Main dealer or grey import ?

It has a lot to do with warranty. E-fin is 1 year and you need to send it back to them abroad and have long turn around time.

In UK shop you get much longer warranty generally and faster turn around if issues happen.

Sometimes the savings are poor also depending what it is
 
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dweeble said:
Hang on.....what about paying rent, business rates, staff.........YOU try running an actual shop one day!

But it is difficult. Like most people, I'm likely to go for the sharpest price.....and feel awful about stiffing the guys who try to give service.

So whenever I can I pay a bit more and buy from a real person, but only the ones who really go the extra mile to help...they are the ones who will survive!
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I did exactly this yesterday at LCE. I paid £999 for a lens I could have bought for £879 at einfin however the UK version comes with a 2 year warranty and the service was excellent so overall i'm happy with my perceived value for money. It would cost more than £120 to get a Sony 70-200 fixed if it went wrong between year 1 and 2. It also helps to support UK jobs.
 
fujilover said:
It has a lot to do with warranty. E-fin is 1 year and you need to send it back to them abroad and have long turn around time.

In UK shop you get much longer warranty generally and faster turn around if issues happen.

Sometimes the savings are poor also depending what it is
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Actually that was not the case with two issues I have had with kit and e-infinity. In both instances e-infinity asked me to arrange for repair with a suitable repair company in the UK and they would pay for the works carried out. As it was Nikon repaired my Z6 free of charge despite knowing it was a grey import and was turned around in less than a week and the other I found out had nothing wrong with it. I couldn't read the damn manual correctly!
 
Retune said:
Then I imagine it would be a simple matter for anyone who needs to reclaim it to get a VAT receipt...
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Except that they don't appear to be registered for VAT

EDIT: I'm happy to be proven wrong
 
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Dryce said:
HK company so not VAT registered in the UK.
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But also a registered company in the UK (since 2016) with a UK address. The point I was making is that you can't get a VAT receipt if you want to reclaim the VAT.
 
realspeed said:
The cheapest main dealer price for the Tamron 24-70mm SP Di VC USD G2 for Nikon is £1,029.00.
Most expensive main dealer price same lens is £1199
Grey import from "e-infin" is £675

no wonder people are going for the grey imports, How can the main dealers justify a markup between £354- £524? no wonder shops are going out of business

Guess which have bought from and waiting for delivery
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I clicked on this thread as I assumed it had been started by a newish member, then I realised it had been posted by a long time member.
I'm not having a pop (far from it)but suprised you have only just realised this about grey sellers.
Do you remember a chap called kerso back in the day who was a grey importer?
I've happily purchased from kerso and einfinity without any problems.
I was going to buy a Tamron 150-600 G2 from einfinity until I noticed the warranty was for one year whereas with UK stock Tamron give a three year warranty.
Panamoz are dearer but still below the UK price and they also offer a three year warranty, however, I believe you have to get the item repaired and they will reimburse the cost.
Amazon are currently only 40 quid more than Panamoz so paying the extra money is a no brainer.
If you haven't done so already, www.camerapricebuster.co.uk is worth bookmarking as they display the latest prices and also historical price history which is handy for comparing to grey sellers.
 
hashcake said:
I clicked on this thread as I assumed it had been started by a newish member, then I realised it had been posted by a long time member.
I'm not having a pop (far from it)but suprised you have only just realised this about grey sellers.
Do you remember a chap called kerso back in the day who was a grey importer?
I've happily purchased from kerso and einfinity without any problems.
I was going to buy a Tamron 150-600 G2 from einfinity until I noticed the warranty was for one year whereas with UK stock Tamron give a three year warranty.
Panamoz are dearer but still below the UK price and they also offer a three year warranty, however, I believe you have to get the item repaired and they will reimburse the cost.
Amazon are currently only 40 quid more than Panamoz so paying the extra money is a no brainer.
If you haven't done so already, www.camerapricebuster.co.uk is worth bookmarking as they display the latest prices and also historical price history which is handy for comparing to grey sellers.
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Tamron EU/UK offer a 5 year warranty when registered. Pretty great.
 
hashcake said:
Panamoz are dearer but still below the UK price and they also offer a three year warranty, however, I believe you have to get the item repaired and they will reimburse the cost.
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Not quite, you email them a copy of the repair quote and they immediately transfer funds so that you can pay the repair charge when it falls due.
 
twist said:
Tamron EU/UK offer a 5 year warranty when registered. Pretty great.
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Manufacturers hate warranty work. It's very costly and sucks out all the profit, plus it tarnishes the brand.

The only reason they can afford to give these extended warranties is because their gear is basically reliable, and if it is going to fail that'll probably happen in the first few months anyway. After that, the most likely cause is some kind of abuse, like dropping or water damage, and that's not covered.

Edit: So you can look at it two ways. To some buyers, a long warranty is a valuable comfort; to others, it's a sure sign of good reliability so worth a small risk on a cheaper grey import.
 
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HoppyUK said:
Manufacturers hate warranty work. It's very costly and sucks out all the profit, plus it tarnishes the brand.

