The only issue I ever had was on a tripod i ordered from robertwhite (uk). It was really messy; they sent it UPS who charged somethign like $10 or $15. The headache was that they (ups) never told me about the bill; after a couple of months a collecting agency contacted me and I had to contact UPS to learn about their special fee for handling imports (I had ordered a few other items from RW and there had been no duties or mentioned of duties - in fact a couple of packages had been examine by us customs and a form filled out showing no duties - so the issue with the the tripod caught me off guard). Given the low amount i paid it when they finally agree to send me a bill (they were upset that I wanted them to actually send me a bill rather than pay the collecting agency).
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Anyways I haven't used UPS in years and to be honest I've always been very happy with USPS (though their rates to canada have gotten a bit out of hand in recent years). No clue how they still handle imports; the last few purchases (small items like fifo amplifier) have been sent via ems or postal.
Yup. Everytime I've received China/Hong Kong packages - FedEx likes to send a rather nice bill to the house. USPS, never received one (probably 10-15 packages over the years). 100% of the time with FedEx for sure.
I don't know if you have noticed that UPS and Fedex are becoming the preferred shippers to many online vendors. UPS has actually conquered both USA and Europe. The trick is that they give these vendors unbelievably low rates, much lower than what the vendors actually charge us. One of my sources in Germany will invariably ship to me with UPS even when I select the very cheap regular post option. I have even written to them to request that they do not ship with UPS, but they will still do. How do you think UPS compensates for the low shipping rates? Any clue?
edwardkaraa wrote:
I don't know if you have noticed that UPS and Fedex are becoming the preferred shippers to many online vendors.
Correct. And there prices have gone up significantly for all kind of shipping. Especially since more and more avoid shipping with USPS for obvious reasons. The latest USPS regulation with slower shipping to cut cost makes a struggling organization even worse.
Wanderlust69 wrote:
Very Interesting Thread.
I'm trying to make a decision on purchasing a Body Out of the Country OR just wait until i find one in the US.
Are you aware that the last post before your's was in 2013?. Because of that, in writing this, I haven't looked at this thread. Essentially, before Trump's introduction of an import tax on some German products, including lenses, the position was that there was no import tax in the US on still cameras and lenses — and that was fairy easy to find on the web. The current situation is a little more difficult to determine: I did a quick web search just now and couldn't find the position on German cameras ad lenses.
Before 2016, I bought online from the UK, at a time when the GBP/USD exchanges was favorable to buy from the UK, a Leica M8.2 and several lenses. There was no import duty, However, on one of the lens purchases the seller used UPS, which had a $75 handling fee on imported products.
As I wrote yestarday on the Ricoh GR IIIx tread, I just bought this new camera from Amazon.co.jp: The GR IIIx that I ordered from Amazon.co.jp last Friday (post p4#1, above) arrived today (Wednesday). The cost is only $12 more than buying from B&H, which is now taking pre-orders. Amazon Japan is easy to order from: you can log in with your Amazon.com username and password and the website comes up in English. The credit card charge is in USD, so you won't be surprised by an unexpected exchange rate; and there is no import tax, sales tax or special handling fee by DHL
UPS and FedEx are a big rip-off when it comes to "brokerage fees".
My experience with DHL has been a lot better and obviously EMS is best. Recently bought a M10-P for around $5k and it was shipped from Bahrain via DHL, no brokerage fees or any other fees to me. Am pretty sure UPS or FedEx would have ripped me off on this one too.
I have discovered (2021) that these days regardless of shipper (DHL, FedEx…) now charge a fee for used cameras. Still trying to calculate the percentage. Several years ago there simply was no charge for tariffs.
Edgy01 wrote:
I have discovered (2021) that these days regardless of shipper (DHL, FedEx…) now charge a fee for used cameras. Still trying to calculate the percentage. Several years ago there simply was no charge for tariffs.
I take it that you're referring to importing used cameras into the US. This year, I've received a new camera shipment from Japan by DHL and there was no import duty or special handling fee. There is no import duty on used cameras in the US, as there is no import duty on new still cameras. The only thing that I found hard to find is whether the special duty that Trump introduced on some German products, including lenses (and still cameras?), is still in effect but, if one spends enough time Googling, one should be able to find that.
Some years ago, my experience was that UPS had a special handling fee of $75 on imported equipment, even if there was no import duty. I don't know if UPS is still doing that. Generally, photo forums are full of inaccurate information on importing. Best to correspond directly with a shipping company, such as DHL or USPS.
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