In which country is the Canon EOS R3 the cheapest, and most expensive?

AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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I looked at Panamoz at their price for an R5 body with EF adapter and it is $4148US, while buying direct from a US Canon dealer would be $3999US.

Neither price includes sales tax and I have no idea if Panamoz charges sales tax. In the US, sales tax can be avoided (but still paid) by purchasing through B&H and their PayBoo card.
That price of $4148 includes 20% VAT for sales to the UK and 3 yrs warranty. So, it's equivalent to $3480 before taxes, $500 less than the USA price.
 
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entoman

wildlife photography
May 8, 2015
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As I wrote, I will be doing that from now on. I got my R5 August a year ago from a UK dealer. It usually takes a while for newly released high-demand lines to be available from grey market sellers, and those very importers were cashing in last year and selling at a premium over UK prices. Also, there are often teething problems with new lines, and the cameras have to be sent back to Canon for fixing, which the grey market sellers won't find easy because they rely on UK repair services for their warranties, not Canon. Several CR members had motherboards replaced by Canon. So, grey market sources are better for established lines.
Agreed. As a matter of course, I always wait until a product has been on the market for about 6 months, before ordering, by which time any initial firmware or hardware issues should have been resolved. Grey exporters have a fast turnover, so it’s fairly safe to say that after 6 months any major issues should have been sorted. Also, by then the price will have dropped from Canon’s traditionally high launch prices.
 
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entoman

wildlife photography
May 8, 2015
1,998
2,438
UK
I looked at Panamoz at their price for an R5 body with EF adapter and it is $4148US, while buying direct from a US Canon dealer would be $3999US.

Neither price includes sales tax and I have no idea if Panamoz charges sales tax. In the US, sales tax can be avoided (but still paid) by purchasing through B&H and their PayBoo card.
Yes, America is a vastly greater market than the UK, so bulk purchasing brings prices right down. I dare say that Canon USA obtains their stock at a fraction of the cost that the UK distributors pay. You are very lucky in the US to have huge companies like B&H, Adorama etc who can bulk buy and reduce costs even further.

The costs I quoted include all taxes. I did once had a camera intercepted by customs, I was charged £30 and it was released to me immediately. I emailed Panamoz and told them about it, and within 12 hours they had reimbursed me for the £30. It took a total of 5 working days from ordering to receipt.

I’ve never had an order take longer than 6 working days and sometimes if ordered on a Monday night I have the item by the Thursday morning. It’s extremely rare for this company to get a bad review from a buyer.
 
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Should I mention that in the UK they have free healthcare in comparison to the US? I would gladly pay $3000 more for a camera than being bankrupted by major health issues. This price list is a joke.
Well, Australia has free health care (but options for private insurance as well) so probably not exactly equivalent to the NHS - but we get reciprocal access.
The website seems to be down.
Digidirect have it for
AUD8,399 (with 5 year local Canon warranty)
USD6,551 (0.78 exchange rate ie 3 points higher than the mid market rate given that is what you would pay via credit card)
USD596 <edited> is the 10% GST that is bundled in it
USD5,955 <edited> is the Australian equivalent ex-tax price to the USD5,999 that B&H have it priced at. Freight has been excluded.

Of course, we have no option but to pay the 10% GST so the initial post with USD6,456.12 seems about right.

The R5 has dropped in price locally over the last 15 months by about AUD1k from AUD6600 to ~AUD5600 from multiple retailers now... about USD3900 in ex-tax dollars with 5 year warranty.
 
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ColorBlindBat

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Aug 30, 2018
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I do find it irritating that Canon global charges varying prices to different countries/regions of the world.
Yes, the end price will be different due to taxes/VAT, but in my mind that should be the only difference.
The costs to ship a pallet of cameras from Japan to either the US or England/EU should be nearly identical. Sigh....
 
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I got my R5, complete with EF adaptor, for £3280, back in January, from Panamoz in Hong Kong. They now sell it for £3140, and they only advertise what they have in stock.
I just checked www.price.com.hk, and there are noone advertising the R3 just yet.
HK pricing was significantly lower than mainland China prices when I lived there, that it was worthwhile for me to fly down there for a weekend trip, just to buy flashes and lenses.
 
