I'm just a guy trying to get a fair price on a camera.
Does anyone know of a company in the United States that ships the Sony Ex1r to Australia?
B&H does not!! I would like to purchase the EX1R from the United States because buying locally (Melbourne, Australia) is a rip off!! They will probably retail at about $11000+!!
or is their anyone trustworthy that I could send the money & send it to me via post from B&HPhoto??

thanx!!

I am pretty sure that Sony stops its authorised dealers shipping their goods outside their territory. The only option is to collect or get the camera delivered to a US address, check first how you would access warrantee service once the camera is back with you.

Christian,

There are other options you might consider.

I can suggest a couple of places in Australia and New Zealand that are between A$8700 and $9200 - not quite as cheap as B&H, but a lot less than the big shops in Oz. You can get it for about A$7700 from NZ, but you will pay about $200 postage and $770 import GST.
A shop in Sydney sells for around $9200 when I last asked, might be little more now.

If you need details e-mail me and I will give you the contacts. Can't put the names in here as they are not sponsors of DV info - at least thats how I think it works!

Sent you a PM on where in NZ you can get it.....

Save the import duties and give yourself a cheap flight there and back, and get some nice footage with the new camera while you are over there !!

I have to agree, we are ripped off so badly here in Oz its a joke.

I brought the ACM-21 2/3 adaptor for my EX3 from NZ for $900 less than I could by it here of fujinon, and hundreds less than a few other places that I wont mention :(
And they wonder why we go to the trouble to import.

whoops....sorry graeme......should have read your complete post first.....

John,

You still get stung for the GST even if you go over there! You can take the risk and not declare it, but you risk a fine and double import duties - so not recommended. Probably still works out cheaper than here in OZ.

Don't forget Sony AU offer a 2 year full warranty as well.

They'd want to offer on call dancing girls for the price difference !! hahahaha.....

anyway, I am kind of hoping the warranty is of no value at all....... fingers crossed anyway :)

Thanks for the replies!! but what about this (click on the virtual tour)

USAMail1 - International Mail Forwarding and Consolidation - Low International Shipping Rates - Online Mail Access (http://www.usamail1.com/how.php?osCsid=b3m2j8lvpr99vh6vng229e3f43)

According to what I read you can buy online (B&Hphoto) send it to a NY address then get it sent to anywhere in the world!! Do you think they are trustworthy? Is it worth it?

thanks

Christian,

I know of three Sony dealers in Melbourne and I mentioned your post to my preferred one today. He seemed to think your $11,000+ quote was well above what he expects to sell them for. An advantage in buying locally is that your dealer should be behind you if any problem arises. I have been well pleased with the service I have had from my Melbourne dealer over the last thirty plus years.

Alastair,

Ok so I found a couple of places that are doing them for about $9500 (RRP $10500) If you purchase the camera at B&H it costs $6299 converted to Aussie it is about $6880.
Why are they charging over $2700 more than the US? Does it cost $2000+ per camera to be shipped to Australia? I also honestly don't think that good service is worth the extra thousands of dollars you have to pay. I would rather put that money towards a new laptop. If a problem arises I come to Dvinfo Forum if I still cant work it out or it is mechanical problem I will happily send to Sony. I still think we are getting ripped off here in Australia.

Christian,

My Melbourne Sony dealer thought that the sale price would be around $8675.

If I was you I would also be asking about the availability of firmware updates and warranty work on a camera purchased overseas. I recently had a firmware update that was free under the Australian warranty and was done in two days. I also had a battery replaced under warranty. Without the warranty all this would have come to over $600. It would have been a nuisance to send the camera overseas.

Beside all of the aforementioned, if you bought it here and sent it there, it would want to be driving on the wrong side of the road all the time, and all the data would flow backwards.

Christian,

Dont forget to add import cost to your B&H costing - there will be at least $1000 of these. I went through this same process, and when the difference narrowed to less than $1000 decided to buy here. Three frimware updates and 2 warranty claims easily covered that.

All you're doing is looking at the raw price & whinging - do some research and find out the real cost of getting the camera into the country!


Sony Ex1r from B&H = $6,300
cartage = $163
total US$ = $6,462

in aussie $ you pay $7,100

**Customs duty - copied from the customs website
How is the value of goods calculated?
The Customs value of goods imported into Australia is based on information (in particular, the value of the goods) as advised by the importer.
When the goods are valued at more than A$1000 threshold, or include alcohol or tobacco products of any value, a Customs value will be determined that is used as the basis for calculating the value of any duty and/or GST.
The Customs value is combined with other items (customs duty, international transport and insurance costs and, where applicable, Wine Equalisation Tax) to produce the value of the taxable importation (VoTI). The Customs value is equivalent to the Australian currency purchase price of the goods. An example of how the duty and GST on goods valued at A$1000 is calculated:
Customs value
1,000.00
Customs duty @ 5% x $1,000
50.00
(Payable)
International transport and insurance
150.00
VoTI
1,200.00
GST @ 10% x $1,200
120.00
(Payable)
Total payable (Customs duty + GST)
170.00
How do I pay duty/GST?
After your import declaration has been assessed Customs and Border Protection will contact you and advise the amount of duty/GST and other charges payable. You will be provided with information about how these costs can be paid. In most instances you can make payments through the mail or by fax.


