Originally posted by tripodquest oh, cool. thank you. only problem is i've been reading that the customs officials in the EU don't necessarily work within the counfounds of EU laws (or any laws). I wouldn't import lenses anyway, just the body. but i read that anything above X euros gets taxed, just not sure if it's import taxes or vat. VAT on top of the B&H $1300 (if it's 19%, no idea what it really is since it can be anything) would bring the total to 1163 euros, which would be about 140 euros less than buying it here. but add $50 for shipping and it's not such a huge advantage anymore. I hope the competition gets so fierce someone has to lower prices at some point!
thank you for your detailed reply. I'm in Germany, what do you think I should do? wait? where should i look for deals for a k-3? warranty inside the EU is little help if you're not in the EU when you need it, so a worldwide warranty is better anyway. ricoh's germany site sells it for 1300 eur in the webstore so it's probably unlikely any other store would have it for cheaper? what about NL/FR?
Pentax Germany is a disaster, a I mentioned, and I don't support them at all. Any company that goes to camera shows without cameras, or doesn't return emails to buy stuff, while they are simultaneously playing on facebook, needs to be shut down. From the beginning, you won't get a good price anywhere, especially the Germanic countries. Businesses here are very, very cheap and that's why we always have to pay more than surrounding countries, even 1 Euro more. AC Photo in Aachen (I think) is very good. Where I bought my K-5 for like 650 or whatever after the rebate (have to check the price). Foka.NL in Rotterdam has good pricing, but it's tough to get a sale going in my experience because they seem disorganized when it comes to selling outside NL. I would have bought from them if it were not for the fact that I had to beg and wait like two weeks for an answer on how to transfer the money to their account. And the answer wasn't even satisfactory. Possibly could have had a better experience by calling, but for bank stuff, it's better to get such things as an invoice and other things, otherwise you're just transferring money into space, hoping they send you your order over a verbal agreement. Use Idealo.de (how I got my deal on the K-5), but the best advice is to wait and not be an early adopter. Prices will drop radically three months after release. Asking for deals now will not yield anything significant.