Question for those who've bought from B&H photo

Luigi 91

Did you get stung on duties getting your purchase delivered?

I'm contemplating getting a lens from them. It'll cost €350.

Worth the risk?



Thanks.

dazftw

If your only spending 350 it would be worth the risk. If you got caught it would be hardly over €50.

Use this and find out what charges you could be caught with its pretty accurate.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/calculation/

Paulw

B&H are orthodox Jews, so everything is 100% above board, so you better make sure to work in the cost of import duty when buying.

In saying that, brilliant prices and excellent service.

ThOnda

Well, not in person, but a boardsie went there bought, flat packed the carton and brought it here as his working camera gear. And I haven't heard about any duty since

Luigi 91

dazftw wrote: »

If your only spending 350 it would be worth the risk. If you got caught it would be hardly over €50.

Use this and find out what charges you could be caught with its pretty accurate.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/calculation/

Thanks for the reply. That calculator is telling me it'll cost €100. Yikes!

Paulw wrote: »

B&H are orthodox Jews, so everything is 100% above board, so you better make sure to work in the cost of import duty when buying.

In saying that, brilliant prices and excellent service.

You're definitely right, in fact even at the checkout section you can choose to pay an extra 200$ or so which covers all possible duties.
If I do get it shipped from the States there's a couple of other places I can get it from (Adorama) for the same price, so I'll probably do that.

oshead

Paulw wrote: »

B&H are orthodox Jews, so everything is 100% above board....

Lol... But if they were just Yeshivahm, Chasidic or even normal run of the mill Jews then... :pac:

There was a time, back in the day, you could choose USPS(United States Parcel Service) and no matter the price paid for the item, it would get in without the duty being attached. All thats changed now.

So... what you've got to figure out is, if the item you're buying is worth the $45 postage (UPS) and the extra you pay at customs. Sometimes parcels which costs as little as $350 gets through without raising any attention. If it goes above €640 (or there abouts) it gets classed differently (with the big boys) and will definitely get stopped and charged.

Lets suppose you get the parcel in for under €450. At this moment thats about €350. If the item from a bricks 'n' mortar shop here is only a little more than that then, IMO you should buy in Ireland. Case in point - I got a lens from B&H a few years ago, within a year it became faulty. I tried to send it to be fixed with Canon Ireland and they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. I needed a vat receipt. I got in touch with B&H and they wouldn't take it either. They told me to sent it to Canon USA. I contacted them they told me they will have a look at it, no problem, but after it's fixed they will only send it back to a USA address.

The only other reason to buy from B&H IMO is, you can't get it anywhere else. In that case, just factor in the vat and keep your fingers crossed. :pac:

Luigi 91

oshead wrote: »

Lol... But if they were just Yeshivahm, Chasidic or even normal run of the mill Jews then... :pac:

There was a time, back in the day, you could choose USPS(United States Parcel Service) and no matter the price paid for the item, it would get in without the duty being attached. All thats changed now.

So... what you've got to figure out is, if the item you're buying is worth the $45 postage (UPS) and the extra you pay at customs. Sometimes parcels which costs as little as $350 gets through without raising any attention. If it goes above €640 (or there abouts) it gets classed differently (with the big boys) and will definitely get stopped and charged.

Lets suppose you get the parcel in for under €450. At this moment thats about €350. If the item from a bricks 'n' mortar shop here is only a little more than that then, IMO you should buy in Ireland. Case in point - I got a lens from B&H a few years ago, within a year it became faulty. I tried to send it to be fixed with Canon Ireland and they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. I needed a vat receipt. I got in touch with B&H and they wouldn't take it either. They told me to sent it to Canon USA. I contacted them they told me they will have a look at it, no problem, but after it's fixed they will only send it back to a USA address.

The only other reason to buy from B&H IMO is, you can't get it anywhere else. In that case, just factor in the vat and keep your fingers crossed. :pac:

Great info there, thanks!

This is kind of unrelated but is it safe to buy lenses off ebay? Just came across this:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280580982893&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.ie%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3907.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D280580982893%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Crazy cheap. I've bought off ebay many times before but I don't know if I'd be comfortable getting a lens there.

