Online petition to Canon about pricing

(Can we have this as a sticky? pleeeaaaase)

After the posts on the subject of Canon's UK prices in this thread:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=42224

I have set up an online petition addressed to Canon regarding the pricing of their items in The UK and the lack of direct e-mail contact on their UK website.

Maybe (probably) it wont make any difference but I would appriciate it if you could all sign it, it only takes a moment and your email address (doesn't have to be legit) will be kept private.

Click here to view and/or sign the petition

Why not petition the governemtn about the VAT, too? Isn't that a very large portion of the price?

In the next state cigarettes cost less than half the price of cigarettes in Masschusetts. Why? Because Massachusetts tacks on $3 a pack in taxes. So it wouldn't do me much good to petition Marlboro.

I thought a lot of the reason that European prices were high was the VAT and taxes. Am I wrong?

er ... no.

And I'd get braced for the flame...
The last time someone posted a pettition on this forum it wasn't very pretty

ok, but i dont see how anyone could find this petition a bad thing

Exactly, I would love if the world could influence Denmark to lower the VAT from 25% to a reasonable amount! We already pay more than 50% in tax and every time we buy something we pay additionally 25% VAT.

Sorry but the main reason for the different prices in different countries is govermental VAT & TAX. I hate that a thing like 20D can be bought for $1500 in USA but in Denmark I have to pay something like $2100 but that is not Canon's fault (entirely).

Its not bad but why do something that will have no result at all?

You are wrong. The VAT is a factor... but it doesn't explain everything.

1Ds at B&H = $7,999
1Ds at Jessops = £5,999 = $10,789

That's with all taxes including VAT paid.

I make it we are paying a cool $2,790 over the odds on that camera and I am afraid that the majority of that is going straight to Canon. Why do you think Canon refuse to honour the warranty on US bought cameras in the UK? It's to discourage consumers from voting with their feet and buying from the likes of B&H. Canon want to force us to buy from the UK and so protect their unreasonable mark-up.

Were I to import that camera from B&H and pay all Tax and import duties on it, it would cost me $9,878. Of course, I'd have no warranty.

Oh boy, it seems at least with this camera that Denmark is cheap - well not compared to US.

In Denmark the 1Ds cost approx $8783 ! And it would not even be profitable to order it from B&H because then the price would be $10.000 !

exactly!

But let's inject a degree of realism here... Canon are by far from the only offender. Virtually ALL electronics goods sellers play the same game in terms of pricing.

I could be wrong on this, but I heard that canon charges us the UK prices here eventhough we don't have any taxes or VAT

That's the reason I have interest in this subject.

In comparison, Nikon charge prices close to US market.

...Boycott...

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
...Boycott...

Y..y..you... mean... go cold turkey?

I don't think I can I'm not strong enough

hope this will make canon lower UK price, not increase US price

Yes, a 1DS costs $7999 at B&H.
Jessops is very expensive. If you bought one in the UK at a sensibly priced shop (e.g. Park, or A J Purdy, or Ffordes - simply the first ones I looked at) it's between £4900 and £5100 - say £5000 on average. If you remove the VAT (as Canon is not responsible for that), it's £4255.
At today's interbank rate, that works out at $7595.
From the above, it seems that the Canon price is lower in the UK than the US, but I'm not sure whether the B&H price includes any sales tax. If so, we'd have to remove that from the $7999 to get a fair comparison.
Considering we get better warranty protection in the EU (up to 6 years as a statutary right, if you want to try and claim it!) I don't feel cheated by Canon. The only reason we pay more in this case is because of VAT.