Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Regarding this grey market/country-by-country pricing, I had an interesting experience about 15 years ago. I was looking for a good wideangle lens for 8x10, and wanted to get the Nikkor SW 150/8. I phoned the Canadian distributor as there wasn't any such lens in the country at the time (I'm in Canada), and he gave me to understand that if I ordered the lens, it would arrive in approx. 3 months and cost about $3300 Cdn, based on a 15 percent dealer markup. I then phoned B&H in New York, and they had a lens in stock. I ordered it, and had it in my hands 2 days later for a landed, complete, all-duty-and-taxes paid price of $1380 Cdn. This was not old stock; the lens is still available new for less than the Canadian price of 15 years ago. I found other uses for the $1920 saved. I've had similar experiences with other items; none quite as extreme, but still very obvious. I certainly got the feeling that the Canadian distributor felt that he might have landed a live one. 10, 15 or 20 percent difference between markets after calculating out differences in market size, taxes, duties, economic swings etc. might be forgiven, but 239 percent is too much. On a similar topic, I bought a new BMW in 1992 with European delivery. My final cost, when it finally was shipped back and registered in Canada was about 25 percent LESS than the same car would have cost me if I had bought the same model in Germany, and our taxes are about the same, plus we have to pay duty here, and we have a much longer warranty than the Germans get. Figure that out! * Henning J. Wulff /|\ Wulff Photography & Design /###\ mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com |[ ]| http://www.archiphoto.com