Advice please! :pac:

ThOnda

If you want good prices from respected and trustworthy seller, find the store belonging to guy Kerso. He is from Scotland (the home of haggis) and ships everything duty free.

dazftw

ThOnda wrote: »

If you want good prices from respected and trustworthy seller, find the store belonging to guy Kerso. He is from Scotland (the home of haggis) and ships everything duty free.

+1 for kerso. He is on ebay and will deal off ebay to avoid fees from ebay/paypal.

Have used him several times.

Luigi 91

Unfortunately he's not selling the particular lens I'm looking for but I'll remember that store in future.

Thin White Duck

It's worth dropping him a line all the same as he also trades outside of ebay. Aside from the stuff in his ebay store, he can supply pretty much the entire Canon range. He sorted me out when everybody else had a particular lens on back-order

Effects

Last time I got anything from B&H shipped it it came by UPS. UPS calculate the duty and won't hand the item over until you pay it to them.

Heebie

If you're buying stuff with duty required.. you really shouldn't be trying to get out of paying the duty.. the country needs it BADLY.

But.. there probably plenty of ways to get hold of the same merchandise without having to pay duty.. they're just within Europe.

Most stuff you'd be in the U.S., you'd have to get back to the U.S. in order to get warranty service for if osmething went wrong with it as well.

I have bought stuff while over there & brought it back..and probably would have declared it if there had been anyone on-duty in customs. =O

Tiriel

+1 for Ian Kerso - ordered a lense off him and got it in a few days, well packaged and great price too.

Carrigman

You WILL get stung for duty if you import from the USA. As a rough guide, add 21% to the purchase price plus postage - that is how much extra you will have to pay.

On the other hand, if you buy via eBay from one of the many reputable Hong Kong dealers the chances of being caught are small.

Regards,

John

Luigi 91

Why oh why am I only learning about keaphoto now?

The website is incredible. Literally incredible. The prices are the lowest on the internet, there's a plethora of information laid out about everything, how to pay, how it'll be shipped, where it'll be shipped from, detailed information on international warranty. They encourage customers to ask questions about their products. You can buy a 7-year international lens warranty from them for 10 DOLLARS! And hey, look what I came across in their FAQ section:

"For customers in Ireland: due to customs changes starting from October 2008 onward, all shipments to Ireland should use TNT if you want to avoid the customs inspection and duty process."

Sound!

oshead

Yeah, Kea are very good. Got a 40D and battery grip a couple of years ago off them and was very pleased with the service. You can't go wrong with them.

TinyExplosions

It's fairly easy to work out what you'd have to pay in terms of duties etc -the key is the TARIC codes -they tell you the %duty on whatever item you're bringing into the country (It only applies to products over 150 euro though, below that it's just 21% VAT)

Also, the duties and import include the shipping price, so if your Lens was 350 shipped, it would be:

Price of Goods: 350
Import Duty: 6.7% - 23.45
VAT: 21% of 373.45 - 78.43
Handling Charge (applied by Revenue/An Post): 6

Total Due: 107.87 or so

I'm not sure using TNT would guarantee that you skip the charges, as they've tightened up quite a lot recently

Captain Flaps

I've ALWAYS been doorstepped for import tax when buying from B&H. They're a well known store and they put their branding all over the package, there's no way it'll just slip through.

They do offer the ability to pay duties at the time of purchase, so you know exactly what it's costing you and you can just wait for delivery without having to have the chequebook handy. When you're checking out on the store, beside the shipping method there's a duty calculator which will give you the option to add that to the total price.

gbee

Luigi 91 wrote: »

Did you get stung on duties getting your purchase delivered?.

There is a master post on duties somewhere.

First off you won't be 'stung' you are required by law to pay 21% duty on the goods and shipping charges Plus a handling fee and duty of 4% but there would be no duty on the lens.

You're purchase plus the post and packaging will be added together, and the handling charge [€5 ~ €12] and the VAT calculated.

You WILL have to pay, you WILL not get this in without paying.

gbee

Captain Flaps wrote: »

They do offer the ability to pay duties at the time of purchase, so you know exactly what it's costing you and you can just wait for delivery without having to have the chequebook handy. When you're checking out on the store, beside the shipping method there's a duty calculator which will give you the option to add that to the total price.

have you actually done this?

