Archie
I think they are a few shonky buyers internationally, it might seem to make some sense just to just keep the market closer and seemingly somewhat less risky. I also think markets in the North American mainland may well be more insular than those in (say) Australia which might be more adventurous and more used to dealing commercially with residents of other nations. For instance I have dealt with vendors from the Ukraine, Russia and oher parts of the FSU and Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland as well as the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, even Tashkent, and of course both Hong Kong, mainland China and also Japan, Taiwan. I even buy things in Australia (!) and from New Zealand.
The upshot is although I have mainly bought low value items but they have all arrived, even if it took "eons" to get out of the Ukraine. More problems with the odd misdescription and I have found some US vendors as capable of this as some guy trying to sell a "$20 Industar" in Kiev.
The biggest problem out of the North American region is the postage rates for "special" shipment that is "sold" to nervous US and Canadian vendors as "covering all freight, clearance costs, insurance and duties". It can run from $50 upwards. Of course the vendors expect the purchaser to pay and the purchaser just gets out his abacus and rattles a few beads and figures out that the combined cost of the same item including postage from somewhere else is cheaper. So no thanks guys, unless your part of the cut is less for the "security of mind".
The whole "story" is a fallacy, for sales to Australia at least. There are no duties or tax on goods worth less than $1,000 nor are there any clearance fees. The mail handling has been so downright reliable (from everywhere) that one might wonder if insurance is at all necessary except for very expensive goods.
$20, sometimes less, will get something from the UK quicker and just as securely than from the silly double shipment shuffle using that expensive US "vendor security" freighting system. Might I call it a "rip off"?
This seems to make me some sort of manic buyer. I suppose I am "a collector" of mainly cheap second hand lenses and the bits that make cameras work. Blame it on the GXR mount module - it "made" me do it
Hrrmmm ... back to the subject .... it is interesting to see other GXR users "stocking up" on GXR bodies, I think quite a few have been doing this. Something I have not ever really done outside Ricoh. But I confess to having been so impressed wtih the Canon Pro90 IS way back in about 2002 that I bought one each second hand for the kids.
Less impressed with Panasonic. Not willing to buy locally - I am happy to pay 10% more in the form of GST to buy locally but not an outrageous amount more. In any case my little GM1 suddenly developed a small but very obvious pale yellow "ink smudge" in the middle of the lcd - presumably a leakage in the lcd layers. It is only four months old. Not expecting "Australian warranty" I honestly confessed buying it overseas but was simply looking to see what they could offer by way or repair even if they were going to charge me. The guy muttered something about "International Warranty" which I was truly ignorant about as in truth my gear seems to normally run forever and therefore I hardly worry. But stumbling for words there he referred me to their authorised repairers. I dutifully filled in their email contact form on their website .... nothing, not a peep, too ignorant even to quote for a simple screen replacement. As the lcd problem seems cosmetic only I can just keep using it. But everyone who might glance at my playback screen is going to be "amazed" at these very obvious cute yellow splotches it is not going to be terribly good for sales of this product (anywhere).
In any case such disdain is not going to punish me enough to bring me to heel and force me to buy from Panasonic Australia unless their prices are in the ball-park. I think I save enough overall to carry my own insurance. What really gets up my nose is that their "authorised repair centre" cannot get out of bed to respond with commercial courtesy. "$500"? at least I would know where I stand.
All this "national warranty" rubbish should be covered by Panasonic Inc in Japan, they sell the original goods and it should be up to them to repair them no matter where they are officially retailed rather than offload the warranty issues to regional offices and distributers and have them dodge their obligations whenever they can.
On the contrary the local Ricoh distributer CR Kennedy has been easy to work with and paid repairs are at reasonable cost and promptly executed. Not that I have had much need of this with Ricoh gear.
What comes of this (usual) long ramble for those that have hung on to the end is the obvious fascination of GXR owners with their cameras and their desire to add modules and camera backs to have multiple cameras. This means that ownership of the GXR is not exactly 1x per person but a reasonable fraction higher and probably more than any other-brand comparible camera. This of course makes the pool of GXR owners something less than the volume of sales but also highlights that actual owners are doing exactly what was indended of the GXR system - making multiple "cameras" out of the components and setting out to use them "forever".
Tom
