For europeans, buying large format on ebay?

Hi all!

Over the last few weeks I've been dying to get my hands on starting large format and via ebay it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a good deal in Europe.

Has anyone purchased via Japan on ebay to Europe and how did the import charges hit you?

I bought a Wista 45D some years ago on Japan, extremely difficult to find them in Europe. Shipment was quick and camera in very good condition as advertised, Spanish customs fee was about 25% of the price including shipment.

halfaman said:

I bought a Wista 45D some years ago on Japan, extremely difficult to find them in Europe. Shipment was quick and camera in very good condition as advertised, Spanish customs fee was about 25% of the price including shipment.

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Cheers, oddly enough it's a Wista I've been eyeing up!!! Strong urge to go 4x5

Three of my five current 4x5 cameras were purchased in Europe (I lived in Austria at the time). A Woodman field camera from France via eBay, A Wista SW from the U.K. via eBay and a Wista DX from a dealer in Vienna.

There are cameras out there if you wait, but not like the U.S. market.

My experience with ordering from Asia has been good (shipping to both the U.S. and Europe), but customs usually takes a big bite out of shipments to Europe. I paid almost 100% duty on a couple of things (fortunately, they were cheap enough to begin with, but...).

Best,

Doremus

depends of course what you want & are looking for - I like mostly vintage teak & mahogany cams - lots of them in the UK:
https://picclick.co.uk/?q=mahogany+camera

buying from outside Europe may raise high import & VAT charges....

It took almost two years to collect everything I need. Some my purchases were from US (to EU via ebay). That means an extra 21% my country VAT on purchase shipping including. Sometimes its worth to go that way.

Jonnymm said:

Has anyone purchased via Japan on ebay to Europe and how did the import charges hit you?

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On occasion, but no complete cameras IIRC. Import charges vary by country, but tend to be significant. In my country it's (1) import duties + (2) VAT + (3) customs fee. (1) is sometimes omitted depending on the specific type of product. It usually adds up to something like 25-30% of the purchase, but it depends a bit.

My experience buying from Japan is 100% excellent. I bought 35mm, Mamiya RB67 and Hasselblad stuff in the past from Japan without issues. Just this month I bought a Nikkor 90/4.5 and a 180/5.6 as I'm getting started in 4x5 myself and they came just as described. Taxes are down to luck, the 180 was sent via DHL and I ended up paying £50 taxes on a £200 transaction whereas the 90 (£300) came via Fedex and I didn't pay anything.

Do expect to pay the taxes, out of maybe 10 packages in the last years I got from outside the EU I'd say 8 got hit with the appropriate taxes and 2 slipped through.

Bear in mind that all the carriers will have a £15-20 handling fee on top of the tax.

One more thing to add, do have a look at shops as well, while they may be a bit more expensive, in the end it adds up to about the same as imports with taxes and you will likely get a few months warranty too. Also if you do have to return to an ebay seller outside the EU good luck claiming the import duty back from the taxman.