I ask because I was caught for double duties from Hong Kong from Pixmania who profess to be clearing agents and the local revenue office told me it could only be an EU country where that applies.

This was a four years ago, things might be different today.

Captain Flaps

gbee wrote: »

have you actually done this?

Yes, I've done it twice, most recently with a camera in July. Even with the import tax added it was about 60-70 quid cheaper, and this was just a compact.

gbee wrote: »

First off you won't be 'stung' you are required by law to pay 21% duty on the goods

I bought an old, used medium format camera from KEH.com which was in bad nick, but a nice little project for me. I was charged the import tax on it, I was absolutely raging because it was used and taxes had already been paid on it when it was originally purchased in the US. I understand tax and import duties on new goods shipped overseas, but I didn't realise they did this on used stuff too. There was nothing I could do, the govt. was literally holding my goods to ransom until I stumped up the 120 quid.

So yeah, I'd consider that 'stung'.

henryp

Captain Flaps wrote: »

I've ALWAYS been doorstepped for import tax when buying from B&H. They're a well known store and they put their branding all over the package, there's no way it'll just slip through.

They do offer the ability to pay duties at the time of purchase, so you know exactly what it's costing you and you can just wait for delivery without having to have the chequebook handy. When you're checking out on the store, beside the shipping method there's a duty calculator which will give you the option to add that to the total price.

Thank you for mentioning this. We do offer this service and we also have an estimator which converts US dollar amounts into local currencies for several other countries. Your final transaction will be in US dollars, but we hope this is a convenience.

gbee

Captain Flaps wrote: »

So yeah, I'd consider that 'stung'.

A judge would say that ignorance of the law is no defence.

However, I do agree your sentiments over used gear.

Luigi 91

Alright everyone, I found a place even better than keaphoto.

Onestop Digital. The prices work out pretty much the same as kea, but get this:


If you get charged duties, they'll reimburse you 100%.

How awesome is that?

gbee wrote: »

You WILL have to pay, you WILL not get this in without paying.

Guess not :cool:

gbee

Luigi 91 wrote: »

Guess not :cool:

Not exactly, not. You get charged and you must supply the the relevant documentation, then a refund or credit is sent.

What some do is mark the item a gift of no commercial value, until the big clampdown of the last 18 months, this worked maybe 8/10 times.

Luigi 91

gbee wrote: »

Not exactly, not. You get charged and you must supply the the relevant documentation, then a refund or credit is sent.

What some do is mark the item a gift of no commercial value, until the big clampdown of the last 18 months, this worked maybe 8/10 times.

Well yeah but you know what I mean.

I've heard of marking as a gift before alright, but if you mark something as no value and it gets missing in the post are you screwed insurance-wise? Can't remember where I heard that

Paulw

Luigi 91 wrote: »

I've heard of marking as a gift before alright, but if you mark something as no value and it gets missing in the post are you screwed insurance-wise? Can't remember where I heard that

The sender takes out insurance, not the recipient. So, it's up to the sender to make sure you get the item. They claim their insurance and then send you a replacement.

TinyExplosions

gbee wrote: »

A judge would say that ignorance of the law is no defence.

However, I do agree your sentiments over used gear.

I think it's the easiest way for Revenue to apply charges -it's like the old wheeze of marking things as Gifts -it's easier for them to say that duty has to be paid on everything, as who are they to know for sure what's used or not... it's a bit unfair, but I can't see how they'd do it any other way

mikeanywhere

Luigi 91 wrote: »

Alright everyone, I found a place even better than keaphoto.

Onestop Digital. The prices work out pretty much the same as kea, but get this:


If you get charged duties, they'll reimburse you 100%.

How awesome is that?

I have bought thousands of quid of gear from Kea and the service is great. Yes they do reimburse you for the duty paid but that only applies to the UK as they have an office in the UK.

Luigi 91

mikeanywhere wrote: »

Yes they do reimburse you for the duty paid but that only applies to the UK as they have an office in the UK.

What?

Taken right from their FAQ:



"The prices you pay Onestop-Digital do not include VAT and import duty. Your government may charge you import tax and duty. If you are asked to pay such charges, please pay these charges and we will reimburse you in full. Please refer to our terms and conditions for more details on our VAT Free Guarantee.
At the moment, this VAT Free guarantee only applies to orders shipped to Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom."

