Cheapest place in the world for Cameras =?

shabba

shabba

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Ok random one - does anyone know what is the cheapest place in the world to buy bodies and lenses right now (for us in the UK), I'm talking about being there and not importing. I.e if anyone ever goes on holiday to XX then its a great place to pick up a new body/lens.
 
Yes but ebay = top prices generally as people get into bidding wars and such.
 
At a guess I'd say HK? I wonder what the difference is at todays exchange rates.
 
I would have said HK too. Thats where all the grey market sellers are and there must be a reason for that.
 
Seriously though, I get the feeling the way the pound is at the moment that UK is probably as cheap as you'll get, if you factor in import costs/taxes etc
 
I would think HK would still be cheaper, look at the HK retailers like Digital Rev, even selling to the UK they are cheaper than UK prices, if you were actually in HK, you would be buying even cheaper than their prices.
 
shabba said:
Ok random one - does anyone know what is the cheapest place in the world to buy bodies and lenses right now (for us in the UK), I'm talking about being there and not importing. I.e if anyone ever goes on holiday to XX then its a great place to pick up a new body/lens.
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If you buy it while there and bring it back you still need to pay import duty and VAT if it comes from outside the EU ;)
 
Oh come on........as said just unbox it and say you took it out there. Hide the reciept/post it back and how can they prove it?

this is not exactly like drug smuggling!
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I think you'll find unboxing it doesn't remove the tax liabilities, it's called smuggling :lol:
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So if you go live somewhere for a month and decide you wanna come back home but have bought some stuff over there like pants and a suit and some gloves and some hats and some shoes and some filters and a lens youre going to declare it? Okay.
 
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twist said:
So if you go live somewhere for a month and decide you wanna come back home but have bought some stuff over there like pants and a suit and some gloves and some hats and some shoes and some filters and a lens youre going to declare it? Okay.
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.. and a D3s, 500mm f/4, 300 f/2.8 etc etc

:lol::lol:

I wonder how many pro photographers who travel the world buy a peice of gear in another country because of emergency and then stick it in thier cases and bring it back to the UK after the trip without paying the tax.. Quite a few I would imagine!
 
shabba said:
.................k and how can they prove it?

this is not exactly like drug smuggling!
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HMR&C still regards NON_Payment of duties and Taxes as smuggling

BTW ...they CAN tell from the serial numbers....:shake:
 
How is HMRC gonna know whats in your bag was not purchased in the UK before you left? Are they physically going to open your luggage and say 'Oh dear we seem to have a problem, heres that serial no. we were told about mr. X would be carrying when he bought it in HK on 5 Apr 2011 at 14:23.' You paid the country you were in at the times taxes etc, different story if youre importing into UK and currently located in the UK or importing loads of items for business use.

I seem to have forgotten socks on my previous list anyone going abroad?
 
twist said:
How is HMRC gonna know whats in your bag was not purchased in the UK before you left?
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They don't, but if they suspect that you're attempting to import goods without paying the duty they'll seize them and then it's up to YOU to furnish them with proof that they were purchased in the UK tax-paid.......
 
Sorry a mate sold me it in the UK used along with this very fetching hat.

I am merely playing devils advocate, but I also think we get ripped off at pretty much every opportunity.
 
Yardbent said:
BTW ...they CAN tell from the serial numbers....:shake:
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So, Canon/Nikon etc... furnish serial numbers to HM Customs so they can tell on the table whether the lens was destined for US markets in the last 3 months...

I've some equipment I've bought off kerso so are US stock. I'm off to the 'States in August - how are they going to tell if it was bought in the UK or US?

Flash In The Pan said:
They don't, but if they suspect that you're attempting to import goods without paying the duty they'll seize them and then it's up to YOU to furnish them with proof that they were purchased in the UK tax-paid.......
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That may be true, but if you've taken £5K+ worth of cameras out and brought £5.5K+ back in, you'd be extremely unlucky to be caught out unless you had the original packaging with the $ price tag on.... And anyway, when was the last time you were searched coming back from the US (I've been some 20+ times and never been searched).

