Re: Mamiya Camera for IR, 120 IR films, & Pentax K1000 dimpling effect

["Joseph O'Neil" <joneil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:00 07/06/00 +0800, you wrote:
>I have read a warning somewhere (either USPS or Mamiya.. can't remember)
>that stated that if the US customs get their hands on any, repeat ANY Mamiya
>gear coming in from overseas - even second hand stuff, it will be
>confiscated and destroyed - they ARE entitled to do this as the distributors
>have a water-tight licence agreement on Mamiya imports.  If this happens you
>will have no recourse to get your money back!

         i know this is getting way off topic, but what about journalists 
who live overseas, work and buy equipemnt over there, then move back to the 
USA?
         Customs officials are far too busy tracking down illegal drugs, 
arms, etc, etc, to worry about the serial number on a camera.  I suspect 
this story is a bit of aurban legend, encouraged by soem people.
         Even if it was true, you sinply point out you were overseas, your 
camera went into the ocean during a storm/accident, or it was ripped off 
out of your hotel room, etc, etc - any reasonable story, and you needed a 
new one right away to finish the job, so you bought one locally.  End of story.
:)
         As for price fixing, I retail in telscopes and binoculars (not 
cameras), and with some companies I find strange pricing.  For example, 
here in Canada, there are certian brands of binoculars that I can buy at 
regular retail prices in the USA, pay for shipping, insurance and taxes 
importing it into Canada, and still have the landed cost LOWER than the 
wholesale cost from the Canadian distributor.  When I take the time to 
point this out, backed up with hard evidence (printouts from about half a 
dozen US retail web pages), i get all sorts of song & dance, sometimes even 
nasty comments, but never any direct answers.
         Sometimes grey market is a bad deal - for example, I would never 
buy grey market film in the USA or Canada becuase it is usually been 
shipped over is cargo contianers sitting in the sun for long periods, or 
nearly out of date, but on other items, well, buyer beware, on both sides 
of the coin.

joe




http://www.oneilphoto.on.ca
http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil

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