Anyone purchase a lens via Ebay from Japan, Canada, etc. ?

Have any of you purchased a lens via Ebay, from a Japan or Canada seller? I suspect seller feedback can weed out reliable sellers. But I was more curious about shipping and duties. From what one Japan seller relayed, plus a customs page, I gather that no extra duties tax would be charged for a lens under $2000

Usually I buy USA for convenience. But there's a few lenses I'd like to get, where few to none exist in the USA location. One being a Pentax 645 mount and a Canon FD 35mm tilt shift for example.

Anyhow, if anyone has bought from those countries or other, and could share in a nutshell how it went, I'd appreciate. This didn't seem to fit the "marketplace" watch theme, so I'm posting here hopefully. Also, if you have good 2nd hand knowledge of someone else's purchase from another country, feel free to relay.

I have bought lots of stuff on EBAY from other countries, never had any issues although I have had stuff held up in customs for a little while but not always.

I used to buy a lot from a Canadian camera store (Henry's) and often got better prices. Never had any issues.
I've bought camera gear from Japan and China as well. No issues thus far.

i would avoid shopping overseas as much as possible. before, i would buy from whoever had the item i was looking for, but i was hit with a letter from the federal tax department of my state and was asked to pay about 10% of my purchase. i dismissed it, and now they sent me another one with added fees totaling up to $1600.

buy from the state. support your country. don't make them tax you for unnecessary reasons.

there are many sellers in the country who have the same product. even if you pay a little more, it will be less than if you are hit with a tax letter in the mail.

CH_Devin wrote in post #18960255
i would avoid shopping overseas as much as possible. before, i would buy from whoever had the item i was looking for, but i was hit with a letter from the federal tax department of my state and was asked to pay about 10% of my purchase. i dismissed it, and now they sent me another one with added fees totaling up to $1600.

buy from the state. support your country. don't make them tax you for unnecessary reasons.

there are many sellers in the country who have the same product. even if you pay a little more, it will be less than if you are hit with a tax letter in the mail.

There are almost no sellers in the USA for (example) Canon FD 35mm tilt shift. Search Ebay and it will be evident. I'm in Oregon, so we don't have a sales tax. As long as the item is under the $2000 threshold, I was referred to a US Customs page that indicates no duties to be paid at the federal level.

It sounds like your issue was related to your state and local sales tax, whereas the other two who posted may have no sales tax, or were prepared for it.

I bought almost all of my current gear from overseas or via grey importers. I just did some mental arhythmmatic and reckon I have saved around AUD16K in total, versus Australian high street 'official sellers'.

In some cases, I saved around 40% ...

As for warranty - which is admittedly the achilles heel of buying this way - I have made zero claims, I suppose principally because I am buying well-respected brands. A Canon 5D3 is a Canon 5D3, whether it came from via Sydney or Hong Kong, so your perception of brand quality is part of the risk evaluation.

I always do my research and buy only from well-established sellers who have good reviews.

Caveat: I should add that I would prefer to support local sellers and I do recognise the risks of buying from overseas, but I resent the quite absurd mark-ups we have to pay here, for no apparent benefit.

I haven't bought any digital cameras or lenses from other countries, but I've bought plenty of film gear from Japan with no issues at all. Shipping takes about a week and I haven't had to pay any duties; though to be fair they weren't super expensive items. I also bought a film Leica from Canada without any issues. Can't speak for any other countries, but those two worked out fine.

just be mindful to the economy

I haven't purchased any high-dollar items from overseas, but I've made plenty of
low-cost purchases from both Japan and China, all of them under US$20.
No purchases from Canada, to the best of my recollection.
I've purchased from Henry's also, but my items have shipped from within the US.

None of those purchases have been lenses or cameras, but plenty of lens filters,
batteries, remotes, etc.

As already mentioned, shipping is typically 7 to 10 days.
Occasionally it's been 2 weeks or just a tad more.
In those cases, I've received the item before tracking even shows that
it's cleared customs.

My most recent just arrived a couple of weeks ago, a 5-pack of emitter disks
for an ultrasonic humidifier. I would have purchased in-country if a US seller
offered a 20mm disk, but the smallest any US seller had was 25mm,
which would not have fit. Fixed an $80 humidifier for around $7,
with four more fixes available.

Hi, I purchased a lens about 10 years ago from Canada. I was very unpleasantly surprised to receive a bill from a customs broker for a significant chunk of the total purchase price. I disputed the charge, but neither the seller nor the broker (Purolator Courier) was able to impact the end cost to me. It seemed similar to me reserving a hotel room in a city that I never planned to visit, and then getting the bill for it once my "reservation date" (delivery of the lens) passed.

The added cost more than negated any price benefit. Every now and again I look to see the customs duties for shipping from X foreign country to the USA, but find the results very inconclusive. Optical equipment is a specific sub-category of the US Customs Service, so that is an important consideration. I have not purchased a foreign product since. Like a lot of photographers, I am pretty methodical and detail-oriented, but I don't want this to happen again and I don't want it to happen to anyone else, either.

casperc wrote in post #18962355
neither the seller nor the broker (Purolator Courier) was able to impact the end cost to me.

I have been hit by this phenomenon when purchasing something in the US and bringing it in to Canada. I think Purolator makes more from the hidden brokerage charges than the actual shipping. I will not purchase anything if Purolator is the shipper.

Some US businesses (eg B&H) do a good job of making sure you know the landed price before you hit the ‘pay’ buttton.

I have purchased 2 manual Russian lenses through ebay. One from the Russian Federation and one from Ukraine.
I didn't have to pay any duties, but each lens was less than $100 dollars.