By the way, the price difference between the Netherlands and the US is absolutely shocking.
Look at these two pages,
both from the same Calumet company, one in the US and one in the Netherlands though.
US: 10 sheets of Ilford Multigrade IV FB Glossy 50x60 cm (20x24") paper:
$53,99
http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/browse/categories/film/traditional-photo-paper/traditional-bw-fiber
The Netherlands: 10 sheets of Ilford Multigrade IV FB Glossy 50x60 cm (20x24") paper:
106,73 Euros!!!
http://www.calumetphoto.nl/Film:+Camera's+Doka/ZwartWit+Papier/
And the paper doesn't even have to be shipped across an ocean to get in the Netherlands!!!
Marco
To be fair, we need to take into account that there are different taxes involved and the US Calumet price probably doesn't include any sales tax, but the Dutch Calumet price has 19% VAT applied. So, the Dutch price (minus VAT) becomes 89,69€. Given the current exchange rates, the prices are:
US: 41,83€
NL: 89,69€
So, somehow, the same product costs more than twice (!!!) in the Netherlands, which is very close to the UK, compared to the US.
Marco... how can this be...... thats an obscene price difference !! How do you manage to purchase at Netherlands prices ? Or do you order from abroad ?
I checked some UK suppliers for prices against USA Calumet and while the USA seems a tad cheaper than us, your Calumet distributor is nearly double !
Bill
So, it has to be the Dutch distributor's markup, because the same product is priced 83,25€ in Germany, which is 69,96€ if you exclude VAT. Still expensive compared to the US price, but a bit more reasonable.
Via Belgium and de Beukelaer is distributor and partial owner for BeNeLux AND Germany and they have some part for France too. So they can just ask what they want for this big sales area.
That last thing is very sad to hear...
The price difference of 2x is just ridiculous. How come that exactly the same product, shipped across an entire ocean to the US, is just
half the price there than here in the Netherlands, at a mere few hours transport from its source in the UK?
I can think of only four reasons for this excessive difference:
1) - Someone, or more likely more than one, down the distribution chain is making a huge, some 40-50 Euro profit on the product. It requires only one step in the distribution chain using a mark-up of 100%, or two steps using a mark-up of 40%, to double the end price for the consumer.
2) - Someone is making hugely excessive costs for transport and storage to the Netherlands / Europe, amounting to some 40-50 Euro on a 10 sheet package of paper... Considering shipping to the US, a country more than 10x further from the UK than the Netherlands, doesn't significantly affect pricing compared to the UK itself, this scenario seems highly unlikely and ridiculous, not even taking into account that sending the same package through standard post, probably would cost a fraction of that cost...
3) - Ilford itself is charging double the amount of the European distributors versus the ones in the US. Seems again highly unlikely, why would they be so stupid to raise costs for their European clients by that amount, loosing valuable sales?
4) - US shops have huge amounts of old Ilford stock from years back when prices were still lower, that they can still sell for the low prices of the day, instead of charging "current" excessive prices. This scenario seems just as ridiculous again, not even taking into account pricing in the UK that seems more similar to the US than to the rest of Europe.
If the Beukelaer is really the sole Ilford distributor for the Benelux / Germany area, and they are responsible for these excessive prices, than I think it is about time Ilford took action and found another, more dedicated distributor willing to do the job for a
reasonable price, as seems perfectly possible considering the situation in the US...
And, concerning title of this topic and similar in general. I really don't understand what are you people bragging about? I have 100+ rolls of film in 120 and 135 format, in my fridge at this time ( I would have more if I could have space ), and I just can't imagine I would have that number of rolls 20 years ago. I think people are becoming ungrateful brats because you have everything just with couple of clicks with your finger. I would really like to put all you braggers in 1990. or something like that, or in some Third World country. Then you would be maybe more grateful and realized how lucky you are and how things are good.
You're one lucky guy having a 100+ stock of film. I can assure you though, with the current status of my bank account, I have no trouble sympathizing with the less well off, especially not when being surcharged 100% on a product that is sold elsewhere in a similar country for half the price. We're not all in a position to spent maybe half of our salaries on photography because our partners fill up the gap or so... I certainly ain't!
Marco
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