R gould
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I have read else where that Foma prices will also be increased in the UK.
I is the price we must all pay for being silver based photographers, rather that than lose the makers of these fine materials,Richard
Buy from whatever the film division becomes. Just look at how much Peres has made in bonuses along with his cronies if the company was split up the coating division could become profitable.
Agfa pulled out but there's still products being made by the Gevaert factory and the former Agfa coating line used to make Adox/Fotoimpex products. So there's hope.
Ian
Shoot Ilford, shoot Adox, shoot Foma, shoot Rollei, et al keep the demand going and hopefully some companies will survive.
Buy Kodak, of you want to continue to shoot Kodak.
They will make it as long, as people buy it.
I'm scratching my head over the fact that Ilford products get sent to the U.S., presumably via refrigerated shipping, and yet despite the extra shipping expense we can buy at substantially lower prices from U.S. firms than UK customers get from UK firms, despite the fact that no overseas shipping is involved. I would have imagined that shipping was one of the major components of the final prices we pay, but maybe I am wrong. In any case, Ian has the right idealet the free market do its work and buy from the USA. If enough UK customers did that it would certainly encourage British distributors to charge less.
The UK is an regulation-heavy, space-premium country with lots of stealth taxes. I suspect most of the price difference, if it really is down to the distributors, is due to the US being inevitably a heck of a lot cheaper and maybe even more efficient. But we should perhaps also consider the recent big drop in the dollar.
A big drop in the dollar against the pound( Dollar devaluation) makes Ilford products produced in the UK more expensive for the U.S customers. Can you say what these regulation heavy, space premium aspects of the U.K. and stealth taxes in the U.K are and how they impinge on Ilford U.K. prices but somehow free Ilford to charge less in the U.S.?
I remain confused
pentaxuser
Matt5791;1176968Knowing the decency of the 6 people who own and run Harman/Ilford said:It didn't last time after the Bunker Hunt fiasco, so it's very unlikely to do so in the future.
What's being lost is we can support Harman by saving our money and buying at far cheaper prices from the US. That's the issue that Harman won't address and rectify.
Why should customers in the UK/EU and other areas subsides the US market, and why are Kodak & Fuji cheating us as well ?
Ian
The UK is an regulation-heavy, space-premium country with lots of stealth taxes. I suspect most of the price difference, if it really is down to the distributors, is due to the US being inevitably a heck of a lot cheaper and maybe even more efficient. But we should perhaps also consider the recent big drop in the dollar.
It is COMPLETELY worth it for me to buy from B&H with Purolator shipping rather than buying from Canadian retailers or mail order. It is sad but true. FP4+ 120 is $3.69/roll USD at B&H or $5.99/roll CND at Henrys. For 20 rolls, all totalled with $8.22 Purolator ground (2-3 days, same as Expresspost) shipping and taxes and duties of $16.38 it is $98.40 USD (about $95.50 CND) while at Henrys it is $119.80 plus $9.95 shipping for a total of $129.75. So I save $35. Worth it? Why not? The shipping is the same so why not save $35. Or put another way, I can get 28 rolls of FP4+ 120 from B&H for the price of 20 rolls from Henrys. Delta 3200 is an even bigger difference, $4.05 USD at B&H or $6.99 at Henrys.
Paper even moreso, for 11x14" multigrade warmtone fiber glossy it is $105 USD at B&H or $162 CND at Henrys. Adding the 20 rolls of FP4+ to the 11x14" 50 sheets of paper, the total orders even with shipping for the oversized 11x14" box and taxes are $223 at B&H or $292 at Henrys or almost $70 saved. Not as shocking as those in the UK and Europe but still a lot considering the Canadian dollar is higher than the greenback.
The real issue though, is when ordering from the US, those in the UK need to consider that there will be customs and brokerage fees, and you still need to pay the VAT, not up on British tax law, but in some places you need to pay VAT on the customs and brokerage fees as well.
I wonder if B&H is using a logistics carrier, because the amount of duties and brokerage is extremely low. And I was able to order an item, that normally could not be shipped across a border, so they could be using a distributor as well.
Having said that, Henry's isn't exactly known for being cheap.
I think Purolator built a logisters centre and warehouse just for B&H in Mississauga. It gives them cheaper shipping than Canada Post Xpresspost, as fast and the duty and taxes are very low as you say.
Know anything cheaper than Henry's? A local camera shop in Waterloo does have HP5+ at a decent price so I buy it there when I need film on short notice but otherwise I only know of higher prices than Henry's (e.g. Bigcameraworkshops is $6.10/roll for FP4+, not $5.99).
Thought I would put a few thoughts and facts down.
"Dealer Agreements"
Harman have a very transparant arrangement with UK dealers: everyone has the same price. I don't believe there are any arrangements in place - the market isn't really big enough for that. Someone compared to Inkjet paper and how Harman express undercuts dealers - the market for inkjet is completely different and is populated by many many competitors, and is much more complex. The purpose of Harman Express was to counter the demise of outlets selling traditional Ilford products - a place where the range is always available in a market where dealers like Jessops wont hold stock.
UK Dealer "Collusion"
Jessops, for example, make a very large margin on Ilford film when they sell a roll for £6. We at Ag photographic do not when we sell for £3.18! And we certainly don't collude with other dealers - infact we've never even spoken to another dealer, other than a couple of causual emails with Martin at Silverprint. Oh, and I speak to Nova but that's only because we sell the Permajet inkjet paper.
Support Harman
There may be price differences between the UK and US and it may be fairly substantial for a small number of products - if anyone should be annoyed it should be people like me!! but we still sell plenty of Ilford sheet film as, even at that price it represents good value. And that is the key word VALUE. Ilford products may be more costly than some others, but the value they represent and, critically, the value the Ilford brand offers in general, is simply not matched by any other manufacturer in this arena.
With the price of Silver now around $48/ounce (note: it was $4 an ounce when Ilford had the management buyout in 2004) I am sure we will face more price increases - Ilford is more exposed than the likes of Kodak as Kodak can amortise the cost of silver across a broader and more diverse range of products, they don't make B&W paper which is the product that really uses an awful lot of silver, and, Silver is priced in $ USD so Harman has a stronger $ to factor in too and the fluctuation of the exchange rate - but Ilford products will still represent excellent value, and we will offer them as competitvely as possible.
Knowing the decency of the 6 people who own and run Harman/Ilford, I am sure, if the price of silver falls, so too will the prices.
Matt
Whilst I would nt dare to impune the decency of Ilford's owners the price of silver has now dropped to under $20 per troy ounce but I have yet to see a price drop.
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