Question about buying out of country.

[Your Old Dog]

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I am looking for a Leica 90mm lens and have found several that interest me but some are outside the U.S. I have never purchased anything in the 1-2000 dollar range from out of country and wonder how brutal the Duty is on the purchase of a lens? Any folks here from the U.S. have any experience with this? Thanks for any information you can supply.

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[Shadow Blaster]

Hi Ray,

I've bought two new lenses from Robert White in England, a 90mm Summicron APO/ASPH and the 24mm Elmar and didn't pay duty either time. I highly recommend Robert White - their customer sales and service is excellent.

 

Good luck,

John S.

[zeitz]

If it ships via the post office, usually you don't pay duty. If you ship UPS or Fedex, you will get a bill after delivery. Duty is like US sales tax in amount. I never calculated the percent. You should be able to find it somewhere on the Internet.

[Your Old Dog]

Thank you gentlemen. I'll go ahead and pull the trigger on this purchase and see how it pans out. Thanks again for your info....

[bpalme]

I paid $27 for my used M8 that was $2750..(fedex)

[Your Old Dog]

Thanks Bplame, that's exactly what I needed to know. I needed some idea of how brutal they were and that's not bad at all. I expect my mileage may vary as they say! This is all sounding very do-able.

[peter_n]

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There is no import duty on still picture camera equipment coming into the US. The fees quoted above are carrier-specific rip-offs by the courier companies for the non-existent cost of "clearing" your lens through customs. Avoid the commercial carriers like UPS and FedEx, request shipping by postal service and your only cost will be the price of the lens.

[ayewing]

You are fortunate in the US. I have been tempted to buy photograhic equipment from US as many items are much cheaper ithan in UK. As you say the major carriers charge the duty/sales tax plus a fee for their services in collecting the tax. Here the Royal Mail charge a flat fee of £8 plus tax. Only sone items attract import duty but everything gets hit by VAT (value added tax) which recently went up to 20%. There is an exemption for low value goods - less than £18 - about $29.

 

By the time you add on tax and postage the US bargains are not as attractive as they look at first sight.

 

Archie

[tdtaylor]

Bought a 50 lux ASPH from Robert White. Wonderful to deal with. If I remember correctly, it came Fedex. When the delivery came, they required a certified check for about $65, so had to come by the next day. Considering the money I saved, it was well worth it, but consider using the Postal Service to avoid the fees. Now I know.

[wda]

Bought a 50 lux ASPH from Robert White. Wonderful to deal with. If I remember correctly, it came Fedex. When the delivery came, they required a certified check for about $65, so had to come by the next day. Considering the money I saved, it was well worth it, but consider using the Postal Service to avoid the fees. Now I know.

Do check on the level of insurance included.

[J_Thompson]

Bought a 50 lux ASPH from Robert White. Wonderful to deal with. If I remember correctly, it came Fedex. When the delivery came, they required a certified check for about $65, so had to come by the next day. Considering the money I saved, it was well worth it, but consider using the Postal Service to avoid the fees. Now I know.

 

Several years ago, I purchased a lens from a Leica dealer in Scotland. He shipped via DHL and there were no additional charges. Peter_N is correct. FedEx and UPS are just ripping people off on camera equipment importing "duties." Ask for DHL shipping.

[tdtaylor]

Thanks for the tip on DHL. If I remember correctly, the fees were for "import handling," whatever that is. Thought it was rather nebulous. But since I was saving $900 (Pound was exactly at the low point to the dollar), and I couldn't receive it without paying, I didn't complain too much. What irked me the most is that they required a Certified Check or Money Order, which added to the cost and time.

 

I do hopefully have another lens coming from Austria in the next few weeks that I purchased when the Euro was low to the dollar. They have answered my question about additional fees and have assured me that there will not be any additional fees- guess I'll soon know.

 

With the change in the dollar to the Euro and Pound, don't think I'll be buying from Europe any time soon. A shame, since both the companies I have dealt with for many years in Europe have been excellent to work with.