FS100 Europe US price diference

A

alarch

Active member
Hi,
There's always a price diference depending on vat and if the Euro is strong but for the FS100 between BH and europeen shops there is 1000e diference (1,437.31 USD) that is a lot and you can doble the diference for France!
BH doesn't send this camera to europe (yet?) and anyway I'll need 50p
For exemple the price diference for the AF100 is only 300€.

I'm curious to know why and if the fs100 is PAL / NTSC swichable and if some european as found a walkaround.

Thanks
 
alarch said:
Hi,
There's always a price diference depending on vat and if the Euro is strong but for the FS100 between BH and europeen shops there is 1000e diference (1,437.31 USD) that is a lot and you can doble the diference for France!
BH doesn't send this camera to europe (yet?) and anyway I'll need 50p
For exemple the price diference for the AF100 is only 300€.

I'm curious to know why and if the fs100 is PAL / NTSC swichable and if some european as found a walkaround.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Assuming you're comparing apples to apples (i.e. Euro prices tend to include VAT?), basically the answer is BECAUSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT.

That is pretty much what we see here in Canada, retail buyers get ripped off basically, amazing how widespread it is as this is happening across all industries.

If you want this treatment of consumers to change, then exercise your capitalist consumer right and purchase a world camcorder instead like the Panasonic AG-AF100.
 
The prices (at least here in Germany) for the FS100 are - for some strange reason - in free fall.

They announced it for 5585 Euros + 19% VAT (just the body without lens). Then about a month ago it dropped to 5080 and now it is at 4699 (which is about $8000 incl. VAT). B&H in the US sells it for $4999, but I don´t know how much tax/VAT one have to pay.

Not, that I´m not happy with that, but the difference is quite a lot.

And we are not getting 24p and 60p just 25p.
I hope the firmware update rumor, that unlocks those frame rates is true.


Frank
 
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Postmaster said:
I hope the firmware update rumor, that unlocks those frame rates is true.
Frank
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure that once it's unlocked, the price difference will get smaller - right now the EU resellers can get away with a higher margin, as we're sort of forced to buy locally!
 
Hi Frank,

Here in the Netherlands I still see it go's for €5500 excl VAT.
If I look at your post I know what I can nagotiate (if there are enough camera's :( wich I doubt).
Else I'm goin to look in Germany.

Thx for the tip.


No 60p is a bummer.
 
The EU has an import tax on certain items that's heavy enough for manufacturers to design odd limits into their products. For example, early camcorders had a firewire connection that allowed video out, but not to record video in - thus the camera was not a 'video recorder' and therefore fitted in a lower tax bracket. Hence the term 'nEUtered products'. Whilst DSLRs have 29 minute limitations (where the 2 GB limit does not apply), the FS100, I guess, sits squarely in the expensive tax bracket.

$5k in the US currently equates to a little over £3k in GB but in January it dipped to around $1.5 to the pound, which would bring the price up to £3.333k, then we add import tax (not VAT) of 14%. That rounds up to about £3.8k, sans lens. Currently I've seen them advertised in the uk for £3850, plus VAT at 20% on top. In the UK, even freelancers are encouraged to become 'VAT Registered' so we can reclaim the VAT on our capital purchases, but act as VAT collectors on our invoices.

Much as I hate to appear as an apologist for the pricing, could it be that it's mostly the vagaries of the exchange rate plus EU import tax that's bumping up the price unacceptably? Could any price drops reflect an acknowledgement of a better exchange rate currently available?
 
All your points are valid, Matt - all I'm saying is that with the globally universal cameras (like the EX line), the premium we need to pay is not that high (and I'm also talking prices without VAT, which I can deduct).
 
MattDavis said:
could it be that it's mostly the vagaries of the exchange rate plus EU import tax that's bumping up the price unacceptably? Could any price drops reflect an acknowledgement of a better exchange rate currently available?
Click to expand...


I'm used to pay some import taxe on some products and it never made à diference of 20% excluding VAT (VAT is not the issue), nor does a good curency . Actually the Euro is very strong these days so excluding VAT we should pay even less on the same product and on the contrary its 20% more just for this cam!
I don't and never seen other products in the same case.
I see your point for early camcorders which justified that at the time we couldn't buy camcorders from the state but in the case of the fs100, I don't see the issue.

Hope it goes down
 
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price in austria is 4.445 euros without 20% VAT... still more expensive than in US, but okay for the camera...
not so when comparing F3prizes though... (2.500.-euros more than in US)
 
Postmaster said:
Phillip Bloom said it.
Click to expand...

Sony's top NXCAM engineer Kanta Yamamoto recently became Phillip Bloom's next door neighbor.

Soi if it's anyone who knows what's coming next with the NEX-FS100, it's Phill!

We should all drop Phillip a line and tell him what we feel could be added to the FS100 so he can pass along the message to Kanta.
 
Agreed!

Together with 10bit HDMI out
icon_news.gif


Frank
 
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