if i live in the States, how do i buy from sellers who only sell in the EU?

[greg zinselmeier]

please give suggestions on how i can buy directly from FOMA.


I live in the united states, however FOMA will not sell to anyone outside the EU. that being said . I am looking at buying 300 sheets of 8x10 paper. I think i can save quite a bit a money directly ordering from them , or having a "exporter" buy and ship from the EU.

Has anyone had a good experienc reaching out to an exporting co. (in Prague which is fairly close to where foma is), and negotiating a transaction?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

What film?

 

[AgX]

Well, title and content of your post are contradicting...

Anyway:

There is the manufacturer's shop:
https://fomaobchod.cz/

A independent shop in Norway of similiar name:
https://www.fomafoto.com


Aside of these you can try other independent european shops which store Foma products.
(as Fotoimpex, Macodirect, to name two german ones, that offer English pages and sell to the USA)

Basically if ordering a large batch from a retailer (far beyond what is listed at the retailer's catalog) one of course can ask for a special offer.

I did not check in this case, but typically manfacturers retail price are in the ballpark of retailers' prices. The manafucturer hardly can sell to retailers and then offer dumping prices at his retail, moreover why should he renounce on his profit?

 

[bedrof]

Try searching for mail forwarding services. That is the way I often receive ebay items with shipping within US only

 

[MattKing]

FOMA has a distribution agreement with Freestyle, which probably prevents FOMA from selling directly to US customers.
Freestyle may very well be willing to negotiate on price for a large order.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

thanks every one for their imput. so here in the USA, Freestyle is offering retrobrom, 25 sheets for 38.99 USD + shipping and Handeling. yikes 50 USD for 25 sheets!!!!!!!!! Foma offers 22.91 euros for the same product. ( excahnge rate is 1.2, there abouts) so . . ...about 27.50 USD + shipping .....

fotoimpoex has shipping at 40 USD for 12 packs of 25 sheets for 30.50. so give or take a FEW USD. . . . .400 dollars for 300 sheets. I do not see Freestyle being able to match, , , , ,,lets wait and see what Maco can do, I have a quote out for this purchase. . . .. I have used MacoDirect before and have been plaesed.. . . .

 

[Sirius Glass]

Use our supporter and advertiser FreeStyle.

 

[Mike Crawford]

thanks every one for their imput. so here in the USA, Freestyle is offering retrobrom, 25 sheets for 38.99 USD + shipping and Handeling. yikes 50 USD for 25 sheets!!!!!!!!! Foma offers 22.91 euros for the same product. ( excahnge rate is 1.2, there abouts) so . . ...about 27.50 USD + shipping .....

fotoimpoex has shipping at 40 USD for 12 packs of 25 sheets for 30.50. so give or take a FEW USD. . . . .400 dollars for 300 sheets. I do not see Freestyle being able to match, , , , ,,lets wait and see what Maco can do, I have a quote out for this purchase. . . .. I have used MacoDirect before and have been plaesed.. . . .

Hi Greg

I don't know if it's worth checking with my supplier in London, Process Supplies. The UK distributor for Foma is based at the same place so their basement is regularly filled with blue boxes and packets! I'll leave it to you to check if the conversion works in your favour. I don't know if they drop the VAT for shipping to the US but worth asking. https://www.processuk.net/FOMA_RETROBROM_151_SP_8x10__25-SHTS/p740597_20228541.aspx

Postal rates in general are high to the US, but I know they send with different couriers and shippers so might have somewhere for a good deal. They are a great company, really helpful and I think I've been using them for around thirty years!

 

[mshchem]

thanks every one for their imput. so here in the USA, Freestyle is offering retrobrom, 25 sheets for 38.99 USD + shipping and Handeling. yikes 50 USD for 25 sheets!!!!!!!!! Foma offers 22.91 euros for the same product. ( excahnge rate is 1.2, there abouts) so . . ...about 27.50 USD + shipping .....

fotoimpoex has shipping at 40 USD for 12 packs of 25 sheets for 30.50. so give or take a FEW USD. . . . .400 dollars for 300 sheets. I do not see Freestyle being able to match, , , , ,,lets wait and see what Maco can do, I have a quote out for this purchase. . . .. I have used MacoDirect before and have been plaesed.. . . .

Buying directly from Fotoimpex may require you to volunteer your state sales taxes, varies by state. (And an individual's desire to pay taxes )

 

[mshchem]

Hi Greg

I don't know if it's worth checking with my supplier in London, Process Supplies. The UK distributor for Foma is based at the same place so their basement is regularly filled with blue boxes and packets! I'll leave it to you to check if the conversion works in your favour. I don't know if they drop the VAT for shipping to the US but worth asking. https://www.processuk.net/FOMA_RETROBROM_151_SP_8x10__25-SHTS/p740597_20228541.aspx

Postal rates in general are high to the US, but I know they send with different couriers and shippers so might have somewhere for a good deal. They are a great company, really helpful and I think I've been using them for around thirty years!

