Why is UK ripped off on new releases including 650D?

[AdamJ]

I think it's exchange rates. Canon deals in Yen, not dollars, so it's yen to pounds and yen to dollars that we have to look at.

5D mark III
B&H Photo (US) $3,464
Jessops (UK) £2794 minus 20% VAT = £2235

Tax-free price converted to Yen as of 12th August 2012
B&H Photo (US) 271,048 Yen
Jessops (UK) 274,093 Yen

UK premium is 3045 Yen, or £24.

The strength of the yen doesn't affect any dollar / pound conversion. If it did, the currency markets would have made me the world's richest man by now. 

Also, removing 20% VAT from £2,794 equals £2,328.33, not £2,235.

[Hesbehindyou]

I think it's exchange rates. Canon deals in Yen, not dollars, so it's yen to pounds and yen to dollars that we have to look at.

5D mark III
B&H Photo (US) $3,464
Jessops (UK) £2794 minus 20% VAT = £2235

Tax-free price converted to Yen as of 12th August 2012
B&H Photo (US) 271,048 Yen
Jessops (UK) 274,093 Yen

UK premium is 3045 Yen, or £24.

The strength of the yen doesn't affect any dollar / pound conversion. If it did, the currency markets would have made me the world's richest man by now. 

That's why I converted them both to Yen. It's why I didn't do a dollar pound conversion as others had and why I said "Canon deals in Yen, not dollars, so it's yen to pounds and yen to dollars that we have to look at."

Also, removing 20% VAT from £2,794 equals £2,328.33, not £2,235.

Not on my calculator.  2794 x 0.8 = 2235.20.

[AdamJ]

I'll put it another way. The sterling price difference between B&H and Jessops is the same whether you do a direct dollar / pound conversion or whether you convert both prices to yen first. It makes no difference.

To remove VAT, you should divide by 1.2, not multiply by 0.8.

[birtembuk]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.       

[AdamJ]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.     

       That is a hilariously opinionated view of European vs US buying habits!     

[DB]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.     

+1 would agree with everything you say, having lived in US (college in Pennsylvania & worked in New York) for years, another 12 years in London (UK) and another 5 years in continental Europe, I would just add that stores in Europe tend to hold fewer brands - usually just Canon/Nikon (few camera stores in my country sell Sony, Pentax or Samsung) and the sticker price is THE PRICE -> ask for a discount or try to haggle and you'll be asked to leave - it's called a cultural difference. Plus the nature of wholesaling and the increased number of authorized distributors in European countries (especially the smaller ones such as island nations) means more middlemen, each with a big percentage markup (from national distributors to regional, provincial and even by county). Therefore because of the higher price, Europeans will tend to shop around more, visit the store more than once before deciding to make a purchase.

[DB]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.     

       That is a hilariously opinionated view of European vs US buying habits!     

What is funny is your response. Empirical data exists for both the number of camera stores geographically and for the sales breakdown by region (US, Europe, Australia, Asia etc.), so it is quite easy to show that higher sales volumes DO exist in the USA. Now add in banking data about credit card figures and you'll see that Americans have a much greater propensity to charge camera gear to their credit card -> economists' refer to this as the "Wanting of Waiting" or in simple English you can have it now for no money down. Having lived overseas for 2 decades, I've observed first hand that buying habits are totally different between Europe and the US - as different as Chalk n' Cheese. I lived in Spain for 5 years and you cannot use a credit card in many stores, not without your Passport or National ID card, it is a criminal offence to bounce a cheque (check) with a mandatory 1-year prison sentence, so 44 million people primarily use CASH (also partly explains the higher jobless rate and the impact of lower availability of credit on economic growth). In the USA, consumption (individuals + private businesses expenditure on 'Goods & Services') is 70% of the economy (GDP), in most European countries it is between 40% to 50%. Americans spend more, every day of the week whether they have cash or not (doesn't matter they can charge it). That equates to one heck of a difference between US and European buying habits.

[AdamJ]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.     

       That is a hilariously opinionated view of European vs US buying habits!     

