I'm in Sydney and it is frustrating that electrical goods and a variety of other items will not be shipped to Australia. However, I have bought a lot of equipment from Adorama; if I order on a Monday then the item will be in my hands by the Friday. If customs are involved (anything > $AUS1K) then add another 1-2 days. In the past I bought from B&H and had one bad experience, but most people find them great. B&H does have the advantage of a range of shipping options, whereas Adorama uses UPS only and UPS are not great. With B&H the best form of shipping is via Fedex (great tracking, many depots which you can pick up from directly), but this is very expensive. At all costs avoid USPS; you may end up having the item shipped rather than sent via airmail.
There are a lot of Aussies on these forums who poo poo the idea of buying from America; I am always suspicious of their motives. The service from the US companies has been mostly very good, and you can regularly save from 20-40% off the purchase price compared to here. Also the lenses have an international warranty and so you are ok if something goes wrong. Personally I tend to buy refurbished lenses from Adorama and now have four (70-200L 2.8IS, 180Lmacro, 100-400L & 60macro) and all are fantastic and you can save a further 10%. Refurbs are not always available, you just have to keep rechecking the web site. I will admit that I have only bought my SLR cameras here (400D & 40D); I figure that as this is an electroic item, there is a greater risk of something going wrong; although nothing (touch wood) has to date. But, I have bought one P&Ss from the US (Pan Z30); this worked ok, but it was just a piece of rubbish.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
Stephen
There are a lot of Aussies on these forums who poo poo the idea of buying from America; I am always suspicious of their motives. The service from the US companies has been mostly very good, and you can regularly save from 20-40% off the purchase price compared to here. Also the lenses have an international warranty and so you are ok if something goes wrong. Personally I tend to buy refurbished lenses from Adorama and now have four (70-200L 2.8IS, 180Lmacro, 100-400L & 60macro) and all are fantastic and you can save a further 10%. Refurbs are not always available, you just have to keep rechecking the web site. I will admit that I have only bought my SLR cameras here (400D & 40D); I figure that as this is an electroic item, there is a greater risk of something going wrong; although nothing (touch wood) has to date. But, I have bought one P&Ss from the US (Pan Z30); this worked ok, but it was just a piece of rubbish.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
Stephen