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entoman

wildlife photography
May 8, 2015
1,998
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UK
The R5 has dropped in price locally over the last 15 months by about AUD1k from AUD6600 to ~AUD5600 from multiple retailers now... about USD3900 in ex-tax dollars with 5 year warranty.
A 5 year warranty is a pretty good deal, I don’t know anywhere else where you can get that.

I guess the logic is that if a camera is going to fail it will usually happen within the first few weeks or months, so a 5 year warranty will probably create not many more claims than a shorter one.

The 5 year warranty nevertheless will give purchasers much greater confidence than the one year warranty that’s more commonplace in many parts of the world.
 
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Sep 18, 2019
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The joys of being a photographer in the UK!
Not just photography: apparently, the German car manufacturers refer to the UK (or, more correctly, GB) as "Treasure Island".

It looks like NZ is another Treasure Island.

The one that surprised me is Ireland (the Republic of Ireland), because it's an EU country and the whole of the EU is a "single market" (a very important principle within the EU), meaning that an Irish citizen has the right to purchase from anywhere within the EU (wherever it is cheapest) without any import duties (which are non-existent between EU countries). And, as far as warranties go, the EU tends to fine companies which try to divvy-up the "single market".

The way round this is different specification products. This may apply to cars (UK and Ireland would have the driver's position on the opposite side from the general EU), but as far as cameras are concerned, the only difference I can think of would be the power socket. I think it's standard across Europe for the supplied charger (universal voltage -- Europe has standardised, anyway) to have a separate power lead with the requisite plug on the end (whereas in North America, the supplied charger has a fold-away 2-pin connector?). The power leads are inexpensive from third parties, so it's difficult to see the justification for large differences in price across European nations.
 
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Roo

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Sep 12, 2013
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Well, Australia has free health care (but options for private insurance as well) so probably not exactly equivalent to the NHS - but we get reciprocal access.
The website seems to be down.
Digidirect have it for
AUD8,399 (with 5 year local Canon warranty)
USD6,551 (0.78 exchange rate ie 3 points higher than the mid market rate given that is what you would pay via credit card)
USD655 is the 10% GST that is bundled in it
USD5,900 is the Australian equivalent ex-tax price to the USD5,999 that B&H have it priced at. Freight has been excluded.

Of course, we have no option but to pay the 10% GST so the initial post with USD6,456.12 seems about right.

The R5 has dropped in price locally over the last 15 months by about AUD1k from AUD6600 to ~AUD5600 from multiple retailers now... about USD3900 in ex-tax dollars with 5 year warranty.
Just need to fix up your GST calculation

USD6,551 (0.78 exchange rate ie 3 points higher than the mid market rate given that is what you would pay via credit card)
USD596 is the 10% GST that is bundled in it
USD5,955 is the Australian equivalent ex-tax price to the USD5,999 that B&H have it priced at. Freight has been excluded.

Moving from a 2 year to a 5 year warranty a couple of years ago was a surprisingly good move by Canon Australia.
 
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I do find it irritating that Canon global charges varying prices to different countries/regions of the world.
Yes, the end price will be different due to taxes/VAT, but in my mind that should be the only difference.
The costs to ship a pallet of cameras from Japan to either the US or England/EU should be nearly identical. Sigh....
In your mind, how do you account for fluctuating currencies?
 
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ColorBlindBat

CR Pro
Aug 30, 2018
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In your mind, how do you account for fluctuating currencies?
I would assume Canon global would set individual country/region pricing based upon the average local currency exchange rate versus the Japanese Yen. Obviously that doesn't take into consideration short term variances, but if they use relatively long term averages, it would be fairer to countries being charged higher than the US pays. Even if it means I would pay more in California, it seems like the right thing to do.
 
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I would assume Canon global would set individual country/region pricing based upon the average local currency exchange rate versus the Japanese Yen. Obviously that doesn't take into consideration short term variances, but if they use relatively long term averages, it would be fairer to countries being charged higher than the US pays. Even if it means I would pay more in California, it seems like the right thing to do.
So if nationX keeps its currency cheap (say to boost local exports), every other country should have to pay over the odds for imports of goods from nationY to ensure the price paid for imported goods bought in nationX remain globally competitive?

What about local wage differences, size of country, local distribution costs, volumes. Container costs vary massively between different ports. Barely scratching the surface. There are just too many variables.
 
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