UK Canon 7D Price

RRP of the Canon 7D is £1699. In America it's $1699. Figure that one out!
Even after adding 15% VAT, it still works out a lot cheaper to buy from the
US.

$1699 = £1018.59 (£1171 after adding 15% VAT)

I bought a camera from the US before and IIRC you don't have to pay import
duty on digital camera's as they are classed as information technology
products. Although, I remember that working out the commodity codes was a
bit complex. I remember the courier company saying something about it
making a difference if the camera came with a lens or not. As that was over
5 years ago I can't remember exactly what they said now. Can anyone confirm
if you need to pay import duty on a body only?

"ET" writes:
RRP of the Canon 7D is £1699. In America it's $1699. Figure that one
out!

The £ = $ equation for imported high-tech goods has been pretty
universal as long as I can remember. I assume it's mostly to do with
the smaller UK market and tendency for a single distributor to have
control of imports.

[I guess the usual observation is that for many products it's cheaper to
buy a round-trip airline ticket to NYC, stay in a nice a hotel for a few
days, and buy your item there, than it is to buy it in Britain...]

-Miles

--
The car has become... an article of dress without which we feel uncertain,
unclad, and incomplete. [Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964]

ET wrote:
I bought a camera from the US before and IIRC you don't have to pay import
duty on digital camera's as they are classed as information technology
products.

LOL! Try to get that one past the custom's officer. I'm guessing
that you'll only get fine in addition to the duty.

According to HM Revenue and Customs they're classified as (surprise!)
cameras.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...yType=document

--
Ray Fischer

On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:56:53 +0900, Miles Bader wrote:

RRP of the Canon 7D is £1699. In America it's $1699. Figure that one
out!

The £ = $ equation for imported high-tech goods has been pretty
universal as long as I can remember. I assume it's mostly to do with
the smaller UK market and tendency for a single distributor to have
control of imports.

[I guess the usual observation is that for many products it's cheaper to
buy a round-trip airline ticket to NYC, stay in a nice a hotel for a few
days, and buy your item there, than it is to buy it in Britain...]

Does grey import have any effect on service calls or repairs under
warranty?

--
Regards, Robert http://www.arumes.com

"ET" wrote in message
...
RRP of the Canon 7D is £1699. In America it's $1699. Figure that one
out! Even after adding 15% VAT, it still works out a lot cheaper to buy
from the US.

$1699 = £1018.59 (£1171 after adding 15% VAT)

I bought a camera from the US before and IIRC you don't have to pay import
duty on digital camera's as they are classed as information technology
products. Although, I remember that working out the commodity codes was a
bit complex. I remember the courier company saying something about it
making a difference if the camera came with a lens or not. As that was
over 5 years ago I can't remember exactly what they said now. Can anyone
confirm if you need to pay import duty on a body only?



good luck..you are lioable to all kinds of 'hidden' taxesand charges levvied
bythe post office for hadnling, VAT, import duties, a ' how dare you try to
buy cheaper' overseas tax, a space occupation in the warehouse tax and
anything else thye care to make up.

buy if you go overseas, but then you lose the waranty. canon dont give a
toss about UK customers.

"Ray Fischer" wrote in message
...

I bought a camera from the US before and IIRC you don't have to pay import
duty on digital camera's as they are classed as information technology
products.


LOL! Try to get that one past the custom's officer. I'm guessing
that you'll only get fine in addition to the duty.

According to HM Revenue and Customs they're classified as (surprise!)
cameras.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...yType=document


Import duty and VAT were out of my control. I bought from B&H and it
automatically went through customs. The courier then phoned me and charged
me before letting me have them, but I can't remember what the charges were
now. I worked it out at the time and I saved quite a bit even after the
charges.

I think the commodity code is 8525 80 30 00 as it doesn't record more than
30 minutes of video, therefore if that's the correct code, it looks like no
duty, only VAT @ 15%:
http://tinyurl.com/l7bzq4

"Still image digital cameras with video capture capabilities (using the
maximum storage capacity) of recording with a quality at or exceeding
800x600 pixels at 23 frames per second, at least 30 minutes in sequence
video are classified under subheading code 8525 80 91 00 or under subheading
code 8525 80 99 00. Otherwise they are classified under subheading code 8525
80 30 00."

As for warranty, OK so you don't have UK warranty on bodies, but worst case
scenario just send it to Canon USA under Canon USA manufacturers warranty.
Lets face it, couriers are pretty good now-a-days. Although, AFAIK, recalls
are still have to be carried out by Canon UK FOC, whether they like it or
not.

Robert Spanjaard writes:
[I guess the usual observation is that for many products it's cheaper to
buy a round-trip airline ticket to NYC, stay in a nice a hotel for a few
days, and buy your item there, than it is to buy it in Britain...]

Does grey import have any effect on service calls or repairs under
warranty?

Probably; I'd assume that I'm paying for any repairs if I buy outside
the normal system.

-Miles

--
Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words
erroneously repeated.

"Ray Fischer" wrote in message
...
ET wrote:
I bought a camera from the US before and IIRC you don't have to pay import
duty on digital camera's as they are classed as information technology
products.

LOL! Try to get that one past the custom's officer. I'm guessing
that you'll only get fine in addition to the duty.

According to HM Revenue and Customs they're classified as (surprise!)
cameras.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...yType=document

--
Ray Fischer


In Australia if you have the camera slung over your shoulder the customs
folk do not bother you. If you had more that one camera though, they would
be on to you quick sharp. Surely it must be the same in the US and UK???