What is funny is your response. Empirical data exists for both the number of camera stores geographically and for the sales breakdown by region (US, Europe, Australia, Asia etc.), so it is quite easy to show that higher sales volumes DO exist in the USA. Now add in banking data about credit card figures and you'll see that Americans have a much greater propensity to charge camera gear to their credit card -> economists' refer to this as the "Wanting of Waiting" or in simple English you can have it now for no money down. Having lived overseas for 2 decades, I've observed first hand that buying habits are totally different between Europe and the US - as different as Chalk n' Cheese. I lived in Spain for 5 years and you cannot use a credit card in many stores, not without your Passport or National ID card, it is a criminal offence to bounce a cheque (check) with a mandatory 1-year prison sentence, so 44 million people primarily use CASH (also partly explains the higher jobless rate and the impact of lower availability of credit on economic growth). In the USA, consumption (individuals + private businesses expenditure on 'Goods & Services') is 70% of the economy (GDP), in most European countries it is between 40% to 50%. Americans spend more, every day of the week whether they have cash or not (doesn't matter they can charge it). That equates to one heck of a difference between US and European buying habits.

So come on, you hesitant, doubtful, lingering, procrastinating Europeans, you heard it. Be more decisive and forthright like our American friends and you too can have great prices! 

[chadders]

It's not Canon specially. It's always been like that between US and Europe. The difference basically boils down to business ease and efficiency. First, in the US, sales volumes are much higher. Secondly, the customers are supposed to know the product. They are either enticed by advertisement/marketing or they read reviews from every source they found. They know what they want. So, they go to the shop, tend the CC, grab the box and off they go. Financial and selling cost are kept at minimum. Money spins. In contrast, Europeans will hesitate, doubt, linger, procrastinate before making a decision. They need salespeople to advise, discuss, reassure, convince. And - if they didn't go to another shop - they'll come another week and get the box opened, the content dissected and commented. Keeping a dead stock for rare and evasive customers and employing an army of salespeople carries a high price. Some may say that Europeans make more weighted up purchasing decisions. There's a price to pay for that. Well, you can still order by courier from Amazon US or B&H and pay the taxes on delivery.     

       That is a hilariously opinionated view of European vs US buying habits!     

What is funny is your response. Empirical data exists for both the number of camera stores geographically and for the sales breakdown by region (US, Europe, Australia, Asia etc.), so it is quite easy to show that higher sales volumes DO exist in the USA. Now add in banking data about credit card figures and you'll see that Americans have a much greater propensity to charge camera gear to their credit card -> economists' refer to this as the "Wanting of Waiting" or in simple English you can have it now for no money down. Having lived overseas for 2 decades, I've observed first hand that buying habits are totally different between Europe and the US - as different as Chalk n' Cheese. I lived in Spain for 5 years and you cannot use a credit card in many stores, not without your Passport or National ID card, it is a criminal offence to bounce a cheque (check) with a mandatory 1-year prison sentence, so 44 million people primarily use CASH (also partly explains the higher jobless rate and the impact of lower availability of credit on economic growth). In the USA, consumption (individuals + private businesses expenditure on 'Goods & Services') is 70% of the economy (GDP), in most European countries it is between 40% to 50%. Americans spend more, every day of the week whether they have cash or not (doesn't matter they can charge it). That equates to one heck of a difference between US and European buying habits.

So come on, you hesitant, doubtful, lingering, procrastinating Europeans, you heard it. Be more decisive and forthright like our American friends and you too can have great prices! 

Perhaps we wouldn't hesitate, doubt, linger or procrastinate if we were getting the same prices as our more carefree spending American cousins.

[DB]

@ AdamJ
CR has just posted Canon USA August Rebates - can you please show us the Canon Europe August Rebates - eh rhetorical question that one...they don't exist cos' Americans are spoilt, even when they don't take out their credit cards, further inducements are required to get them to spend. Enjoy your cheaper prices Stateside, long may they last, at least as long as a 20 ounce soda - if Mike Bloomberg gets his way - you can continue to enjoy lower prices whilst you sip your smaller sodas (and hopefully shrinking waistlines too).

[AdamJ]

DB, I'm not sure what point you're inviting me to make now but anyway, I was only trying to say that bitembek noted some views about European buyers that were a little sweeping in their generalisation, to the extent of being very amusing to me (as a European).