According to my quick calc you will end up paying $8,190 including duty. If the Melb dealer is saying around 8700 - I'd say that's not bad.

I'm not saying we're getting a fair deal, most times there is an excessive markup - I buy most of my stuff from the B&H, not just becasue of the price - mostly it's convenience & customer service (people like B&H, Kessler, SmallHD are great at that).

If you're running a business then GST is irrelevant in Australia.
If you import something and don't pay the GST then you cannot claim it back. If you do pay the GST then you get it back, simple. Australian customs haven't charged me GST or import duty in years because it seems my ABN is registered with them, I think Fedex took care of that for me.

Paul,

quote "All you're doing is looking at the raw price & whinging - do some research and find out the real cost of getting the camera into the country!"

whinging....hmmmm so you think I should shut up & buy the camera at whatever price they decide to give to me? Sorry but I'm not a zombie! I think the main reason we get ripped off is for people like you that just accept it as it is & pay whatever price they throw at you!!
Maybe if a few more people complained about the high prices & More people bought from the US only (which many were doing until the rules changed) they might just bring the prices to a more reasonable price like our American friends. Also I buy a lot of stuff from overseas so you didn't have to go to the Australian customs website to copy & paste half of their info to try teach how the tax system works. Lol

"I'm not saying we're getting a fair deal, most times there is an excessive markup - I buy most of my stuff from B&H......"

Stop whinging!! :)


I was in New York no more than 4 months ago I bought my Sony Ex1 from B&H for $6099 + 8% NY tax. I ended up paying about $7500 Aussie. I put in a camera bag brought into Australia & did not pay Gst. At that time Ex1 were averaging in sales from $10500 to $11500.
I saved just under $3000 buying in the US. I got a taste to what it feels to get a brand new camera at a price that we should be getting It for & now I want more.


Charles Newcombe,

"it would want to be driving on the wrong side of the road all the time, and all the data would flow backwards"

lol! The EXR1 has a new feature that flips the image so this should solve that issue. :)

Quote: -
"I put in a camera bag brought into Australia & did not pay Gst".

The more business a dealer gets the more he can think about lowering his prices. Having to compete with other dealers is further inducement to cut prices. The more people like yourself who trip off overseas to cash in on larger markets the less likely is that the Melbourne dealers can make their goods cheaper.

Personally I am glad that we have dealers where we can inspects their wares and ask a lot of questions before purchase. On-line purchasing may be cheaper but I still prefer a face-to-face deal where I can get some idea of how I will be treated in the event of problems.

Finally we all have to pay our taxes (even GST) and the penalties for evasion are severe.

This thread instantly brings to mind Apple's Australia/USA pricing differences.

Who doesn't want to save money wherever they can?

I know it's not always as simplistic as that either. If the camera or other important piece of kit goes down, how long till it's fixed or temporarily replaced. Mind you, at the professional level we are at, most of us would have a backup camera for this reason.

It is up to each of us to decide where to purchase from but sound advice from others is and should be welcome in helping one to make an important financial decision. Bickering is not helpful.

Yes by buying locally you will, in part, support local economy but because the lion's share of the funds goes overseas (Sony, Fujinon, Canon) it may not be a factor in determining who to buy from.

However, as one or 2 pointed out, local warranty and firmware upgrades may be the difference between buying here or there.

Christian, I understand the point of your post but it is always better to post with facts rather than guessing local pricing. As we know, RRP has nothing to do with 'street prices'.

Personally for me, I feel more comfortable buying such a camera from my local supplier.
You can nut out a deal.

Best wishes

There's much better news for the Aussie dealers with the release of the PMW-EX1R.

Sony Australia has dropped their retail price from about $12,500 with the EX1 to about $10,500 for the EX1R.

Videoguys Australia have the EX1R listed at $9,000 (or $8,999 if you want to get really nitpicky) and you could possibly negotiate a few hundred dollars off that to bring it to around $8,500 maybe.

VideoGuys Australia | Sony PMW-EX1R 1/2-inch Full-HD Camcorder with SxS PRO Solid State Recording (http://www.videoguys.com.au/Shop/p/15317/sony-pmw-ex1r-1-2-inch-full-hd-xdcam-ex-camcorder.html)

Videoguys previously had the EX1 listed for $10,000. Yet GlobalmediaPro in NZ and Expandore in Singapore were selling the EX1 for about $6,300 and you would pay 10% GST of $630 when it entered the country - about $7,000. That disparity of about $3,000 (on paper) would have seen many buying from these overseas dealers.

But the overseas dealers are now charging an extra $250 for the EX1R (as opposed to $1,000 LESS by the Aussie dealers) and if you add to that the freight costs plus an international warranty (about $500 for those two) the overseas price is about A$7,800.

Compare that to a negotiated price of around $8,500 from an Aussie dealer, PLUS the security of a local warranty from Sony Australia, and I think the vast majority will buy from the local dealers.

I'm hoping that Apple Australia will follow suit when they release the next round of Mac Pros.