Crazy London prices!

[john neal]

I was in London yesterday and did a quick trawl around some of the camera shops that specialise in used classics. I was horrified by some of the prices, for example:

Russian Leica III copy £160 ($295)
Canon 7 body (rough) - £350 ($650) !
Leica M4 body (very rough) £560 ($1036) !!
Leica M4 black paint (exc++) £2800 ($5180) !!!
Canonet GIII QL17 (nice, but not mint) £165 ($300) !!!!

The last one really frightened me - it's no wonder that we call it "rip-off" Britain

Having said that, I did manage to do a good deal on a nice M2 body, but had to go off the beaten track and negotiate really hard - at one point I thought I was going to be asked to leave!

 

[RML]

Here in Amsterdam things aren't much different.

Here were talking about 100 or more euro for a FED2.
And 1000 euro or more for a Leica M ain't odd.

 

[zuikologist]

Yes it is frightening, but these stores have to pay to London rents and staff costs in an increasingly niche market. An increase in internet business, with a store as a "showroom" seems the only way to survive. There s a Nikon specialist in the Westminster area of London which looks more like a gentleman's club than a camera store.

I am looking forward to a US visit this weekend for a few days! I will hopefully have enough time to trawl a few stores.

 

[denishr]

Yup, I was in London in 2003, and the prices were outrageous - I visited a Jessops store near the British Museum, and the used department was shocking.... Still some used MF stuff wasn't that outrageous...

Denis

 

[Azinko]

its not just London, its the whole of the Uk!.......most photo gear is about twice the price of the sensible parts of the world,....As more and more people use the net they are realising just how bad is the 'rip off' problem here. When Canon launched its 300D digital SLR it was heralded in the US as "the first digital SLR under $1000" and on the same day was also launched in the Uk as "the first digital SLR under £1000"......however, Canon forgot about the internet and there was considerable criticism at having to spend very nearly TWICE the US price! Several protesting letters to 'Amateur Photographer' regretting that they failed to draw attention to this, but were met by an outrageous reply from the editor defending the price differential because of suppodedly better consumer laws and the fact that we 'pay more'....??!!?...and despite Canon having world wide warranty policies etc.

 

[Stu :)]

And I thought prices here in New Zealand where bad... Gwad that's terrible.

If it's any help I've used - http://www.mwclassic.com/
Their prices are pretty good and almost bought my M2 from them until a photo.net'er gave me a better price.

Stu

 

[OlyMan]

I think that although prices in the UK are high for many things compared to other countries, you've got to look at factors such as cost of living, not just exchange-rates.

For example, say you earn a salary of £15,000 a year. That coverts to about US$28,400. However, that doesn't mean that if you moved to the US and got the same job as you had here you'd get $28,400: you'd probably get around $15,000. In most cases, because of differerences in cost of living, you can generally just swap the pound-sign for the dollar-sign: the exchange-rate is meaningless to anyone except tourists and City/Wall Street investors.

American tourists to the UK will baulk at our prices should they convert them back to US dollars for comparison, and conversely UK tourists in the US feel temporarily rich. However, that's only half the picture.

I'm a middle-manager working in the public sector on a salary of £20,100 per year, which is less than the UK national average. However that converts to over US$38,000: the same salary as some newly-qualified US attornys and doctors! If I moved to the US, I'd probably get around $20,000 to do the same job as I'm doing now, meaning that I'd be neither less nor more well off than I was in the UK.

 

[alegalle]

Mail order from the US guys. Recently got a "user" M3 from a certain new york specialist for £330 including postage! I say "user" because when it arrived I thought they had sent me the wrong camera, its perfect save a couple of dents so small that I wouldnt have noticed if they hadn't told me. And it had just been for a CLA!

M3 for less than the price of a new R3A/R2A, I love the exchange rate

 

[stephen_lumsden]

Ye, I know. I recently saw a Canonet QL17-giii in York Cameras near the Bristish Musuem for £200. The shop assistant seemed quite puzzzled why I just checked out the prices and said nothing. Went and bought mine off E-Bay for £70. I really do believe in a name and shame policy with some of these guys. I mean, like these guys (as from the aformentioned shop) find it hard to be polite, never mind friendly, give photogs a bad nae. I guess some people have more money than sense.

 

[Paul T.]

DO remember that in London you're paying 17.5% VAT, too (if you're a tourist you can get that refunded, likewise if you're professional). That said, some of the camera shops, particularly those by the British museum do seem to price at what they think the market will bear - you could buy from eBay and throw in a CLA and still pay less than they charge. My Leica CL was £330 from the 'bay, and those stores charge around £500-£600 for a camera in the same condition. Gotta say I found Jessops in Pied Bull Yard helpful, but Classic Camera, or whoever, seem to offer indifferent service for their high prices.

As has been said, though, wages in London are higher than in most of the US, and a lot of the differential is caused by an artificially low dollar.