I think HM Customs are more interested in "proper" smuggling than someone saving a hundred quid off a lens... You might get caught and fined, but the chances are probably quite low.
 
Just don't try it when coming in from new york, especially near christmas, in fact don't try bringing anything without paying Duty from new york, customs done and got wise to that.
 
arad85 said:
That may be true, but if you've taken £5K+ worth of cameras out and brought £5.5K+ back in, you'd be extremely unlucky to be caught out unless you had the original packaging with the $ price tag on.... And anyway, when was the last time you were searched coming back from the US (I've been some 20+ times and never been searched).

I think HM Customs are more interested in "proper" smuggling than someone saving a hundred quid off a lens... You might get caught and fined, but the chances are probably quite low.
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True, but I know someone with a very expensive vintage watch which was bought in the EU and he was randomly stopped on the way back from the US one time and couldn't provide proof it had been bought here and ended up with a rather large tax bill before he got it back.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
True, but I know someone with a very expensive vintage watch which was bought in the EU and he was randomly stopped on the way back from the US one time and couldn't provide proof it had been bought here and ended up with a rather large tax bill before he got it back.
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Did he not have it covered on insurance - surely that would have created a paper trail back to a time in the UK. And the UK insurers probably would have required some form of receipt/proof of purchase/ownership had it ever gone missing....
 
The only way to protect yourself from this is not to do it . Would you rather pay the tax or loose all of your kit . I remember reading in a magazine some years back about a tog who was stopped and didn't have any proof of purchase so received a massive tax bill ( Do you still have your receipt for that lens you bought a couple of years back ? ) He stated that from then on made a note of all his kit and serials numbers that he then left with customs in the UK as a referance if he was ever stopped again .
 
twist said:
Even if its unboxed and in my camera bag? I think not.
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Yes, even then. All you have done is suggest ways to smuggle goods in without paying the applicable duties. Should you choose to break the law that is up to you, but the liability for VAT and import duty is still potentially there.
 
twist said:
How is HMRC gonna know whats in your bag was not purchased in the UK before you left? Are they physically going to open your luggage and say 'Oh dear we seem to have a problem, heres that serial no. we were told about mr. X would be carrying when he bought it in HK on 5 Apr 2011 at 14:23.' You paid the country you were in at the times taxes etc, different story if youre importing into UK and currently located in the UK or importing loads of items for business use.

I seem to have forgotten socks on my previous list anyone going abroad?
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HMRC can access the serial number database for most major manufacturers. They can inspect your kit, get the serial number and compare it to that database. The database will tell them when/where the item was manufactured and which market it was intended to be sold through (i.e. HK, EU US etc.) Their own records will tell them if duty/VAT has been paid on that lens or not. So if you have a lens/camera intended for the HK market and HMRC records show no duty/VAT paid then expect a bill!!
 
onomatopoeia said:
Yes, even then. All you have done is suggest ways to smuggle goods in without paying the applicable duties. Should you choose to break the law that is up to you, but the liability for VAT and import duty is still potentially there.
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I have not suggested anything, anyone who is not a complete idiot wouldve already thought to bring camera equipment back in a camera bag. Read the rest of my posts. I do not break the law.
 
smudgie49 said:
HMRC can access the serial number database for most major manufacturers. They can inspect your kit, get the serial number and compare it to that database. The database will tell them when/where the item was manufactured and which market it was intended to be sold through (i.e. HK, EU US etc.) Their own records will tell them if duty/VAT has been paid on that lens or not. So if you have a lens/camera intended for the HK market and HMRC records show no duty/VAT paid then expect a bill!!
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Okay, again, not breaking the law, just querying your reply. So if you buy a used lens thats been owned by 20 people before you and the original owner got it imported via lets say digitarev hence a HK serial batch. How will they prove the initial purchaser did/nt pay the VAT. They have bigger fish to fry than someone who bought themselves a personal item.
 
