Not to be cruel, but should we all be buying gear from the UK?

[Ed_David]

With the british pound crashing, should we buy cinema gear from the CVP and the UK?

I bought a 2k sony piece before the crash, damn I wish I waited!

 

what do others think?

[Kubrickian]

Tourism dollars when a currency has crashed are helpful to the country's economy as a whole, so I guess it would mean the same thing for camera gear. 

[ricardo_sousa11]

I was thinking this as well, with the recent crashes it should be good to invest. However I might wait a bit more, Im fairly positive it will drop until 1.10€/1.05€, then it will make a lot more sense.

Also, when are gonna start paying import taxes?

[Eduardo Portas]

If you intend to buy you should do it now. 

Canon and other foreign companies will have to adjust their prices upwards

in the UK to compensate for the lower value of the pound vs. the US dollar. 

Having said that, if you really want to help them, you should buy

products that are MANUFACTURED in the UK or spend some time as a tourist in the UK.

Otherwise, your help is minimal. 

[Jimmy]

It would need to get to 1:1 with the dollar before you see any savings. The pricing here is ridiculously high compared to the states.... almost every product is 1:1

Then you have VAT and export costs. 

Might be some deals for European shooters though.

[DevonChris]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

It would need to get to 1:1 with the dollar before you see any savings. The pricing here is ridiculously high compared to the states.... almost every product is 1:1

Then you have VAT and export costs. 

Might be some deals for European shooters though.

VAT would not be charged for export to non EU countries.

Interestingly when we leave the EU, we in the UK would not have to pay VAT if we bought goods from Europe (unless that gets negotiated away in the exit deal).

[Jimmy]

I thought, for business use, VAT rebates are a thing of the past? 

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/taxfree-shopping

[DevonChris]

11 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

I thought, for business use, VAT rebates are a thing of the past? 

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/taxfree-shopping

Oops, you are right. I'll edit that out of my comment above. Apologies.

 

Quote

Goods you can’t get a refund for

You can’t get a VAT refund for:

mail order goods, including internet sales, delivered outside of the UK

goods you’ve already used in the EU, such as perfume

service charges, eg hotel bills

new or used cars

goods worth more than £600 exported for business purposes

goods to be exported as freight

goods that need an export licence (except antiques)

unmounted gemstones

gold over 125g, 2.75 troy ounces or 10 tolas

a boat you plan to sail to a destination outside the EU

 

[Jimmy]

That said, on CVP, they have prices in US$ that say "No VAT"... Hard to figure it out.

As things stand though, I still can't see any benefit from buying here rather than the states. If the £ really goes into freefall though, it may work out.

[Inazuma]

I live in the UK and often buy grey market. The crashing currency will only mean that UK companies have to charge even more now whilst the grey market dealers can probably continue selling at their current prices

[sgreszcz]

42 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

I live in the UK and often buy grey market. The crashing currency will only mean that UK companies have to charge even more now whilst the grey market dealers can probably continue selling at their current prices

Yeah, but a lot of the grey market cameras from Asia come into the UK via other European countries and we avoid duty and VAT (I've bought some lenses and bodies shipped from France/Ireland).   This way one can get a similar prices compared to buying in US/Canada (where I also shop when I visit family).  When the UK leaves I can see the customs office going militant with VAT collection and their usurious "handling' fees as the loophole will be closed and this is what happens if you are buy something directly from Asia/US now.

[Oliver Daniel]

I'm in the UK and the price of gear here is extortionate. 

Don't expect the price to go down, it will go up by as much as 15%. I've already received an email from a UK supplier saying some products will go up by 5% already. 

Stick to the US Ed!  

[Snowfun]

Ed, save your money for when the Trump dollar crashes.

[tweak]

AUS is cheaper. Was really good when dollar dropped in 2015 after camera stock had already landed in AUS. New 2016/17 cameras aren't as good prices.

[IronFilm]

One upside is hopefully in a few short years times once UK has negotiated new trade deals with other countries (such as HK/Japan/China/USA/etc) then there will be more free trade and they'll be cheaper. 

[Jimmy]

Just spotted a deal for my US chums.....

C300 mk II is now only $10,640 , cheaper even than B&H ($11,999)

http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/canon_c300_mark_ii_4k_video_camera