calumet are at the top of the price chain ... people just won't pay top whack when the same thing is available for significantly less, as your experience shows.
 
stu_the_flat said:
I buy from Jessops for a good reason, I've gone in a tried there gear and in some cases I haven't liked it. so they have saved me some effort buying it not liking it and trying to sell it.

In my opinion that is a service that is worth paying the difference.

Thing is I quite often go in for a chat in Calumet, but Jessops always beat them on price. I feel like I owe Calumet business!
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exactly, i prefer to buy from reputable companies i know will be good for the products they sell, i know you pay the extra but i dont mind £100 or so when it means i get something i know i can walk straight back into the shop with if its wrong
 
Outlet stores are also a good place to find cheap stuff too. Some are as cheap as imports for genuine UK items.

I wonder if panamoz or digital rev would comment as to whether they always put the correct value on goods? If they are declaring the correct value then they're reasonably legit in that sense.
 
apart from the enourmous thread runing about his freeshipping in september :shrug:
 
gramps said:
Hmm, I'm not so sure that has been my experience from world travels.
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We must move in different circles and visit differnt places.

I've been retired now for two years but I don't expect anything to have changed. I worked hard and long hours (service and manufacturing) and everyone around did exactly the same. In Europe (specifically Belgium, Holland and Germany) and central Asia I haven't seen anything to match what I've experienced in the UK. In Asia I saw some work longer hours and some have less holidays, but not people actually working harder, it was much more of a relaxed pace with productivity per worker being lower.

Anyway, I've taken this off topic so I'll end my defence of UK workers there :D
 
gramps said:
Panamoz FAQ's
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They can say what they like in their FAQs, but the fact remains that they are still attempting to evade tax on each item that they sell.
 
srichards said:
Outlet stores are also a good place to find cheap stuff too. Some are as cheap as imports for genuine UK items.

I wonder if panamoz or digital rev would comment as to whether they always put the correct value on goods? If they are declaring the correct value then they're reasonably legit in that sense.
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I wonder the same too... I asked a question on another thread about whether they supply a VAT receipt as their FAQs (quoted above) state that all duty and VAT is included and have been told that they cannot supply a VAT receipt. I am now waiting for a reply as to whether they can supply paperwork to show that duty and VAT has been paid as I would need this to be able to put a purchase through my books. I was assuming that as an official trader on here they would be above board but am not so sure now.
 
we have the choice to buy from whoever and where ever we like
whether that be jessops or some unknown Chinese ebay seller
we all want as much as we can get for our money me included
but then there are those that moan anyway roflol
 
Mike.P said:
I presume Kerso must be taking a hit from all these sales Panamoz are making as well.
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Ian only takes a hit from Panamoz on small box items which can sneak in under the customs radar. Try getting a good price from HK on something in a large box weighing more than a couple of kilos (like a BIG prime) and you'll be disappointed. I'm still looking at a 400 F2.8L and Ian makes a mockery of the far eastern prices...
 
DemiLion said:
They can say what they like in their FAQs, but the fact remains that they are still attempting to evade tax on each item that they sell.
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They are not evading tax the purchaser / buyer is as he is the importer and should therefore declare his imported purchases to HM customs
 
I understand the original posters concerns. Yet it's better for me now buying new gear, previously my old gear held value well. Not anymore. I'd lose £300 on a 18 month old 17-55 2.8.

Then again whatever I'm replacing it with will be cheaper as well so it balances out.

Another part of me looks at say the 600EX RT. Now clearly that was nearly £600 because of the availability at the time. Yet week on week it's dropping to currently about £350-360 on import. There is no excuse at all while uk stock is still well over £500, VAT or no VAT.

People moan their highstreets having nothing on them yet buy everything from tesco. Soon no one will sell cameras we can view and we will moan about that as well while buying our imported gear.:lol:
 
Mike.P said:
That's his thread, I quite clearly said members recommendations.

