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Any aussie advice on buying from US?

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jay_be

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Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L. lense &

as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
 
jay_be said:
Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where
for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L.
lense &
as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and
shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
Click to expand...
Got any friends in the US?

Your best bet is to have a friend in the US buy the lens, then send it to you. If they list the item as a gift, there is a good chance you won't get charged GST or import Tax.

Your sender will still have to put a price on the item, customs require this.

If the amount written on the package works out to less than AU$1000 they won't raise an eye brow.

As for reputable dealers? no idea. B&H? Adorama?
 
vision impaired said:
jay_be said:
Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where
for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L.
lense &
as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and
shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
Click to expand...
Got any friends in the US?

Your best bet is to have a friend in the US buy the lens, then send
it to you. If they list the item as a gift, there is a good chance
you won't get charged GST or import Tax.

Your sender will still have to put a price on the item, customs
require this.
If the amount written on the package works out to less than AU$1000
they won't raise an eye brow.

As for reputable dealers? no idea. B&H? Adorama?
Click to expand...
I recently got a 28-135IS from B&H. The service was great, I had the lens in about 7 days total time delivered by UPS. I was hoping to get past the GST but UPS seem to monitor this and collect the tax separately. I got the lens and a canon hood for a total of A$766 inc GST. The price here in Brisbane for the same items was about $973. You will save much more on a "L" lens. The only restriction that I found was that B&H will only deliver to the address that your credit card is attached to, this means that you can't have it delivered to your work place or somewhere else.
Brian
 
jay_be said:
Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where
for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L.
lense &
as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and
shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
Click to expand...
Ive always used Adorama, and cant say enough good about them - Excellent service, and almost as fast as using a local dealer.

So far I have kept my OS purchases at around the 500 AUD mark, so avoid customs and GST problems.

--
http://www.pbase.com/timothyo

 
I bought some books from Amazon some years ago and had them delivered to my work address in Perth. There were quite a few and I got the super express delivery.

Two days later the books arrived in three boxes. Along with it cames a Customs bill. They hit me 3 times:

1. GST on the book costs. Ok, this I can handle;

2. They charged me $30 PER BOX as an inspection fee (which involves reading the manifest on the side of the box); and

3. They decided to value my shipping costs for far more than I actually paid for them (3 times more) and then charged me 10% GST on THEIR figure.

Ridiculous. If they'd simply charged me 10% on what I'd spent then that would have been fine. When governments pull stupid tricks like this I have no problem in going to any reasonable lengths to avoid it.
 
bill1 said:
I bought some books from Amazon some years ago and had them
delivered to my work address in Perth. There were quite a few and
I got the super express delivery.

Two days later the books arrived in three boxes. Along with it
cames a Customs bill. They hit me 3 times:

1. GST on the book costs. Ok, this I can handle;

2. They charged me $30 PER BOX as an inspection fee (which involves
reading the manifest on the side of the box); and

3. They decided to value my shipping costs for far more than I
actually paid for them (3 times more) and then charged me 10% GST
on THEIR figure.

Ridiculous. If they'd simply charged me 10% on what I'd spent then
that would have been fine. When governments pull stupid tricks
like this I have no problem in going to any reasonable lengths to
avoid it.
Click to expand...
 
If you buy L glass from the US - or anything over $500 - you will almost certainly be slugged GST plus the $50-$60 customs handling fee, especially if it comes in via Fedex, and a delay of a week.

I have been buying Sigma lenses, such as the 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DF and 70-200mm f/2.8 EX IF HSM, from Hong Kong. Super fast delivery - 4-5 working days, International EMS tracking, good price, no customs delays or fees, international warranty. No problems at all. Same suppliers also handle Canon L glass.

The best has been hksupplies, who list on eBay as etefore.
 
I've bought a number of items from B&H with dellivery to Brisbane. Shipping via UPS has always resulted in customs inspection charges and 10% GST based on the B&H Invoice. Usually they ring and I can pay the charges over the phone although the last couple of times they just sent an invoice in the mail after they delivered the items.

I really don't mind as the prices with the freight and customs are usually much less than the local retailers who all stick to Canon's (or other manufacturers reccomended retail price. No discounts, no competition. I was amused to see in a local store two weeks ago a 1Ds with a price tag equal to US$11,500. The sales guy was trying to get me to look at it but at that price I have no need.

US e-Tailers llike B&H also have the range of products that are just not available in the small Australian market, often simple things which are always stocked at B&H are 'special' orders in my local shops and as such are never discounted so you pay the inflated price and wait several weeks or order it from the US, wait 5 days and pay less even including the freight and customs.

My advice is to stick to the well known e-Tailers like B&H or Adorama be patient, be polite, note the time difference and the fact that these stores have hours and opening times that may be different to those you expect in Australia and you should be OK.
 
jay_be said:
Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where
for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L.
lense &
as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and
shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
Click to expand...
--
Jaybe

I just bought a 70-200f2.8L from B&H.
It was shipped by UPS within a week.
cost USD1129.95
shipping USD57.50
customs charges levied by UPS AUD214.13
GST AUD161.38 (customs calculated the lens value at AUD1613.82)
No duty on photographic equip.

the best price I would have been able to get this lens here in Sydney was AUD2350.00

ordering from the states saved me over AUD300.
 
jay_be said:
Would any Aussies have advise on buying from the US? Such as where
for best prices and reputation. I am in the market for a new L.
lense &
as far as i'm aware i'll be paying 10% on top of sale price and
shipping but still save a heap on our local price.
Thanks in advance.
Jaybe
Click to expand...
Thanks for your help guys. I'm considering the HK market as well as the US & I'll let you know how i get on.

Jaybe
 
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