C100 buying in US for UK
 

Hi everyone,

I've been looking to buy a Canon C100 for a while now. I was about to buy recently when I was told I have to travel to the NYC for a couple of jobs next month. I've checked prices and there is an almost £900 difference if you buy in the UK!!!!!!
I know that you lose your warranty, etc.....but I'm just after reassurance/advice that this is a bad or good idea?
anyone here has done it?
I guess you can change the video system from NTSC to PAL as you do on DSLRs?
Is there anything I haven't thought about?

thanks in advance!

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

Off the top of my head:

Pros:

- £ is strong against the $ right now
- C100 spec is the same in USA and UK
- You might be able to get the version with DPAF included - not yet available in the UK, AFAIK.

Cons:

- You'll have to smuggle the box back in your suitcase, otherwise they'll hit you for import duty and VAT, after which the UK price will look very attractive.
- You won't appreciate the value of the UK warranty unless you have to use it
- US headline prices are ex-tax (add 4.5% for NYC, I think)
- Canon checked that ours was a UK model before doing the DPAF upgrade - I'm not sure they'd do it otherwise.
- You won't get CP quick-turnaround support. Where will you rent another body, while you send yours off for repair?

Might be worth calling UK Canon service centres and seeing what your options are with a USA-registered product. You can then weigh up risks vs benefits.

Ben.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

Last time I was in B&H NYC was around the 9% mark, so that makes it even worse.

Honestly, when ever I've done the calculations lately the US price has not been sufficiently different to make me want to chance customs and/or lose the warranty.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

I can almost guarantee that at some point during its lifespan you will need to use the warranty. Or if you import wish you had a warranty.

And when you do need a repair it will no doubt still cost less than if you bought it in the uk but you won't get the super fast turn around

Each of our dslrs had to go in for repair at some point. I would drop it off on Monday and get it back by Thursday, just in time for our next shoot.

We have one camera which was a grey import (which we didn't know at the time). Took it to canon for a dead pixel and they said it was counterfeit due to some serial number fudging. Had to send it off to someone else and it took 3 weeks to get back.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

The warranty only lasts a year, a service centre being paid to do work to a camera will not turn it away because the camera did not originate from the UK. I've bought various items over the years from the US and I still got CPS support. Is that not the point of CPS to support Canon professionals regardless of where they are in the world?

John.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

There currently offering 2 years for European models.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

thanks for your comments guys.

The US price sounds very attractive but i hadn't considered taxes and I was planning to buy the camera at B&H so I guess that puts a damper on my idea.
I guess i will have to bite the bullet and buy it here.
I think that it'll be different for lenses, I might get a couple over there

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

Looks like a uk model is now only £3800.

Re: C100 buying in US for UK
 

Within the US a way to USUALLY avoid local and state sales taxes one buys the item from another state. I say "usually" because some companies will collect sales tax when there is an agreement between them and the state. Normally this is with companies that have offices in the state that wants to collect the tax.

So, if one is going to, say New York for example, they could buy the item from another state and have it shipped to their NY address and duck the tax. There can be complications for a traveler, though, if the shipping isn't timely, or if there is damage to the item in transit, or if it is DOA (Dead on Arrival). The details should be discussed with the seller. They could use extra cushioning when packaging the item, box within a box for example.

Nevertheless, it's a lot of effort to save some cash so it comes down to risk and reward.

One may use this as a bargaining chip with a local seller and see how it goes. On the other hand, the local seller could get upset but it is your money and the seller wants as much of it as they can get.