How does the UK get away with their prices?

[Chris DeVoe]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

Then add in the $50 each way from JFK to B&H...

Who takes a cab from JFK? It's $7.50 each way via the MTA from JFK to Penn Station. A one block walk - literally, a genuine single block from 34th and 8th avenue to 34th and 9th avenue. It's on the same block as Penn Station!

Bring a bag or backpack to put your purchases in so you aren't walking down the street carrying something expensive and easily stolen.

Maybe 27 years of living in Chicago has spoiled me, with excellent train service to and from both O'Hare and Midway, but every time I've visited NYC, I get around exclusively via trains and subways.

[Dave Partington]

Well, if you arrive at JFK and are unaware that the metro goes there then you'd take a cab or get one of the shared mini buses. Also, when ever I've been there I've had suitcases too.

However, now you've mentioned it I'll look in to it next time. I often stay near Penn Station so good advice - thanks!

Regardless, it's still cheaper to buy it in the UK even at what you may consider raised prices. Something I forgot to mention on my first post is that when you buy in NY you still have to add the sales tax if you want to walk out the door. NY is 8.9%? 9%? Something like that. So, that just offset the cab fare on a $1500 purchase, and then some.

Buying out of state or abroad may be tax avoidance, but when you bring it back in to the country and don't declare it, that's tax evasion. Same for people in the US who buy out of state (avoidance) don't declare it on their tax returns (evasion).

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion is prison time if they catch you for enough of it!

[Paul R Johnson]

Nigel - I didn't know sales taxes went towards free health care? I rather thought that the 10% ish national insurance tax was used for that. The recorder tax has been with us since Betamax and VHS days, and has always wrangled. The US prices are still cheap, though. Let's look at eBay buy it nows. Even with freight costs, some equipment is still cheaper from the US even with huge postage charges, and grey importing has been a hot topic for a long time, and a Panasonic should not be cheaper from Cyprus or other smaller country. I have no doubt that selling in the UK provides higher margins, and that is wrong. Even inter-Europe sales can be cheaper. I can buy products from Germany cheaper than buying in the UK, why?

[Peter Rush]

Hah - it's called rip-off Britain! I'm a keen (once semi-pro) guitarist and I bought my Marshall combo amp cheaper from the US (even with import duties) than I could in the UK. My amp from the States with import duty cost just under £700 but had I gone and knocked on the door where they made them in Bletchley it would have cost me over £800!!!!.

I'm sure it's some sort of tax break to encourage UK exports but still seems wrong to me

Pete

[Chris DeVoe]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

Well, if you arrive at JFK and are unaware that the metro goes there then you'd take a cab or get one of the shared mini buses. Also, when ever I've been there I've had suitcases too.

Well, to be fair, I do an 8-camera shoot with equipment that I fit into a (big) backpack, so I have some strange ideas about what can be carried. See this post

However, now you've mentioned it I'll look in to it next time. I often stay near Penn Station so good advice - thanks!

Looking through it step by step on Google Maps, there is a transfer at Jamaica station. I don't tend to travel with more than a (much smaller) backpack and don't think about luggage.