Cheapest place in the world for Cameras =?

Reference things being MUCH cheaper in the US, don't forget to add on the taxes. I found that thing that looked cheap weren't all that much by the time you added on the state taxes etc. Car hire was the worst.. They offer you a car for a week that's $200 but by the time you pay this tax and that tax, it's closer to $600!!!

At least here in the UK, the price you see is the price you pay. Not to mention that while cost of living is cheaper overall, so is the average wage is it not? On my last trip over there I was made acutely aware of just how many low paid service jobs there are. Stuff that the great British public would just turn their noses at like pressing the buttons in a lift for customers or doormen in shops and things.
 
stokes said:
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.
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Agreed! I fly international at least once a month and the only thing the UK border control wants to see when I get back is my passport. That is not to say I condone tax avoidance schemes just say'n.
 
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my mate drove home from Germany with a load of live ammunition the other day, he had cleared for it but they never checked his car etc.

Bit of a can of worms this thread, lets keep it ontopic - i.e cheapest price regardless of customs BS.
 
shabba said:
lets keep it ontopic - i.e cheapest price regardless of customs BS.
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But "on topic" is about where's the best place to buy gear and then smuggle it into the UK without paying taxes. At least that's what you implied in the initial post. That whole topic is against the TP rules.

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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ok best lock the thread.

Note to all - please ensure you drive home carefully, and do NOT exceed the legal speed limit of 70mph on the motorway.

Kind regards.
Shabba
x
 
This post seems to have developed into a legal argument.
So back to your original question Robert. I was in Gibralta last month and was quoted £1,400 for a Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8 vr 11. Back in U.K. it was £269 more expensive in my local Jessops,but they had none in stock. When I checked on Amazon a couple of days ago the cheapest I could find was over £1,800. Another camera shop in Merseyside said it would be just under two grand.
 
Liverpool? They probably stole it in Hong Kong and then smuggled it back through customs, bl**dy thieving scousers :-)
 
Recently came back through Dubai and checked out the duty free prices of some Canon equipment, more expensive than UK, which upset the sales assistant when I told him.
Singapore no cheaper.
Hong Kong is good if you take care where you go as they sell cameras almost anywhere, not in photo retailers like here. They also pester you to death and don't let you have a proper look.
Safest bet, buy in UK!
 
TCR4x4 said:
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!
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a pro/press photographer would have a carnet for all their equipment and declare it when they leave the UK / enter the destination country / leave the destination country / reenter the UK. Then also consider each bit of kit is tagged, stored in individual customised flight cases, clearly well used...

...and finally, since a pro photographer would be VAT registered, and also want to reclaim all equipment as capital allowances, there is no advantage and lots of disadvantages to buying equipment abroad and smuggling it in. So they would declare anything (significantly expensive...) bought abroad at customs.

Most of the time people think something in HK or USA is "cheaper", its only because of the difference in consumer sales taxes - something that doesn't bother a pro.



Back to the original question.... a collegue found the cheapest place to buy a 5DII was (very unexpectidly) Duty Free at Heathrow T5 when he was en-route to Dubai for work - cheaper than retail in Dubai or the UK. I think he got a special offer though!
 
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