Online petition to Canon about pricing

I see what a ####### ##### I was.

We should all petition to have a Hong Cong electronics market here in canada.

? ? ? ? ?

N

Sorry. I have spelling problems. Hong Kong.

I should read more. Much more.

There are a lot of factors involved in local market pricing.

Canon will price on production costs, volume sold into a particular market, compitetion, local market costs and finally the price the local market will stand. Added onto Canons price will be the retailers overheads.

So why are UK, and in general European prices, dearer. Apart from the fact that the average purchaser is seen to as being willing to pay more, retail space costs more, labour costs are higher (not just wages), consumer protection costs are higher and the individual markets are smaller the US.

Another problem in the UK at least is market dominace, in what other market place would you find that the largest chain is also the dearest.

Just my twopennyworth.

I don't think the petition is worth wasting time on. But I also don't think that you guys in the UK should donate money to rip-off merchants who overcharge by hundreds or thousands of pounds. Shop around, mail order if necessary, but don't fund the bad businesses.

Here in NZ when I bought my 10D I paid NZ$3400, but I saw the same camera available at NZ$4000 and NZ$4500 elsewhere, that's enough price difference to buy the Canon 28-135 IS Lens!

I am looking at the 70-200 f2.8L IS lens, my favourite shop sells it for NZ$3900. I asked at another shop but I don't remember the exact price, I think I blacked out a little after the shop assistant said five thousand and . . . That shop wasn't even the one that was selling the 10D for $4500, it was the one asking $4K for the 10D!

The Canon BP-511 sells here for NZ$157.50, that's over US$100! I didn't start a petition, but I did vote B&H for the recipient of my cash.

How do local stores get away with charging high margins? Easy - foolish customers encourage them by buying at those crazy prices. You owe it to yourself and all other photographers to not pay money to anyone overcharging for camera stuff. No retailer can sell goods for more money than customers are willing to pay, it's a simple supply and demand thing!

hmm, thanks for the support.
The problem here is that it isn't just a few stores that are over-charging. Its 99.9% of them.
I have been in touch with trading standards in the uk and they told me the following;

Very fine then, name a few identical products that are priced the same all over the world. Do you think BigMac costs the same in Turkey and UK? Do you think same cars cost the same in differend countries? If you found lower prices elswhere in EU, buy from them, there's no duty. If enough people choose to do so, it WILL bring UK prices down eventually. This would then define the normal UK price for an item as low/est price in EU + transport cost + a little extra (potential risk, etc.).

Yes it does seem a bit off, doesn't it? It's logical that same stuff that is made in individual countries, such as, BigMac for example, doesn't cost the same everywhere, since the bread, meat, people and buildings don't cost the same. Electronics or wear products are a bit trickier, as they are usually assembled/made in very certain 'cheap' countries and then distributed worldwide. Why don't they cost the same? First of, because of differend wages cost, real estate cost, etc. then I'd assume because of free market. If people would find cheaper alternatives they'd buy them instead, which would eventually bring down prices of original products, unless of course, it were a classy and recognized brand, in which case it would be sort of treated as luxurious or 'way cool'.

I'll tell ya what, I'm going to the UK in the spring for a vacation with the wife, I get what, 2 bags a person plus a carry-on right... Lets see, I pack pretty light, the wife will probably take the large bag plus the small bag... that leaves me with the duffle and the medium size bag... I could probably pack all my clothes in the duffle with no problem... That leaves me with a good sized piece of luggage... You guys start putting your money together and you can send it to me and I'll buy everything here for you and pack it up in my suitcase... When I go through CUSTOMS, I'll tell them that I am using it all for my vacation and you guys can meet me at the airport for the delivery.... We are flying into Manchester Airport at the end of April... I'll just charge you guys a small delivery fee of 1.5%....

Hows that sound lol

wrong! UK customs will charge you the UK rate.


Kenski, nice idea

If you order something from any EU country, you pay VAT to the supplier (at the local rate) and there is no VAT charge from UK customs. I'm not sure if there's any duty, but I don't believe so...

Provided the country of purchase is in the EU VAT zone, then you are correct about the VAT. However, not all countries are in that zone - eg the Channel Islands are not, so VAT is chargable on goods from there. Not sure about the newest members from the old Eastern Block.

As to Import Duty, that depends on the item concerned - it's zero on digital cameras, 6.7% IIRC on lenses, etc., etc.

The other charge (which probably doesn't apply here, but I'll include it for completeness) is Excise Duty, payable on goods from any country, EU or not - mainly on alcohol, tobacco and perfumes.

KRs
Chris

I just looked at this page, its full of information about vat, import duty etc.
There is an interesting part at the bottom about calculating import duty.

http://www.sloanefox.f​reeserve.co.uk/importu​kduty.htm

If I import a camera from the USA the basic duty is 4.2% before anything else is added on.

evilenglishman wrote:
I just looked at this page, its full of information about vat, import duty etc.
There is an interesting part at the bottom about calculating import duty.

http://www.sloanefox.f​reeserve.co.uk/importu​kduty.htm

If I import a camera from the USA the basic duty is 4.2% before anything else is added on.

Provided it uses film - digitals are zero-rated

Useful site, duly bookmarked, thanks.

KRs
Chris