British buyers being ripped off

Has any other Brits notice the ridiculous price variation between the US and UK?
A Flashlight costing $50 in America cost roughly £50 in the UK but surely with the exchange rate being nearly two dollars to the pound we should be able to get the $50 flashlight for £ 25, a good example is the gladius $299 Versus £299 on average in the UK, yet it can be had for as little as $129 on offer in the US , thats only about £75 .

I can understand import duty and VAT being applied but surely that should not mean we pay double what the Americans pay>

sorry if this is in the wrong section.

My life changed the day I found lighthound.com So did my wallet.

The problem is most dealers need to pay distributers and the distributers charge alot and in order to recoop their money have to sell them at high prices to make a profit.

Gotta love that exhange rate.

Worse than that. A mini mag LED for about 25 bucks in the US costs forty pounds (75 bucks) over here.

Why don't you buy from CPF Custom Mod (B/S/T)
or CPF Lights (Sell) or from lighthound.com or peakledsolutions.net?

You're right, its a pity that there aren't many reasonable British retailers, but by taking up my suggestion, you are taking advantage of the rate of exchange and buying from reputable vendors.

the only problem is declaring that $299 light as $30 to avoid import charges means your out of a lot of money if it goes missing.

I suppose you could always pay the $52 tax and the £4 handling fee.

Just a point to remember customs go by insured value so dont insure it for $299 and declare it as $30 or you might get a shock.

so far my luck is holding out as i have never had anything go missing i ordered from the US.

regards.

John

Rifleman - it rarely pays to support UK shops selling US goods, these days.

I see ARGOS has the 2D MagLed for £49. Whereas you can get it on the net from a US site for $32!!! Allowing for exchange rate that's £31 for import and distribution and retailers cut. Surely no one will pay that unless they absolutely HAVE to have one immediately.

That happened to me and I trotted along to a shop in Soho and bought an INOVA T1 for £42. Great light etc. but if I had waited a few days (all it takes) I could have got it for $41. I.E. it's cheaper to order on the internet. Like everything else,DVD's,books,CDs,clothes,watches etc etc.


I can see with specialist torches - Surefire, Gladius etc. - that there is a limited market over here compared to USA, but Maglight is a mass market product which is sold in every sporting goods and ironmonger and camping shop I can think of and at the right price will be as popular as the old Maglites are. This pricing smacks of greed and shortsightedness on somebodys part and I only hope some enterprising individual will start selling them at the lower price that will ensure their wide availability to all. Why should we suffer? And why should UK retailers find their livelihood threatened.



Mad1 - Lighthound (recommended) has seen off quite a few of my paypackets too! They are very fine to deal with, but I wish I had one in the High Street!!!

If you want to keep it British, buy lots of ORBs from Rob - they are wonderful.


Be lucky...

PS - Tinderbox, sorry I missed your post as I was pontificating! Good point. I've only been stung once for import duty on a CPF sale - declared at full value, about $130 I think, I had to pay 20 quid or so to customs. The problem doesn't arise with lighthound though it seems. As yet, I haven't had anything go missing either (touchwood!!)

I just realised...nice to have a thread populated by Brits!!:lolsign:

Nyctophiliac said:

I just realised...nice to have a thread populated by Brits!!

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Hey, I've just realised.... Tinderbox and myself are practically neighbours. I'm probably only a 15 minute drive away from South Shields

UK gettogether??

Simon

hello simonsays

are you north or south of the tyne / wear a gordie or a makham.

regards.

John.

Have noticed this too, I may have to use some of the websites said in this thread!

Safe-light.

Ships from UK, or USA, depending on where you live.

UK pages, choose from "Where to Buy"

http://www.palights.com/pages/buyonlinemain.html

I have received Safelights within a day or two of ordering, within UK, ( no problems with customs delays or extra duty) and had excellent communications with James Meyer, (Boss Man) whenever I needed to.

Prices very reasonable too.

TinderBox (UK) said:

hello simonsays

are you north or south of the tyne / wear a gordie or a makham.

regards.

John.

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I'm a Sunderland boy. I was in your part of the world last week taking my son around the park. He loves the small gauge train.

Simon

I just hope that the strength of the £ against the $ lasts until after SS2007 early next year...

another tip.

if your buying from the US, and it will fit, use USPS FLATE RATE INTERNATIONAL ENVELOPE they start at only $5.25 to ship upto 4lb to the UK, the large version is around $9.50.

they are not insured so you take a chance.

lighthound shipped my HDS to me i one, but i have been using the for months.

usually take 5-7 days to arrive.

regards.

John.

+1 for John @ Lighthound - he found me one of the last U60GTs at the sale price - I've had quite a bit of stuff from him and never been stung by Customs (hope thats not the kiss of death).
Just ordered an HDS battery carrier from Optics HQ - reasonable shipping from there as well.

Jem

mmmm kendal mint cake, we had a caravan in alston for 17 years.

bye the way this i one of the best cheapest place to charges and battery`s in the UK.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=777

I have one of the V8000 30min chargers, great price, great charger.

regards.

John.

Seconded - Tinderbox.

They also do battery cases for AA,AAA, and CR123A. They even have a few torches - mostly Led Lenser.



Be lucky...

It sucks, but i don't think its THAT ridiculous...Both times i've been to england, everything was labelled with nearly exactly the same number as here in the States.....it just happen to be a more valuable number.

My life changed the day I found lighthound.com

So did my wallet.

Click to expand...

So true Mad1, so very true - Lighthound has my flashlight custom for life...(as does the boy 4sevens if I want any more Fenix stuff)...both excellent dealers.


CFU