VAT applies to products consumed in the UK. I remember, vaguely, that while in Britain if I, an American, would have bought a say, box of paper I would pay VAT while in the UK, then apply for a refund after coming home. I don't think there's a tariff on photo papers with EU.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

The uk is no longer part of the eu. Foma does not list England as a country , (location) from which an individual person can buy from ( foma would ship to)

 

[Philippe-Georges]

There are FOMA products available as rebranded, perhaps in the US too (EDU, LOMO, ROLLEI, etc?)...
But, I know, by experience, that the people at the FomaBohemia manufacturer's webshop are very flexible.

 

[Mike Crawford]

The uk is no longer part of the eu. Foma does not list England as a country , (location) from which an individual person can buy from ( foma would ship to)

I don't know if that's the case though there is no need from anyone in the UK to buy direct from Foma. As mentioned in my reply, Foma ship loads of their product regularly to their UK distributor, (crates of it!) and is sold in several UK shops. I get mine from Process Supplies.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

The point here is Foma website has the best price, in comparison to all distributors.

In terms of VAT, (taxes) I factor that in and in some cases I do not have to pay the vat.

The point here is how to get the best pricing of foma paper shipped to me .

 

[AgX]

Greg, I do not get your point.
Leaving aside shipping and VAT, as you did not give enough information on this, the overall saving from buying from the manufacturer would be 36$. But you also would have to pay the mail forwarding service. How much do you expect to save actually in the end? And is it worth introducing another firm into that buy?

 

[greg zinselmeier]

I guess I’m irritated that I cannot buy directly from Foma ,even though foma sells to other individuals in the eu. I’ll get over it.

 

[cmacd123]

I guess I’m irritated that I cannot buy directly ...... I’ll get over it.

don't feel bad -many items cannot be ordered for shipping to Canada from the US. often under the "hazardous goods" requirement. have you compaired what you want to the "ARISTA.EDU Ultra " line? Gneraly considered to be made by FOMA.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Yes, ARISTA.EDU is made in the Czech Republic, and to my knowledge the sole manufacturer of photographic materials over there is FomaBohemia, look at the end of the technical info sheet of the film:

 

[lantau]

I guess I’m irritated that I cannot buy directly from Foma ,even though foma sells to other individuals in the eu. I’ll get over it.

I bought from them once, in 2016. AFAIK they only sell to a few countries, not the whole EU. Might have reasons in their webshops tax and shipping logistics.

The last time I checked they massively raised prices and there was no point in buying direct over buying from the likes of Fotoimpex. Maybe their resellers complained.

 

[AgX]

With selling within the EU the VAT of the country of the retailer is applied, independant of country of destination.

 

[foc]

With selling within the EU the VAT of the country of the retailer is applied, independant of country of destination.

This has changed since 1st July 2021.
When selling inter EU, the vat should be charged and paid at the rate where the goods are consumed. This is covered by the Vat OSS.

 

[AgX]

Well, I forgot about that new regulation though I already posted on it... Because it makes no sense to me. Moreover the VAT is not only established at the foreign regulations, but also paid to that foreign country. (Maybe though in cases of market dominant retailers the latter may make sense.)

BUT, this new regulation only applies at retailers with an annual EU export above a limit of 10,000€ . And likely quite some dealers within our niche orientated rather at local sales will not reach such an export.

 

[lantau]

AFAIK it was already the case in the past that a company had to apply the VAT of the destination state once the turnover of products going there, in a calendar year, exceeded a certain threshold.

 

[foc]

AFAIK it was already the case in the past that a company had to apply the VAT of the destination state once the turnover of products going there, in a calendar year, exceeded a certain threshold.

Yes that was the case before July 1st this year and each country had a different "distance selling" limit, so it was very confusing and complicated.
This new regulation is to try and spread out the taxes among the EU member states. For example, a big company in say France sells 30% of its product to Spain. Spain will now get the Vat content of those sales and the seller only has to make the one Vat return and payment to their own country tax authority instead of making one to each country they sold into.

Ofcourse this new regulation has caused problems for businesses outside the EU and selling into it. Businesses in Great Britain (post Brexit) has been affected by this, among other things, where they are selling into the EU as either DDP (delivered duty paid) or DDU (delivery duty unpaid). The same applies to EU businesses selling into Great Britain.

I remember Mirko of Adox/Fotoimpex had a thread on this. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/fotoimpex-adox-and-uk-since-brexit.182813/