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Guys Im not suggesting to cheat the taxman, merely adding depth to the thread and playing devils advocate. No point in everyone saying the same thing and having the same opinion as then theres no point to having a conversation. Dont break the law kids, mkay.
 
twist said:
Okay, again, not breaking the law, just querying your reply. So if you buy a used lens thats been owned by 20 people before you and the original owner got it imported via lets say digitarev hence a HK serial batch. How will they prove the initial purchaser did/nt pay the VAT. They have bigger fish to fry than someone who bought themselves a personal item.
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If you are found with property which has not had duty paid on it (by anyone) then HMRC can demand both import duty and VAT. They don't have to prove anything - they will simply say that their records show that it was a HK market lens and that the lens is now in the UK with no record of anyone ever having paid duty/VAT. You're right when you say they have bigger fish to fry but HMRC has many different departments and whilst common sense might suggest they should be looking at intercepting cocaine smugglers their revenue collection dept is much, much bigger.
 
But what if the lens had the VAT paid initially, it would be a drawn out witch hunt and potentially a huge bill for the tax payer just for nothing as the tax had been paid on the item already. You seem to know alot about HMRC and what they demand. Perhaps you should work for them as you know all their procedures already.

Trust me, I know all about their revenue collection dept. Had a lot of my hard earned cash lol.
 
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Not withstanding taxation related to import, duty etcetera.... And excluding stolen property. If you could live any where in the world and your motive was tog equipment prices, all things being equal you'd live America. One of your last choices would be the UK. I've seen the same lens for the same number with different currency symbol so on exchange alone you 60% more the UK. I've also seen considerably smaller number in USD for same lens compared to GBP meaning in some cases you could be paying 100% more just for getting live in the UK. After seeing some of this I did a cost study last year to compare USA, UK, EU, and Japan. Based on the best prices I could find published on line for each region the USA was the lowest every time, sometimes by a little sometimes by more.
 
What a waste of a thread, just a bunch of stupid posts, Smudgies in particular, about what HMRC can and can't do! Do they really open camera bags, study the contents, check serial numbers? Of course they don't.
 
Forgive the ignorance, but what is a 'grey import'? I've seen this referred to a few times, but not sure what it means.
 
Chris_topher81 said:
Forgive the ignorance, but what is a 'grey import'? I've seen this referred to a few times, but not sure what it means.
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An item sold to a country it's not meant to be sold to. It's the same thing but the manufacturer has designated it to a certain country or region.
 
In the early days of DVD players when they were hideously expensive in the UK but cheap in asia, you used to be able to pick up a cheap import for one region but there would be unlock codes to make them all region. PS3s are anther one, all games are region free but the blu-ray players in them are region locked. Problem you have with all of this (and imported cameras*) is that you would need to send them back across an ocean to get them fixed under warranty.


*with lots of manufacturers you can't tell the region from the blurb but to their credit Canon call their cameras by different names, the ***Ds are rebels in the states for example.
 
shabba said:
I'm talking about being there and not importing. I.e if anyone ever goes on holiday to XX then its a great place to pick up a new body/lens.
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Hong Kong mightn't be the cheapest but you can find some good prices, walk out the shop and immediately start taking photos of a stunning city.
 
Customs... who? In the last three years I've flown outside the EU nearly twenty times and am yet to see a customs officer on the way back in..... let alone be searched. Generally by the time I come back in, they have all gone home for the day :) or it certainly seems that way.
 
Jackwow said:
What a waste of a thread, just a bunch of stupid posts, Smudgies in particular, about what HMRC can and can't do! Do they really open camera bags, study the contents, check serial numbers? Of course they don't.
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If setting out what HMRC are empowered to do in respect of imported photographic equipment (in line with how the thread was developing) is stupid then I apologise for wasting everyone's time. I never mentioned what they can't do. I'm sure that it is a rare occasion that HMRC will check camera bags and compare serial numbers but the point is they can.
 
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