Australian prices for LX5 -- astronomical

Hi guys

I was in Melbourne for something else today but I couldn't resist checking a couple of stores for prices for the LX5. Well!!!

Bear in mind that today, the AUD is running about 95 US cents, so within 5% of the USD. (I'm hypersensitive about this because one of my tasks today was banking a USD cheque. When I do this, I like the AUD to be much lower in value than the USD! Not today!)

The two retailers I checked were asking $200 and $300 more than the US price of $499 (B&H and Amazon) and even at those prices, I was assured, the LX5 is selling like hot cakes.

The mad thing is that for the money these guys are asking, we could be buying the LX5 + the filter/auxiliary lens adapter + the wide angle 0.7 auxiliary lens + the roughly $60 postage to Australia. That would total a few dollars more than the $200 extra but we would have nearly a $100 saving buying that package from the US rather than buying from our friendly local retailer.

And yes, I know the local retailers have to include 10% GST (value added or sales tax) but that adds only 10%, not 60%!!! And yes, I do understand retail and pricing -- I'm the co-author of Success in Store , a book on the subject. One piece of advice my mate Gordon and I give to storekeepers is to identify your competition and respond appropriately. These are two leading retailers who ought to have identified the internet threat. Or maybe they have, and are happily sacrificing volume for a giant mark-up.

I live in Melbourne as well, recently I bought a second hand(near new) LX3 for AUD$400, I think LX5 is not much different to LX3, there are still second hand or new ones at a very good price.I won't be bother with LX5, marginal improvement over LX3

If you are after a new camera go for E-PL1 by Olympus for about AUD$630 plus postage New at Ebay. It is better in terms of Image quality and versatility. BTW I have both. It is better than Nikon D80.

Cheers.

In New Zealand I paid $959.00 for my LX5!!
The price has not dropped at all in all the main retailers.

It can be purchased from an online electronics outlet for about $850.00, but it will have no warranty.

I was told that Panasonic will absolutely refuse to repair or replace any camera not purchased from one of their official retailers.

I figured that with the money I am paying it is not worth the risk purchasing from a parallel importer.

Electronics are ridiculously overpriced in Australia and New Zealand, we are too passive in applying consumer pressure. That's why new things are often tried out on us first, we are the consumer Guinea pigs of the western world!!

Henry -

This is almost incredible - yet I feel it just may show the state of the UK economy right now.. and certainly the effect on buying here....

If I have my wits about me enough..what you say seems to indicate that price of the LX5 in US (some places anyway) is between $700 and $800 .. and even THAT is better than what you are being asked ?

Wow !.. then it seems that Panny are just NOT milking the UK Market as it has always been for ever and anon.. "rip-off Britain" as often said..

There is a really SUPER real family bricks-and-mortar shop here that is maybe one of the best.. and from day 1 they have had the LX5 on offer at UK £359... and that is actually not greatly abnormal.. You CAN If you wish, buy the LX5 at roughly around that area.. a bit higher but not a lot .. in several good places..

This in fact is what I have always thought and said.. when the LX3 first appeared it was pandemonium..you could not get one 'for love nor money' here at the time... and if you did.. you paid relatively a big big price. It put me off for maybe 9 months or more til it settled and I got one at a decent price.. affordable price I thought.

But apart from relative newcomers who maybe in a lot of cases don't have the LX3.. I'm just sure that the LX5 is not the same attraction as the original LX3 was.. the latter has taken the steam off a lot .. and anyway there really ISN'T such a vast difference in real worth , compared to what the LX3 is capable of doing if used at its best... and with cash a lot tighter I just think that a lot in UK have just not been enthralled enough to feel justified to have the latest.. the LX3 is STILL a very capable camera anyway.. and certaily from MY point of view and usage..the 100mm does NOTHING to attract..
Buy to your real needs I think is even moreso now the best thinking.

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eric-UK

My daughter, just last week paid AUD $679 + $19 delivery - from 'Digital Camera Warehouse'. Not too bad I thought.

On a whole Australian pricing is pretty fair, some companies however take advantage of our pre internet isolation and price gouge.

I asked a Panasonic support person why the lx5 recommended retail was $800 in Australia while $500 in the US, the evf $300 while $125 in the US and all with both currencies close to parity.

After being told that it was because Australia was a smaller market, a dull excuse for profiteering, it looks like an imported one is the best option.

I told the support person that even paying full price at B&H in New York plus courier the Lx5 works out to AU620, if B&H stamp the international warranty card will Panasonic Australia honour the warranty? The reply was ‘yes’.

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I bought my LX3 online and never looked back. Australian stockists can get stuffed!

digby dart said:

On a whole Australian pricing is pretty fair, some companies however take advantage of our pre internet isolation and price gouge.

I asked a Panasonic support person why the lx5 recommended retail was $800 in Australia while $500 in the US, the evf $300 while $125 in the US and all with both currencies close to parity.

After being told that it was because Australia was a smaller market,

Click to expand...

