Buying from B&H US

[ArtierSquare]

Hi again,

Further to my other forum, upgrading to digital photography, one of you guys Stateside has mentioned buying from http://www.bhphotovideo.com which I believe is a big supplier over there (and which has probably got all our supplies).
Has anyone in the uk / europe experience of this company and their supply to this market?

Thanks for replies in advance

Pete

[sGu]

all my camera gears are purchased from them, never had a problem, never had a late arrival, never had any problem at all.

[samdring]

Sgu - if all that list of yours came from B&H do you mind my asking what percentage of the items customs caught you on?

[ArtierSquare]

sGu

Don't pay no heed to Sam, he's not worked long for customs! :roll:

The Q. is how long between order and arrival?

Pete

[samdring]

Pete - you are right - it was an insensitive question given our Custom's custom of customizing charges in accordance with the size of the customs-avoidance.

Apologies - swear it was a genuine error guv!

[sGu]

sGu

Don't pay no heed to Sam, he's not worked long for customs! :roll:

The Q. is how long between order and arrival?

Pete

I usually choose shipping with UPS express, which is 3-5 days, never had a late shipment, and first order i received was on the 3rd day after i placed my order. as long as custom don't hold on to your item, there won't be any further delays.

Sgu - if all that list of yours came from B&H do you mind my asking what percentage of the items customs caught you on?

want to know how much i paid for custom charges? nothing, not a penny :wink:

[ArtierSquare]

I have until Monday next to decide on where to spend my money...

There seems to be few (mainly just sGu) who have experienced B&H overhere (UK and Europe) and I wonder what this means?

I shall ponder it over. If there are any others who have experienced them here please do advise...

Cheers and thanks to those who have assisted...


Pete

[jyrgen]

I have bought most of my gear from them. Generally I am pleased.

First I had to verify my credit card by faxing a copy of that (I actually e-mailed a digital photo instead). Their responsiveness to e-mails is not the best. I've heard they react better to phone calls though.

They sometimes took a week or more to put my orders together (I must admit they were multi-item orders, too). After that, the actual shipping went quick and their packaging was fine. I used both UPS and USPS. I had to pay VAT on import, nevertheless I saved some 20-30% of local price.

I would use them again without much hesitation.

[Heffo]

Hello, I just bought 3000 dollars worth of gear from B&H, got away with the customs, because the value on the front of the box was in such a way that it looked like 30 dollars, the delivery took 7 days via global express mail, anything under 45 euro no custom charge for Ireland...have used B&H alot, currently waiting on some hoods and filters should be here by the end of the week, they were order two weeks ago via usps airmail, which is much slower...I have another big order which i'm going to place at the end of the month.

[stoneylonesome]

Take it from someone State side, they are a very reliable company to do business with. I've bought a lot of photo gear from them, as have several of my friends, never a problem.. This site might help

http://www.resellerratings.com/rlist-s1-nb.html

[DirtyHarry]

btw whats the story with the verification of your credit card? Do you have to send them a picture of the front and back of it? Im a first time buyer and im in the middle of registering, so whats the deal?

:?:

Cheers :?

[sGu]

yup, u can either fax the front and back of card to them or send them a copy of photo of your card. It's just standard safety process to verify overseas creditcard

[aam1234]

both sides?

[jalafer]

I buy my camera and my lenses in Spain (cheaper then in UK),. Two weeeks ago I bought the speedlight 420 form Adorama USA. The price was 30% cheaper than in Spain. The flash was in Spain in less than 1 week, excelent. The only problem is that I had to pay TVA (16%) duty (4%) transport (40 US$) and UPS costs (15€).
So, at the end of the day I payed only 20€ less than in Spain.
My advise is that USA is only interesting in expensive lenses. Otherwise, try before in Spain's we shops like "fotoboom".

[sGu]

both sides?

strangely, yeah

[Canuck]

Hi again,

Further to my other forum, upgrading to digital photography, one of you guys Stateside has mentioned buying from http://www.bhphotovideo.com which I believe is a big supplier over there (and which has probably got all our supplies).
Has anyone in the uk / europe experience of this company and their supply to this market?

Thanks for replies in advance

Pete

I have ordered from them a number of times to include the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX, a FlashTrax 40GB drive, Canon 24-70mm F2.8L, and Canon 16-35mm F2.8L. No problems getting over here. It may be just a little slower than if u were in the US.

[DocFrankenstein]

What about warranty? I've heard that you lose warranty if you buy it from canada.

I don't beleive it's so... one salesperson told me that. :wink: Apparently he was selling the same lens 200 bucks higher than bh.com

[Canuck]

What about warranty? I've heard that you lose warranty if you buy it from canada.

I don't beleive it's so... one salesperson told me that. :wink: Apparently he was selling the same lens 200 bucks higher than bh.com

My stuff has a US warrantee. If you buy it from Canada you get the Canadian warantee. However you might be able to play the greymarket game, that is go to Canada, get a US version, bring it back to the US and be really set. Just an idea.