Rb

Your posts are pretty obnoxious, Luigi. I have a feeling you'll be back with your tail between your legs when you buy something off an unknown online retailer, have a problem and they stop responding to your emails.

At the end of the day, if you're buying online you should be using well known and extremely reputable dealers, not the cheapest you can find.

B&H is an amazing store and I've thankfully got to visit it a number of times now, however like all US stores given that you're liable for VAT and duties when purchasing from them, it's inconvenient to buy online in my opinion. I just bought stuff there, collapsed the boxes and hid them in my suitcase and put the gear into my camera bag. Never received any hassle.

Jesus, even thinking about it has me dying to go back to NY and it'll be December 2011 before I get to. So fu for that.

TinyExplosions

I dunno if you're being particularly fair Rb, The Hong Kong place doesn't seem like a fly by night scam, and a quick google doesn't throw up the usual warning signs, in fact they seem to be fairly well regarded.

As for their VAT refund stuff, Luigi is copying and pasting verbatim from their website, and it seems to indicate that they will indeed refund any VAT/Duty you have to pay

Luigi 91

Rb wrote: »

Your posts are pretty obnoxious, Luigi.

I'm just havin' a chat about camera gear mate. Grow up.

Rb wrote: »

I have a feeling you'll be back with your tail between your legs when you buy something off an unknown online retailer, have a problem and they stop responding to your emails.

At the end of the day, if you're buying online you should be using well known and extremely reputable dealers, not the cheapest you can find.

I'd read before that onestop digital were very reputable and did good service, right here on boards.ie. I've been buying online for many years and I'm pretty good at sniffing out a real from a fake.

Also, screw you for lecturing me for trying to find the cheapest deal. You know nothing about me or what situation I'm in. I have ZERO income right now and photography is more than just a hobby to me at the moment. If you've got the extra $200 to pay B&H to cover duties, good for you, but I can't spare a dime.

Rb wrote: »

obnoxious

Irony.

mikeanywhere

Luigi 91 wrote: »

"The prices you pay Onestop-Digital do not include VAT and import duty. Your government may charge you import tax and duty. If you are asked to pay such charges, please pay these charges and we will reimburse you in full. Please refer to our terms and conditions for more details on our VAT Free Guarantee.
At the moment, this VAT Free guarantee only applies to orders shipped to Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom."

I stand corrected as they have changed it since I last bought bits from them. When I was reimbursed it was through paypal too which will most likely be the same again

Captain Flaps

So consensus is pretty good for kea and onestop digital? Always good to know what options there are.

Dara Robinson

Lots of info there for you and I am sure someone has mentioned but buying form the states is possibly the worst when it comes to tax and customs. As far as I understand it there is an Irish vat and also American one when you buy new form there (as in America). But actually John Gunnes is comparable price wise. But if it was me buying I would be buying from a good HK seller. Got my Nikon D700 from HK and saved over €1000. Cant go wrong, plus I got a 2 yr warranty from them instead of the standard 1 yr one

HelenOster

Luigi 91 wrote: »

If I do get it shipped from the States there's a couple of other places I can get it from (Adorama) for the same price, so I'll probably do that.

Please don't hesitate to email me directly if you have any pre-purchase queries or need after-sales support.

I'm always happy to help!


Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
HelenO@adorama.com

pullandbang

HelenOster wrote: »

Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

Gotta love the Yanks and their titles - brilliant

HelenOster

pullandbang wrote: »

Gotta love the Yanks and their titles - brilliant

Tell me about it - I was born in Bristol (England) and my paternal great-grandmother was Irish!

henryp

Dara Robinson wrote: »

As far as I understand it there is an Irish vat and also American one when you buy new form there (as in America).

For the record, there is no VAT in the United States. No sales tax is added by B&H to any order from B&H which is shipped to any location outside New York state.

Luigi 91

Hey just thought I'd update to say I bought the lens from onestop-digital and everything went great. Such an amazing price.

€11 for Fedex shipping and it got here from Hong Kong in under 2 days! No duties charged. Lovin' the new glass.

Would definitely recommend Onestop Digital!