Buying gear from other countries

I've been avoiding buying from overseas sellers because the import costs would (I assumed) be prohibitive. But I badly needed a new bellows for a Tachihara 4x5 so I went surfing the 'bay, ready to bite the bullet and pay whatever it cost. I found what I was looking for from a Hong Kong seller I've dealt with before. To my surprise, the cost was actually less than I've paid in the not-too-distant past and I didn't need to pay any surcharges at the point of delivery. Emboldened by that experience, I went looking for a backup Rollei 35 for an upcoming trip and found a really nice condition example from a Japanese seller that, again, was less expensive than most of the equivalent ones available from US sellers. The duty was prepaid and shipment was via speedpak. The package arrived from Japan to New Jersey in two days; I've had quick shipments from Japan for many years--on the order of 3 or 4 days--but never as quick as this. I'm wondering what others here have experienced regarding international purchases, and whether there are work-arounds (as buyers or sellers) people have found to ease the pain.

My experience with shipping from Japan is that it's usually faster than getting a shipment from the United States, to my surprise.

In the beginning of the tariffs, duties weren't usually prepaid, but now on most listings, they are.

I did have a problem with one shipment which stated the duties were prepaid, but FedEx charged me anyway. I contacted the seller and he told me to ignore FedEx, but they kept sending me a monthly bill that they threaten soon will go to collections, even though I opened up a duties dispute with them many months ago. They never responded to it, their system must be completely overloaded. I still don't have a conclusion on that.

That was 1 tariff problem out of 6 experiences.

The other negative experience was an Olympus Pen F camera that arrived DOA (shutter locked up), when I brought it up with the seller he accused me of causing the problem and was angry at me. We negotiated a return and partial refund, I kept some lenses (the tariff was not refunded).

I don't hesitate to buy from reputable sellers overseas, but if there's an equivalent item in the country, I do prefer it.

thanks for starting this thread @Tel - including the earlier discussions with the moderation team.
From a user's perspective, I would suggest that any contributions mention three points:
1) where (the country) the buyer purchased from;
2) which country the item was imported into; and
3) if known, what the original country of manufacture is.
It may also be useful to know what shipping options were used.
From the Moderation team's perspective, we would make it clear that this is not a place to talk about the wisdom or politics of tariffs or government decisions respecting imports or exports or, in particular, tariff costs.
Even if the rest of your post is otherwise very on point or useful, sprinkling in any of those policy concerns may end up in the entire post being deleted.
The same applies to concerns about country embargos.

loccdor said:

My experience with shipping from Japan is that it's usually faster than getting a shipment from the United States, to my surprise.

In the beginning of the tariffs, duties weren't usually prepaid, but now on most listings, they are.

I did have a problem with one shipment which stated the duties were prepaid, but FedEx charged me anyway. I contacted the seller and he told me to ignore FedEx, but they kept sending me a monthly bill that they threaten soon will go to collections, even though I opened up a duties dispute with them many months ago. They never responded to it, their system must be completely overloaded. I still don't have a conclusion on that.

That was 1 tariff problem out of 6 experiences.

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I had a similar experience about ten years ago with UPS. I was sending a camera to Montreal, a donation to a cinema production program there, that was prepaid by the recipients. UPS hounded me relentlessly claiming I owed them the delivery fees, but they finally gave up. I guess I won!

Edit: I've long been astonished by the speed of the Japanese postal system.

Recently I bought an Agfa Clack from an Etsy seller in the Netherlands. I thought the price of the camera was reasonable ($25USD). But I thought the cost to ship it to the US was on the high side ($32USD). Shipping took 21 days, total.

The seller's listing clearly states, "Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply" -- so I was expecting to be asked to pay a tarrif, but none was requested.

Several cameras I want to try seem to be a lot more plentiful in Europe than they are in the USA. Like @Tel, I have been trying to avoid overseas purchases because of the uncertainty about what the total cost will be. My one-and-only experience has encouraged me to consider another overseas purchase, but maybe I just got lucky ... who knows?

I've bought a couple lenses since the changes last year or so. I use Ebay, mostly buying from Japan. Everything I have purchased included any import charges. MAP camera, bakes everything into the sale price which includes FedEx shipping. Ebay still charges any state and local taxes as with any purchase.

I purchased a beautiful little piece (a viewfinder mask) from a seller in China. No problem at all, shipping charge was a bit high but that covered everything, was delivered via Orange Connex and USPS with tracking.

As an Australian, buying from Japan, China and Asia is a doddle. Only real concern is getting accurate info on how much fungus etc. is in lenses and other gear.

Trying to buy anything from the USA right now seems pointless, it's simply down to the cost of shipping.

benderscameracorner said:

Trying to buy anything from the USA right now seems pointless, it's simply down to the cost of shipping.

