Huge markup on Samyang lenses

[tokyophotographer]

I'm in the market for a 14mm lens and I've been thinking to give the Samyang 14mm a try. I've hit nearly a dozen shops in SG, and the average price is around $577SGD for the 14mm 2.8 Nikon mount. That's about 20-30% markup over every price I've seen online in shops in Japan, US, and Korea. I have colleagues working in those countries who tell me the price is the same in the shops too.

Of course I can afford it, but why is the markup so high in Singapore? One shop said that it's the price dictated by the distributor, but I cannot find any distributor for Samyang in Singapore to ask about this. I would much prefer to buy the lens here, but cannot justify it at that price.

 

[trd2970]

Not just unique for samyang, a lot of other things as well.

 

[SilentSeth]

I'm in the market for a 14mm lens and I've been thinking to give the Samyang 14mm a try. I've hit nearly a dozen shops in SG, and the average price is around $577SGD for the 14mm 2.8 Nikon mount. That's about 20-30% markup over every price I've seen online in shops in Japan, US, and Korea. I have colleagues working in those countries who tell me the price is the same in the shops too.

Of course I can afford it, but why is the markup so high in Singapore? One shop said that it's the price dictated by the distributor, but I cannot find any distributor for Samyang in Singapore to ask about this. I would much prefer to buy the lens here, but cannot justify it at that price.

Btw.. perhaps that's the price of the latest version, with AF confirm chip pre-installed?

 

[tokyophotographer]

Not just unique for samyang, a lot of other things as well.

Don't even get me started on things like camera bags. We basically have a choice of either something in the $50-60SGD range, then it leaps to $300-700SGD, often times for a bag that normally goes for $100-150 everywhere else.

The price I'm talking about for Samyang is for the AF confirm version, which should be the default sold here. Although it wouldn't be the first time if I ever hear about someone selling an old model for a higher price than the new model in SG.

 

[silvermoon1407]

I'm in the market for a 14mm lens and I've been thinking to give the Samyang 14mm a try. I've hit nearly a dozen shops in SG, and the average price is around $577SGD for the 14mm 2.8 Nikon mount. That's about 20-30% markup over every price I've seen online in shops in Japan, US, and Korea. I have colleagues working in those countries who tell me the price is the same in the shops too.

Of course I can afford it, but why is the markup so high in Singapore? One shop said that it's the price dictated by the distributor, but I cannot find any distributor for Samyang in Singapore to ask about this. I would much prefer to buy the lens here, but cannot justify it at that price.

Then buy online. Amazon offers free shipping to SG

 

[Ralf Winston]

Fuji lens xf50-140 cost $21xx here....price across away $16xx. the difference is HUGE ! but only for this lens. i don't know why.

 

[vicdhika]

Simple..
Overseas rent is much cheaper compare to Singapore..
A space like TK foto cost about 7-10k/month..

That's why it's expensive.

Apart from that, they got GST (although not much)
They got income tax to pay also.

Ultimately is the space cost that boost up the price..


Oh ya..
Import tax
Electronic goods tax
Shipping fee..

All include on what we are buying..

So, welcome to Singapore!

Enjoy!

 

[unclejosh]

Exactly as mentioned by above. Prices vary across the region or should I say the world. I can safely say, 90% of the things you buy in Singapore are imported. There would be transportation cost, transportation tax, export tax from the country of origin, import tax in Singapore, the distributor profit, the dealer's profit and not to mention these guys have overheads to cover.

You can very well purchase things overseas but you'd lose some local support--if the item is faulty?

 

[trd2970]

Simple.. Overseas rent is much cheaper compare to Singapore.. A space like TK foto cost about 7-10k/month.. That's why it's expensive. Apart from that, they got GST (although not much) They got income tax to pay also. Ultimately is the space cost that boost up the price.. Oh ya.. Import tax Electronic goods tax Shipping fee.. All include on what we are buying.. So, welcome to Singapore! Enjoy!

rental in Hong Kong is equally expensive. In general, labor costs in Hong Kong also equally expensive. So is Japan for example. The only solution is iron this out is to vote with our wallets and send the signal to retailers and distributors that the price here is way over.

 

[ST4Ever]

if overseas are cheaper then buy from overseas.. if one can afford for the local then local as you will have aftersales support etc. no need to be in headache over all.... =)

 

[catchlights]

I'm in the market for a 14mm lens and I've been thinking to give the Samyang 14mm a try. I've hit nearly a dozen shops in SG, and the average price is around $577SGD for the 14mm 2.8 Nikon mount. That's about 20-30% markup over every price I've seen online in shops in Japan, US, and Korea. I have colleagues working in those countries who tell me the price is the same in the shops too.

Of course I can afford it, but why is the markup so high in Singapore? One shop said that it's the price dictated by the distributor, but I cannot find any distributor for Samyang in Singapore to ask about this. I would much prefer to buy the lens here, but cannot justify it at that price.

Don't even get me started on things like camera bags. We basically have a choice of either something in the $50-60SGD range, then it leaps to $300-700SGD, often times for a bag that normally goes for $100-150 everywhere else.