Used to be Kerso this and Kerso that but lately it's all Panamoz.
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thats because panamoz are currently cheaper on most products that the rest
if I want heinz baked beans and they are currently substantially cheaper from morrisons i will go to morrisons for them
 
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FourRingCircus said:
Ian only takes a hit from Panamoz on small box items which can sneak in under the customs radar. Try getting a good price from HK on something in a large box weighing more than a couple of kilos (like a BIG prime) and you'll be disappointed. I'm still looking at a 400 F2.8L and Ian makes a mockery of the far eastern prices...
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That's something I suppose but all those 5D MKIII bodies I see everyone buying in the thread would have probably been supplied by him a few months ago.

Still, I suppose there is always someone new round the corner just that little bit cheaper.
 
FourRingCircus said:
Ian only takes a hit from Panamoz on small box items which can sneak in under the customs radar. Try getting a good price from HK on something in a large box weighing more than a couple of kilos (like a BIG prime) and you'll be disappointed. I'm still looking at a 400 F2.8L and Ian makes a mockery of the far eastern prices...
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Yeah but I imagine most of the business is bodies, flash and lenses much smaller than that and with all those items he's no longer the cheapest. Hence all the panamoz post etc or Hdew with 3 year warranty.

Amazing how quick loyalty dries up when you save £50-100 ;)
 
postcardcv said:
I wonder how many of the people who are using them are declaring the items as they should and how many are breaking the law by not doing so...
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none they are all declaring them :lol:
what I believe is supposed to happen is that the shipping agent deals with the importing of these goods and if there is any duty or vat liability they send you the bill or charge you at point of delivery
however this is based on the original shipping documentation description and declaration
 
FourRingCircus said:
Ian only takes a hit from Panamoz on small box items which can sneak in under the customs radar. Try getting a good price from HK on something in a large box weighing more than a couple of kilos (like a BIG prime) and you'll be disappointed. I'm still looking at a 400 F2.8L and Ian makes a mockery of the far eastern prices...
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I recently bought a bigma 50 -500 OS from panamoz and the price I paid is all I paid
these Hong Kong importers offer to refund any and all additional charges
I bought a number of items from a large US company not camera related
I had no choice as these german made items are no longer available and are only in the states
I paid duty on the first batch delivered by ups but nothing on the the other 10 deliveries of the same item
all declarations are correct for exactly what is in the box and the price I paid
go figure
 
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Mike.P said:
That's something I suppose but all those 5D MKIII bodies I see everyone buying in the thread would have probably been supplied by him a few months ago.
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'Probably'.....

But as a customer of Ians who has recently bought a 5DIII body from Panamoz, I can tell you that I wouldn't have bought it at all if it wasn't such a good deal. So, Ian didn't loose a sale, he just didnt gain one, if that makes sense.

The only winner here is Canon etc who are moving more stock from their factory. I fancy than many of those extra sales simply wouldn't have taken place at all if the HK route wasn't available to the uk. We aren't just talking about a few pounds here either. Trawl through the last few months TP threads and you will see we are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds. Extrapolate that to other forums, other countries and other types of goods and you are well into millions - 20% of which is lost revenue to the government(s).

It's only going to take a change in policy by HMRC to start checking smaller boxes labled as 'toy parts' to see the end of Panamoz etc selling into the UK. As soon as they have to honour their pledge to pay any doorstep taxes on a few occasions, it will all change. Note, that pledge has never been put into operation from what I've seen on here becasue they are completely successful in getting the goods through the back door. Furthermore, the pledge doesn't apply to their eBay sales etc.

The only question is whether HMRC have the will and the manpower to do it.....:|
 
Rebel t3i said:
none they are all declaring them :lol:
what I believe is supposed to happen is that the shipping agent deals with the importing of these goods and if there is any duty or vat liability they send you the bill or charge you at point of delivery
however this is based on the original shipping documentation description and declaration
Click to expand...

As you said before the buyer is the importer and is legally the one responsible for making sure that the correct duty and VAT is paid. If you do not do so you are breaking the law and customs can not only claim the duties due but can also seize goods. If incorrect information is put on the declaration then it is still the importer (the buyer) who is considered to be responsible. While I doubt customs are going to chase every individual who has done this they could.
 
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