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Shipping out of the USA has always been expensive.

I was recently looking for an air conditioning hose fitting. It's about the size of two 35mm film canisters and similar weight. They wanted $158 shipping from the US to Canada. No thanks.

loccdor said:

I opened up a duties dispute with them many months ago. They never responded to it, their system must be completely overloaded.

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My experience is that FedEx (and UPS for that matter) really doesn't pay much attention to claims unless you're a big client.

Craig said:

Shipping out of the USA has always been expensive.

I was recently looking for an air conditioning hose fitting. It's about the size of two 35mm film canisters and similar weight. They wanted $158 shipping from the US to Canada. No thanks.

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Lol that's insane. At least to Australia it needs to be thrown onto a plane... and not just thrown over the fence to Canada ;-)

For bigger/more expensive purchases and items you just can't get locally it can often work out, but for small items forget it. I tried to buy an old flash from a member here for all of US$20, a good deal, but shipping for that itty bitty box was damn near US$40. Buying at inflated eBay prices locally ended up being much cheaper.

loccdor said:

My experience with shipping from Japan is that it's usually faster than getting a shipment from the United States, to my surprise.

In the beginning of the tariffs, duties weren't usually prepaid, but now on most listings, they are.

I did have a problem with one shipment which stated the duties were prepaid, but FedEx charged me anyway. I contacted the seller and he told me to ignore FedEx, but they kept sending me a monthly bill that they threaten soon will go to collections, even though I opened up a duties dispute with them many months ago. They never responded to it, their system must be completely overloaded. I still don't have a conclusion on that.

That was 1 tariff problem out of 6 experiences.

The other negative experience was an Olympus Pen F camera that arrived DOA (shutter locked up), when I brought it up with the seller he accused me of causing the problem and was angry at me. We negotiated a return and partial refund, I kept some lenses (the tariff was not refunded).

I don't hesitate to buy from reputable sellers overseas, but if there's an equivalent item in the country, I do prefer it.

Click to expand...

What percentage positive did the Olympus seller have?

benderscameracorner said:

As an Australian, buying from Japan, China and Asia is a doddle. Only real concern is getting accurate info on how much fungus etc. is in lenses and other gear.

Trying to buy anything from the USA right now seems pointless, it's simply down to the cost of shipping.

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Amazon has an Australian affiliate? https://www.amazon.com.au/

Also, B&H Photo in NYC ships internationally and includes all the fees and duties I believe in the final price making it easier.

Alan Edward Klein said:

Amazon has an Australian affiliate? https://www.amazon.com.au/

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It's not an affiliate, it's just amazon with an aussie frontend website.

If I buy something from the US through the aussie amazon website it normally has free shipping (If you're a Prime member)
I buy quite a lot of photo consumable stuff from the US that way.

Shipping on Amazon.com.au is entirely dependent from where the shopfront is sending their stock from. Locally or from Asia - fine. From the US - a crapshoot. Assuming they'll even send it (often they won't) shipping can be prohibitive. I avoid Amazon wherever possible though because, you know, ethics.

It is getting to the point though where I'm seriously looking at getting film from the US or elsewhere... not because it's cheaper but simply because the options (particularly for slide film and Vision 3) just don't exist.

With any luck the US dollar will crash soon and the economics will be in our favour ;-) When the AUD-USD were at parity several years ago it was a great time to buy O/S (though our farmers suffered horribly).

Alan Edward Klein said:

What percentage positive did the Olympus seller have?

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100% and many years of sales. According to him he was an experienced repairer. I honestly think the camera might have locked up during shipping, but he said that was impossible. It was a shame that I got blamed for it though. I left him positive feedback anyway, though part of me didn't think he deserved it.

Pieter12 said:

My experience is that FedEx (and UPS for that matter) really doesn't pay much attention to claims unless you're a big client.

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I have had better experiences from Japan with DHL.

Here's my latest purchase. I ordered (same order)1 US gallon of 40% ammonium thiosulfate, 2 1 pound bottles of sodium thiosulfate and an used Nikon camera case from B&H. 3 separate shipments, FedEx total bill for everything was $52 USD.

I'm quite surprised that some of the liquid chemistry has free shipping (total order must be at least 49 USD). I'm sure it all evens out. Shows how much less complicated a domestic transaction is.

mshchem said:

Here's my latest purchase. I ordered (same order)1 US gallon of 40% ammonium thiosulfate, 2 1 pound bottles of sodium thiosulfate and an used Nikon camera case from B&H. 3 separate shipments, FedEx total bill for everything was $52 USD.

I'm quite surprised that some of the liquid chemistry has free shipping (total order must be at least 49 USD). I'm sure it all evens out. Shows how much less complicated a domestic transaction is.

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I'm curious if you in Iowa think of New York - where B&H is based - as "another country".