UK question - Buying from individuals on Ebay USA?

[Don Simon]

Ello again. After repeatedly saying it would never happen, I'm considering selling out and betraying the Order of the Silver Nitrate by... buying... a... digital! :shock:....

:mrgreen: I have my eye on a particular model, and have found it on Ebay's US site at a good price (can't seem to find it anywhere nearer to home). Now I generally avoid the whole "grey import" thing like the plague, but I was wondering if it would be a different issue if I were buying an item second-hand from an individual rather than new from a business. Assuming he doesn't claim it as a gift, will I be subjected to the full range of fees; import duty, added VAT and having a customs official come to my house, grab my TV and punch me in the face on the way out? Just wondering if it's worth going for it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Rob]

Yes, you will need to pay import duty. It's my understanding that you wouldn't have to pay VAT on second-hand goods, but by the time you've paid the tax (unless you try the "gift" trick) it probably isn't worth it.

Also, do bear in mind that it might not work or may turn up damaged and getting your money back for such an expensive item is unlikely when international shipping is involved.

Have you double-checked the postage fees as well? International insured shipping can be very expensive and they may not have included insurance in the price.

Don't forget the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true..." There are a lot of people out there after kit like this at the moment, so by the time the auction ends it might not be such good value.

I'm pretty cynical about these things I suppose, but I still wouldn't risk my own hard-earned cash for a saving of say £100.

Rob

 

[Don Simon]

Hey Rob, thanks for the advice. Normally I'd agree but in this case I can get the camera for just over £200 - Dabs sells it for £300 and no-one else in the UK seems to sell it for less than £400! Amazon no longer stocks it, which is really quite annoying since they're still listing it as being on special offer. The model in question is the Pentax Optio 750z. Ebay UK isn't much use for this; I've only seen it new and even then it ships from Hong Kong.

The seller wants the equivalent of £180, plus about £20 for shipping and under £5 insurance. He also has 100% positive feedback, so normally that would be the end of it and I'd just buy it - the one thing that does concern me is that of his 83 past transactions, none were as a seller - although maybe I'm being too cynical too?

As far as import duty goes, is there some kind of a scale? If there's a flat rate for electronic equipment rather than a rate based on the value of the item, I guess it could work out very expensive.

 

[Rob]

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_001640&propertyType=document

Give them a call or see if you can figure it out legally and go for it I guess?

Rob

 

[Don Simon]

I'm re-viewing... the situation.... hmm, slightly obscure reference, never mind

Thanks for the link Rob. The camera in question has now been listed on Ebay UK for £200 and I could pick it up thereby saving postage, but a couple of things could be putting me off, and these turn out not to be Ebay-buying risks but potential problems with the camera (Pentax 750z) itself. At first it looked near perfect; some reviewers spotted noticeable vignetting and pincushioning when zooming in with the telephoto but this probably wouldn't have bothered me, as I'm used to using fixed-lens 35mm compacts or 50mm primes on the SLR, so would have been happy to use the digital in the same way, zooming with my feet as it were. On the other hand it apparently takes 5 seconds from switching on to shooting, which I imagine could turn out to be incredibly annoying. Has anyone who uses digitals been bothered by this sort of thing, or do you get used to it?

The main attraction for me of this camera is that it is capable of manual exposure (i.e. control over aperture and shutter speed) which little else at that price seems to be; at the same time it also appears more compact than similarly featured cameras and I like the design. Ideally I would have gone for a Panasonic FZ-20 or Sony DSC-V3 but they're out of my price range (I'm setting £250 as a maximum), so the Pentax is sort of a second-best that I could be willing to settle for. Is there anything else in the same sort of price range that I'm missing? After previously not showing a lot of interest in digital I'm suddenly feeling an almost urgent need to aquire a digital camera, as I have realised that no-one in my area will process film for anything approaching a reasonable price.

 

[terri]

I'm re-viewing... the situation.... hmm, slightly obscure reference, never mind

From Oliver! :mrgreen:

As sung by Fagin, right-o.

Should I be concerned that I immediately understood this reference? :scratch: Or should I be more concerned that a fellow self-proclaimed film geek is moving to the Dark side?

 

[Don Simon]

Hehe don't be concerned, I was hoping no-one would spot it - I'm ashamed to admit I like a musical . Oh and I am indeed being won over by the seductive evil of digital, although don't worry, my trusty old Pentax and Olympus will always stay by my side even if I get a digital (hmm, I may need a bigger bag...)
It's really just the cost of colour film processing that's pushing me towards digital - of course, digital is only a solution if I can find a sensibly priced digital camera somewhere in this country - general policy when introducing cameras to the UK seems to be to simply replace the dollar sign with a pound one