Not trying to sound funny Vincent, but it does strike me as odd that you are complaining about an extra £15 for customs duty, but are prepared to just let the money go to charity (where no doubt it will all be spent on managers wages rather than going towards actually helping anyone).

Actually in total it is £29.04, and it’s a point of principal. I do not want to cause Doug anymore embarrassment, nor do I want to spend my time haggling over money.

Like Doug, I also withdraw from this thread and consider the matter closed.

The matter has been resolved now.

Thank you Vortex.

I think the charges added on by the courier are illegal.

On the EU borders, two charges may be added on top the value of any import from outside UE:

- duty
- VAT

So, Oliver, I guess of the two components you mention, one is the import duty and the other is the UK VAT - not delivery.

I might be wrong, though...

Yes, you are wrong, one is VAT, the other is Parcelforce clearance fee.

my two cents, if only
 

I have just ordered the EX3 training DVD from Vortex. While I was aware of the charges up front there is no getting away from it that UK based customers are getting a bit of a raw deal. Now I am not blaming Vortex, well I suppose I am in a way, it just the situation as is. However what they could do, and I know this has been mentioned in this thread before, is to make it available, as other content providers do, through itunes or as a straight download. This gets around the whole problem of delivery charges. Just think of the carbon footprint of the said DVD. Come on Vortex and others who plan to market such items, the days of sending non-physical stuff by mail is no longer feasible. I don't mind paying taxes its what makes schools and hospitals work but what I do mind is manufactures not taking these global factors into consideration.

A not so famous famous scotsman named Patrick Geddes once said around 100 years ago "think global act local", a term that has been repeated by many, we need more people to follow this advice.

Now how far have I strayed fro the original point...I think I need to go lie down.

I'm seeing a few of the "training DVD" companies are getting away entirely from DVDs and going to download.

There are some issues with that though. Sometimes, the DVD can give you a critical quality improvement given the data rate and that might be important when looking at EX video (although it's heavily compressed either way).

Some people don't have the broadband speed for what would be a huge download but Europe, in general, has much faster speeds that USA (but there are many exceptions).

The economics can get quite tricky considering some of these companies (like Vortex for example) are very small and this increases the complexity of sales.

Some companies offer either DVD or download but for others it may well mean having to charge more which negates the benefit of no shipping cost.

I found the Vortex Sony EX3 on Amazon but surprise surprise " Warranty issues and manufacturer restrictions prevent us from shipping " to Finland.
They have it on sale for 99$ and shipping is usually really great.
I'm frequently buying DVD titles from them but that will not be the case with Vortex Sony EX3 as I'm ( Europeans) forced to buy it from Vortex direct where no download options are available ( surely they don't have a technology making that possible)
so the hardcore good old rip off postal fee and price over hundred and twenty bucks are available.

Vortex Sony EX3 is no doubt, great, but it's clear that the good old market customs are pulling the threats with that: MONOPOLIST position. You have a great product without competition, so sell it the way you want and charge as much you think people will give.

Throughout DV info net forums I think real knowledge is changing minds and it's free of charge. I'm glad about being part of this community.
This naturally doesn't mean that Vortex should give their stuff free.