That's the same lame excuse we get in Canada too.

digby dart said:

a dull excuse for profiteering, it looks like an imported one is the best option.

I told the support person that even paying full price at B&H in New York plus courier the Lx5 works out to AU620, if B&H stamp the international warranty card will Panasonic Australia honour the warranty? The reply was ‘yes’.

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Click to expand...

..Henry - couldn't agree more, so I just get around it by waiting a while for the inevitable price reductions, or by o/seas as some of the OP ! BTW my wife also works in commercial leasing, so at least part of the problem of overheads are the astronomical rents charged by rapacious landlords & shopping centre owners !
Cheers , Ron

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from the US? Or is that not possible?
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Cherylm
'You can observe a lot just by watching'

http://www.pbase.com/cherylm

I bought my LX3 from a parallel importer. It's true that Panasonic don't support but the importer gives a 12 month full replacement warranty so I figure its the same thing.

The best deal I got was buying my wife a second hand 1 year old LX3 for $NZ 640 but it came with the panasonic optical viewfinder ($330 here), the panasonic lens tube adaptor ($90 here) and a genuine spare panasonic battery ($90 here). The LX3 is selling for $NZ 500 second hand so I thought the extras for $140 were a bargain.

I saw the photo warehouse advertising the Oly EP1 with kit lens for $NZ 795 thats not a bad deal.

Given that the LX3 remains one of the great cameras and takes pic's that you won't be able to tell apart from LX5 pics I suspect it will be the LX12 before I upgrade!
--
Russell
http://russellp.smugmug.com/

..( & some do ) it just depends a bit on getting an international warranty...RonS

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the product was actually manufactured here you might pay double or more the price....
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Cheers
Billy
http://williammartinwigandia.posterous.com/
http://www.wigandia.com

I'll certainly be buying from the USA when the time comes. There's no relief from HongKong even. The traders there selling new stuff on Australian eBay are awake to the astronomical prices in Australia and are asking $100 above the US price. In addition, they don't have the extra bits and pieces. Face to face, they'll come down to below the USA price.

I actually went and looked at the camera and prices (camera porn!) with a vague idea of buying duty-free if they were anywhere near reasonable as I am about to depart on a trip with significant photo opportunities. I was building a marvelous rationale in my head which really was a house of cards, of course -- anythikng to justify buying the camera now rather than waiting! But its flimsy foundations didn't even need to be tested when I saw what they were actually asking. I had to bite my tongue to avoid saying: "You're supposed to be a camera salesman not a stand-up comedian!"

The smaller market argument is rubbish (as it is in New Zealand). Logistics for consumer goods is so automated at the level of production and distribution at which Panasonic operates that supplying Australia or even New Zealand and supplying the USA is essentially the same thing. There is a little bit of breaking and repackaging in the distribution channel once it reaches here, but that shouldn't mean more than, say, 10 percent. And then both Oz and NZ have GST (retail sales tax -- ours is 10%, I think NZ might be 20%). It is a question of what the market will bear. The Australian market is seen as willing to accept the lies and bulls*t such as "small market" so companies move it into the "cream" category and deliberately run relatively small sales volume while creaming off very big profits.

A few pix I have taken in the same area before:

digby dart wrote:
, it looks like an imported one is the best option.

digby dart said:

I told the support person that even paying full price at B&H in New York plus courier the Lx5 works out to AU620, if B&H stamp the international warranty card will Panasonic Australia honour the warranty? The reply was ‘yes’.

Click to expand...

So B&H do this? If you order on-line do they supply or is it only via in-store purchase. Interested to know if this can actually happen for international orders?

Depending on where you live (taxes vary) the LX% costs from about $525 to $575 CDN (and the Canadian dollar is about par with the Australian one). I paid $560 for mine.

$671 plus shipping, genuine Panasonic Australia supplied unit, and managed to score an OS trip so got about $60 back.

The electronic viewfinder in Oz is a blatant ripoff, it is the same unit as sold in the USA for US$124 at B&H. You can't tell me it has anything to do with Australia being a "smaller market". That would be true if something was being specifically made for Australia.

I spent Sunday afternoon at B&H in NY browsing. And buying. Too much

Amazing place, really great fun! They are very professional and make shopping there easy.

I bought my TZ7 on ebay from a seller in HK. It was more than AU$250 cheaper than what I would have to pay in Australia, it came with a spare battery, pouchbag and a screen protector. All arrived by DHL within 1 week.

Thanks Ranga.

I just checked eBay again a minute ago.

Citiwide in Hong Kong is now listing LX5 white or black with an 8 Gig card, a pouch (unspecified) and a screen protector at $581 Oz with free postage. That's pretty good. The 8 GB card must be a high speed one to be that size, so that's okay (I'm told you need to get the high speed card -- preferably the newest ultra type -- to record video continuously).

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Cherylm
'You can observe a lot just by watching'

http://www.pbase.com/cherylm