Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ambvalent]

I've been looking for various ways to get a D80 and a particular nikon lens cheap here in Korea. (lens is the 35mm f/2)

In the states, the body is $822. At enuri et al it's more, and i called trying to get the price listed of 880,000 but they won't sell it to me w/o accessories--a good trick. I thought only the mail-order places in NYC did that. I don't want their cheap accessories.

So I looked at Pricejapan.com (a great site by the way, they'll send you just about anything), but with the 5% plus shipping they charge and the 20% tariff Korea will charge me, it's not worth it anymore. The camera is only 83,100 yen in japan, which is a good deal.

Does anyone know if Korean Customs will definitely assess a 20% tariff? I'm not totally clear on this.

Otherwise, any bright ideas?

Thanks!

[rocklee]

Go to Japan and buy your camera and lenses, and take shots of your holiday there using it.

[ambvalent]

Well, I found a seller on Enuri that wasn't advertising the camera w/o all the bad accessories, but I found a little link on that site that actually sold it minus all that stuff--so I got the basic thing I wanted at about the same price as it costs in japan! I don't have it yet, but I'll deposit my money today and see how it goes.

I also bought the lens and other materials on enuri. I think that's the best site for finding the lowest prices...if you hunt around for a while i think you get good results. Need mad Korean skills or have a Korean to help you out...

[hepcat]

Interesting, the hoops one has to jump through to get a good price.

I always like to shop around, but sometimes i realize my free time actually has value and that spending hours and hours of it trying to save 5% maybe isn't the wisest thing to be doing.

Anyhoo, good luck with the D80--it looks like a fine machine.

[rocklee]

[stevenpa]

Importing cameras into Korea is rather expensive. Import tariffs are actually reasonable at 8% ( tariff code: 9002111000, http://www.customs.go.kr/ ), but then there is the 10% VAT. So that's 18% in total and you will be responsible for both unless the package somehow slips through unnoticed or has been packaged surreptitiously, which is unlikely if you are buying from a store that will put its name and address on the package.

Expecting camera equipment to be as cheap or cheaper than US prices is unfortunately expecting too much (in Korea, Japan, Europe, or anywhere in the world - the US is by far the cheapest market) though the exchange rate these days has made it more attractive to just do business in Korea.

Also, Koreans are much better at getting gray market camera equipment into their country than we will ever be. Also consider that buying gray market voids your warranty, and on such an intricate piece of technology, do you really want to do that?

[ambvalent]

You're right about Koreans being good at sneaking in the gray market items...the camera that I got wasn't actually a Korean market camera but a Japanese one. I should have realized that from the price! They still must have made a decent profit off me because the exchange rate from won --> yen is nice...

I don't care about the manual and everything being in Japanese as it's all online if i wanted it, but as you mentioned i'm screwed if it comes down to a warranty. I bought this camera because it has the same professional internals as much nicer cameras I used to use, but the case is cheap-ass plastic, and like I said, that worries me. Without that nice titanium body and all those nice rubber o-rings this thing won't stand nearly as much humidity come summer...

Anyway, i got a great camera and an even better lens at a good price, so I hope for the best!