Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]snip > It's not the same film. They have plants in other countries that make film. > > >Same situation with grey market cameras. How possibly could foreign > >dealers get Leicas and export them to the US, pay customs charges and > >still have them sell for less? If US distributors won't match grey snip > But it's mostly the cost of doing > business in that country that can determine the difference. That and "what > the market will bear." I.E. Capitalism. The cost of doing business in the US is generally lower than in other industrialized countries, principally because of higher taxes (esp. payroll) elsewhere. In any event, IMHO local distribution costs constitute a fairly small portion of the total cost of a precision manufactured item and cannot explain large cross-border price differences. The mfr's minimum resale pricing, and inflexibility in the face of currency and economic disruptions, are surely to blame. And where such price differences are large enough, distributors and dealers around the world will invade each other's territories until the differencital pricing is arbitraged away. That happened in the mid-80s with luxo European cars, it's been happening recently in high-end watches, and now apparently it's Leica. BTW, are there any Hasselblad bargains out there <g>? Cyrus Gardner Kormendi\Gardner Partners 202/822-0900 voice 202/331-1151 fax