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Who's bought from BH photo from the UK?

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Sunny Kalsi

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Hi,

Saw the Aussie post about buying from BH Photo & Video. Was wondering if other in the UK had any experiences over the following issues, that they could share:

1) Import taxes: are they applicable and how much are they?

2) How long to ship to UK?

3) What condition does the package arrive in? (i'm thinking lens safety!)

4) What's the service if the item arrives damaged?

5) Shipping fees?

I have been to the New York Store, awesome place!
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Outrun the darkness
 
the last time i bought from them was in novemeber 2002 so im thinking a lot has changed, but this was my experience.

ordered $100 ish worth of stuff on 4th november 2002, shipping was $37 for "air parcel post" and it was shipped 2 days later on the 6th. i cant remember how long it took but it wasnt long and it came well packaged with no damage etc.

not overly useful i know but my experience was positive.

duke

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----------------------------------------------------------
Duke Gledhill
http://www.dukegledhill.co.uk
 
Thanks Duke, any information helps. I've got a friend in the far east who is going to pick up a couple of lens from Hong Kong....

With £:$ exchange being very much in our favour....I thought buying direct from BH would be comparable, plus I'd have the reputable seller. (i went to new york in Jan and bought a fair bit then!)
--
Outrun the darkness
 
I believe you can find the shipping costs from the B&H website. What you need to pay on entry into the UK is:

Take the total cost, including P&P, then add:
6% duty
17.5% VAT on the total
a few £££ fees to the courier (proportional to the total cost)

Also bear in mind that most credit cards give you an exchange rate about 3% below the 'proper' one. In my experience, if you take the total price inc P&P and convert to pounds, you will pay about 25% of that in fees when you receive the item.
 
I have ordered basically all my camera gear from BH except the camera itself (only thing not covered with warranty). I have never had any issues with BH and they send the orders VERY fast. I am from Switzerland therefore I cannot comment on the freight and customs charges. Go for it!
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http://www.pbase.com/daniel_saredi
 
Graeme Cogger said:
I believe you can find the shipping costs from the B&H website.
What you need to pay on entry into the UK is:

Take the total cost, including P&P, then add:
6% duty
17.5% VAT on the total
a few £££ fees to the courier (proportional to the total cost)
Click to expand...
How do you make these payments? And to whom?
Graeme Cogger said:
Also bear in mind that most credit cards give you an exchange rate
about 3% below the 'proper' one. In my experience, if you take the
total price inc P&P and convert to pounds, you will pay about 25%
of that in fees when you receive the item.
Click to expand...
After all this, is it still cheaper than buying stuff online from UK stores? Is it worth all the hassle?

Cheers
 
highpriest said:
Graeme Cogger said:
I believe you can find the shipping costs from the B&H website.
What you need to pay on entry into the UK is:

Take the total cost, including P&P, then add:
6% duty
17.5% VAT on the total
a few £££ fees to the courier (proportional to the total cost)
Click to expand...
How do you make these payments? And to whom?
Click to expand...
You generally have to pay the courier on delivery or, sometimes, they will invoice you later.
highpriest said:
highpriest said:
Also bear in mind that most credit cards give you an exchange rate
about 3% below the 'proper' one. In my experience, if you take the
total price inc P&P and convert to pounds, you will pay about 25%
of that in fees when you receive the item.
Click to expand...
After all this, is it still cheaper than buying stuff online from
UK stores? Is it worth all the hassle?
Click to expand...
Often not, if you take account of things like the warranty. Some things (e.g. Canon cameras, but not Canon lenses) have to be sent back to the USA for warranty service. It's also more hassle if something is faulty on arrival, or they've got the order wrong.

With the exchange rate being SO good at the moment, maybe it's worth it on some items.

As an aside, couriers like UPS, DHL etc. will always charge you these fees. If something is sent using standard USPS post, there's a fair chance it won't be noticed by customs. Avoiding payment is highly illegal, of course.
 
Photo Gerbil said:
I did a big order to them 2 nights ago when the £ hit 2$ and I
found the B&H discount codes on this forum. My order is on it's
way over. :-> I'll let you know when I get it in 5-6 days time.

--
http://www.PhotoGlow.co.uk
Click to expand...
OK, so the advice is, don't go for the US mail Global express delivery. Parcel Farce lost both parts of the order. One turned up at the local post office yesterday (no vat or duty charged), but the main part of the order is still missing.

--
http://www.PhotoGlow.co.uk
 
Parcel Farce managed to find my package - so I have it now. I managed to get the full B&H rebates, got it when the £ hit 2$ and did not get charged VAT or duty, so I'm happy. :-)
Photo Gerbil said:
Photo Gerbil said:
I did a big order to them 2 nights ago when the £ hit 2$ and I
found the B&H discount codes on this forum. My order is on it's
way over. :-> I'll let you know when I get it in 5-6 days time.

--
http://www.PhotoGlow.co.uk
Click to expand...
OK, so the advice is, don't go for the US mail Global express
delivery. Parcel Farce lost both parts of the order. One turned
up at the local post office yesterday (no vat or duty charged), but
the main part of the order is still missing.

--
http://www.PhotoGlow.co.uk
Click to expand...
--
http://www.PhotoGlow.co.uk
 
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