The price I'm talking about for Samyang is for the AF confirm version, which should be the default sold here. Although it wouldn't be the first time if I ever hear about someone selling an old model for a higher price than the new model in SG.

in this case just save up, buy an air ticket to visit Hong Kong for a weekend camera gears shopping spree over there, the rest of us just suck up to the local camera stores hope to get $10-$20 discounts.

 

[Ralf Winston]

if overseas are cheaper then buy from overseas.. if one can afford for the local then local as you will have aftersales support etc. no need to be in headache over all.... =)

if the item is covered by international warranty, then buy from overseas cos the company will still provide aftersale support.
as I have mentioned, the retailers are not the one providing support, they just sell the item to you and you go to someone else for the service. easy job for them, no headache. so there is no need to charge a premium. unless you paying premium for rent also.

I bought an original fuji battery from TK foto...told me no warranty.

I bought 3rd party battery from Alan photo and Red dot, got one year warranty.

does not make sense.

 

[kandinsky]

if the item is covered by international warranty, then buy from overseas cos the company will still provide aftersale support.
as I have mentioned, the retailers are not the one providing support, they just sell the item to you and you go to someone else for the service. easy job for them, no headache. so there is no need to charge a premium. unless you paying premium for rent also.

Well, for items without international warranty, local warranty support is built into the local price that dealers/shops pay the distributors from the start, so even if the shops aren't the ones providing the support, part of what you pay still goes to cover the cost of providing local support.

But I think yeah, other than actual 'hard costs', sometimes we end up paying more (aka ripped off) simply because the manufacturers believe the local market can bear it. A friend who moved to Australia was telling me that he found that milk powder that is made in Singapore, costs half the price in Australia even though it is imported there :dunno:

So yeah, if possible, best to vote with our wallets wherever possible.

 

[trd2970]

Well, for items without international warranty, local warranty support is built into the local price that dealers/shops pay the distributors from the start, so even if the shops aren't the ones providing the support, part of what you pay still goes to cover the cost of providing local support.

But I think yeah, other than actual 'hard costs', sometimes we end up paying more (aka ripped off) simply because the manufacturers believe the local market can bear it. A friend who moved to Australia was telling me that he found that milk powder that is made in Singapore, costs half the price in Australia even though it is imported there :dunno:

So yeah, if possible, best to vote with our wallets wherever possible.

Don't really buy the explanation that local set has local warranty support built into the price. If we buy from HK, Japan, the price also includes their "local warranty". So this a moot point IMHO.

I fully agree with your second point.

 

[kandinsky]

Don't really buy the explanation that local set has local warranty support built into the price. If we buy from HK, Japan, the price also includes their "local warranty". So this a moot point IMHO.

I fully agree with your second point.

Lol, true. Didn't think about that. Hard to imagine why cost of providing SG warranty should be higher than JP/HK. Ah well. Not everything has to make sense or be fair.

 

[daredevil123]

Don't even get me started on things like camera bags. We basically have a choice of either something in the $50-60SGD range, then it leaps to $300-700SGD, often times for a bag that normally goes for $100-150 everywhere else.

The price I'm talking about for Samyang is for the AF confirm version, which should be the default sold here. Although it wouldn't be the first time if I ever hear about someone selling an old model for a higher price than the new model in SG.

Actually I find camera bags to be a lot cheaper in Singapore than overseas. USA, Canada, Australia all more expensive than SG. Even Malaysia, China are more ex than SG for some of the more popular brands.

 

[daredevil123]

Don't really buy the explanation that local set has local warranty support built into the price. If we buy from HK, Japan, the price also includes their "local warranty". So this a moot point IMHO.

I fully agree with your second point.

IIRC, the main distributor is in Malaysia. I am not sure if the situation has changed. The more hands it goes through, the higher the price will be.

 

[trd2970]

Lol, true. Didn't think about that. Hard to imagine why cost of providing SG warranty should be higher than JP/HK. Ah well. Not everything has to make sense or be fair.

hope the distributors are reading this. But at sometime, when the sales numbers start to dip and local distributors find they are pricing themselves out of the market (either by people buying overseas online or physically, or via grey dealers coming into the market), the price adjustments will come.

 

[Miao]

Simple..
Overseas rent is much cheaper compare to Singapore..
A space like TK foto cost about 7-10k/month..

That's why it's expensive.

Apart from that, they got GST (although not much)
They got income tax to pay also.

Ultimately is the space cost that boost up the price..

Oh ya..
Import tax
Electronic goods tax
Shipping fee..

All include on what we are buying..

So, welcome to Singapore!

Enjoy!

The rent is not as low as you think. If you know the rental for the old tk and new tk shop at funan ... u will be surprise how they can survive.

 

[trd2970]

IIRC, the main distributor is in Malaysia. I am not sure if the situation has changed. The more hands it goes through, the higher the price will be.

rightfully yes, but I guess the principal ie samyang itself does not have much strategy/directions over global or regional pricing.