The only reason they can afford to give these extended warranties is because their gear is basically reliable, and if it is going to fail that'll probably happen in the first few months anyway. After that, the most likely cause is some kind of abuse, like dropping or water damage, and that's not covered.

Edit: So you can look at it two ways. To some buyers, a long warranty is a valuable comfort; to others, it's a sure sign of good reliability so worth a small risk on a cheaper grey import.
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Bang on, and definitely the latter for me. :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Manufacturers hate warranty work. It's very costly and sucks out all the profit, plus it tarnishes the brand.

The only reason they can afford to give these extended warranties is because their gear is basically reliable, and if it is going to fail that'll probably happen in the first few months anyway. After that, the most likely cause is some kind of abuse, like dropping or water damage, and that's not covered.

Edit: So you can look at it two ways. To some buyers, a long warranty is a valuable comfort; to others, it's a sure sign of good reliability so worth a small risk on a cheaper grey import.
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Exactly as I can honestly say I have never had any bodies or lenses fail in the first few years. In fact I have never had a lens fail on me. Maybe I am just lucky:D
 
Of all the equipment I’ve ever purchased, and it’s a lot, I think I’ve only ever bought grey on two occasions. Both through Panamoz, both without issue.

I almost exclusively purchase from Wilkinson Cameras because the store is great, and I want to support UK camera stores.

However I must admit that this time I’m considering grey imports. I have limited funds due to redundancy and the price difference is upward of £5k, which is a big chunk of change.
 
To clear up any confusion there is no difference in a product if it is a grey import or not. The only difference is one is via an authorised dealer and the other an unauthorised dealer . the difference is only in warranty, and once the warranty period is over you have to pay to have repaired and not necessarily by any particular recognised authorised repair company.
Personally being an OAP with limited income grey imports are the way to go. If photography is your business then things may be different as equipment can be offset againt tax.
 
realspeed said:
To clear up any confusion there is no difference in a product if it is a grey import or not.
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This usually - but not always true.

So as an example the EU bans nickel from products where it ay come into direct contact with skin. Sony had two versions of the A700 - the EU one had the grip hand sensor deleted because it used nickel. In the past it was used to be voltage and NTSC vs PAL type aspects.

There may also be model designation differences in different markets. Use of names or model numbers.
 
Bristolian said:
But also a registered company in the UK (since 2016) with a UK address. The point I was making is that you can't get a VAT receipt if you want to reclaim the VAT.
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Even then - not necessarily VAT registered.
 
twist said:
Tamron EU/UK offer a 5 year warranty when registered. Pretty great.
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Thanks, that's even better than I thought.
 
gramps said:
Not quite, you email them a copy of the repair quote and they immediately transfer funds so that you can pay the repair charge when it falls due.
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That makes the Amazon price for the 150-600 G2 even better value for money (having just learned that Tamron give a 5 year warranty).
 
Just got the Tamron lens this afternoon. All I can say is WOW, what an improvement on my Nikon 24-70 f2.8 non VR lens. Just doing a quick video hand held looks as if it was on a tripod. Not fully tested the stills yet but from what I have taken again a huge improvement for just £675. paying more is a mugs game in my opinion
 
51hS7XTBHCL._AC_SL1200_.jpg
 
realspeed said:
Just got the Tamron lens this afternoon. All I can say is WOW, what an improvement on my Nikon 24-70 f2.8 non VR lens. Just doing a quick video hand held looks as if it was on a tripod. Not fully tested the stills yet but from what I have taken again a huge improvement for just £675. paying more is a mugs game in my opinion
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That's you officially a tax evader now....
Welcome to the club...:LOL:
 
Update

The Tamron 24-70mm G2 version came this afternoon so done a very quick tryout with the Nikon D810. All i can say is "WOW", what a difference from my old Nikon 24-70non VR lens.
First of all forget panning with a tripod I did it hand held in the back garden with VR on. Used a seinnheiser MKE400 fitted with a Guttmann long haired "deadcat"


Link

Still got to test still photography but what I did shoot knocks spots off my old Nikon 24-70 non VR lens @f2.8. How ever not throughly checked it out fully but looks as if it will be on the camera front most of the time. Just doing a quick lens test
 
When I finally bite the bullet and upgrade my camera body then I may well go grey... it won't be tax evasion though, it will be levelling things out: I had to pay import duty to be reunited with an item of work equipment that I sent back to the Swiss manufacturer for repair (specialist kit so no service agents over here). I automatically got charged import duty (which I'd already paid when I bought the item) when it got couriered back to me (apparently it should have been posted out with some form or other attached to it, but I didn't know anything about that when I posted it).

Claiming it back, as a layman to this process, was going to be such a marathon task of form filling and red tape that I decided to write the money off, as it would have taken me more than the cost in lost work time to sort the claim out! So I vowed to straighten things up next time I changed my camera body by buying grey!
 
Fuji Dave said:
I have always said and proud to say, I will NEVER buy Grey as I like to keep my shops open but that`s just me.
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What shops? My local camera shop shut years ago, which wasn't my fault either as I used to buy all my kit there!
 
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