lost in translation?

[biggysmalls]

im a little bit confussed i have been looking at scopes online an have seen a few that interest me but i have noticed that scopes from the US are much cheaper than the same scope from a british based shop online. so am i right in thinking that i would be better of using my money to buy a much better scope from the US and paying more for postage. or am i missing a trick somewhere?

[brantuk]

By the time you've paid local US taxes plus shipping and customs duty there's little difference than the UK price. Sometimes you can make a small saving - sometimes you can end up paying more. The $ amount there is very close to the £ amount here so you may as well get it in the UK - and you'll get quicker/better after sales service plus it'll arrive quicker too

[garethmob]

A lot of scopes in the us don't include the state sales tax till much later in the transaction. If u import a scope u pay more for postage and u also pay for the import fee (basically import customes charge) which can bring it very close to what you would pay if u were buying over here.

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[garethmob]

Darn it brantuk u beat me to it:P

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[JamesM]

Price of goods + local tax + shipping + insurance = Price

Price + Import duty = Import Price

Import Price + 20% VAT = Total Price

Taking goods out of the US will more than likely affect the warranty too. Brantuck makes a good point regarding customer service which in the longer term is more important than a saving on price. In recent times, eyepieces seem to have been the best product to import and where the largest savings have been made, even after the above calculation has been applied. Being small and well packaged, eyepieces are less likely to be damaged or require further servicing, where as a large scope will always runs the risk of catching a dent or two along the way.

James

[brantuk]

Lol @ Gareth - at least we're both singing off the same hymn sheet

[garethmob]

Lol I learnt from experience. My Samsung 2000 cctv video cam thought I'd buy cheaper off eBay from Korea ($)by time it arrived (3weeks) and paid import duty it was about £5 more than uk. Eyepieces and small things yes but not scopes unless u can personally go get and being back. (but to my knowlage u pay tax on anything u bring back?)

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[glowjet]

It is not so much the tax its the handling charge they impose, my last purchase from Jap land cost £12 in tax and £25 handling charge, the little tinkers, that is not what I really called them by the way, It was lovely when the £ exchange was at over two to the $ some years ago, it was worth importing from the States, you now need a courier and I am fortunate in just having that, my friends wife has just started Gov exchange service in the USA for a short spell, he is off over to see her in Oct and is bringing an item back for my mount, that will save me about half the cost in this country

John.