Local Pentax Pricing for K5IIs (and cameras) - We need better

[PhilipKr35]

Yes, Fengwei, I just hope that the APDS rep who views this thread takes it positively.
As I see it :
1. There are many good customers buying Pentax and they should at least get fair pricing.
2. The reality on the ground is that overseas is much cheaper and the price difference makes buying overseas a highly viable choice all things considered. (ie. warranty; gst; shipping)
3. Pentax user base is not growing much since Kx/K5 (if not declining) and will certainly benefit both APDS and us if more people are attracted to Pentax with good pricing.
4. People here are willing to buy local if the pricing is fair (and the point is fair price and not lowest in the World)

Apart from fair pricing which could make more sense to buy local, APDS has so far not engaging their customers. So far no Pentax Ricoh road show, no Pentax Ricoh contest, no nothing, dare not organize outing ( if you organize we Pentaxians will be there to support!), have not seen any Pentax advertisement locally, even a real estate agent could afford to put up advertisement!

If you don't engage the consumers, it's like a job half done.

I have bought Kr, DA35mm, DA18-55WR, Sigma 70-300mm, Pentax Q w 01 lens locally, adapter K to Q new locally, but my next purchase in progress will be like my Q10+02+06 , from overseas, because I don't see APDS engaging the local consumer and Pentaxians.

I don't know why , maybe someone could explain so I could understand , if there is any difficulty in engaging local consumers.

 

[Zenten]

Apart from fair pricing which could make more sense to buy local, APDS has so far not engaging their customers. So far no Pentax Ricoh road show, no Pentax Ricoh contest, no nothing, dare not organize outing ( if you organize we Pentaxians will be there to support!), have not seen any Pentax advertisement locally, even a real estate agent could afford to put up advertisement!

If you don't engage the consumers, it's like a job half done.

I have bought Kr, DA35mm, DA18-55WR, Sigma 70-300mm, Pentax Q w 01 lens locally, adapter K to Q new locally, but my next purchase in progress will be like my Q10+02+06 , from overseas, because I don't see APDS engaging the local consumer and Pentaxians.

I don't know why , maybe someone could explain so I could understand , if there is any difficulty in engaging local consumers.

......... engagement would mean that you have to get married and that's a long term obligation ............ :bsmilie:


Seriously .... any business primary objective is to make money. As far as APDS is concerned, Pentax is not the only brand they are carrying and they are probably still "testing the waters" with it. If Pentax becomes a viable and lucrative option, then they would perhaps become more committed. Otherwise, they may just move on as what Emjay did. Anyhow, nowadays, it relatively easy to make a purchase on the internet and you guys certainly know where to find the best deals. So what's there to stop you when anything is just a click away?

 

[PhilipKr35]

Yes, you thoughts are yours and you may be right, but I can't say APDS has the same thinking when they managed convince Pentax to let them have the distributor ship of Pentax, unless you are speaking from knowledge.

Yes, I am ordering from Japan. So is many others here in Clubsnap.

......... engagement would mean that you have to get married and that's a long term obligation ............ :bsmilie:

Seriously .... any business primary objective is to make money. As far as APDS is concerned, Pentax is not the only brand they are carrying and they are probably still "testing the waters" with it. If Pentax becomes a viable and lucrative option, then they would perhaps become more committed. Otherwise, they may just move on as what Emjay did. Anyhow, nowadays, it relatively easy to make a purchase on the internet and you guys certainly know where to find the best deals. So what's there to stop you when anything is just a click away?

 

[lensk]

I'm not sure where to get good deal from web. Maybe u can advise where are the good place to buy ? Thanks.

......... engagement would mean that you have to get married and that's a long term obligation ............ :bsmilie:


Seriously .... any business primary objective is to make money. As far as APDS is concerned, Pentax is not the only brand they are carrying and they are probably still "testing the waters" with it. If Pentax becomes a viable and lucrative option, then they would perhaps become more committed. Otherwise, they may just move on as what Emjay did. Anyhow, nowadays, it relatively easy to make a purchase on the internet and you guys certainly know where to find the best deals. So what's there to stop you when anything is just a click away?

 

[eow]

Apart from fair pricing which could make more sense to buy local, APDS has so far not engaging their customers. So far no Pentax Ricoh road show, no Pentax Ricoh contest, no nothing, dare not organize outing ( if you organize we Pentaxians will be there to support!), have not seen any Pentax advertisement locally, even a real estate agent could afford to put up advertisement!

If you don't engage the consumers, it's like a job half done.

I have bought Kr, DA35mm, DA18-55WR, Sigma 70-300mm, Pentax Q w 01 lens locally, adapter K to Q new locally, but my next purchase in progress will be like my Q10+02+06 , from overseas, because I don't see APDS engaging the local consumer and Pentaxians.

I don't know why , maybe someone could explain so I could understand , if there is any difficulty in engaging local consumers.

Maybe u just need to ask the distros before APDS, Emjay,Shriro why they handover the distro right.
i feel the Emay was engaging the most, but on rumour i heard of they were penalised by the origin for selling the stuff cheaply at certain point of the time when they still had the distro right....

 

[PhilipKr35]

Maybe u just need to ask the distros before APDS, Emjay,Shriro why they handover the distro right.
i feel the Emay was engaging the most, but on rumour i heard of they were penalised by the origin for selling the stuff cheaply at certain point of the time when they still had the distro right....

Lesson to be learn from history, sell at reasonable price with profit, but must put back some to efforts to get new customers! APDS seemed have other priorities and no plans made known for Pentax locally as far as I know.

 

[Zenten]

I'm not sure where to get good deal from web. Maybe u can advise where are the good place to buy ? Thanks.

Bro, check post #30 ....good price. Maybe you you can tag your order with the rest who want to do a mass order ....

Anyhow, just wait to see how APDS will respond, I know that they are monitoring this thread closely .....

 

[ranchy]

Apart from fair pricing which could make more sense to buy local, APDS has so far not engaging their customers. So far no Pentax Ricoh road show, no Pentax Ricoh contest, no nothing, dare not organize outing ( if you organize we Pentaxians will be there to support!), have not seen any Pentax advertisement locally, even a real estate agent could afford to put up advertisement!

If you don't engage the consumers, it's like a job half done.

I have bought Kr, DA35mm, DA18-55WR, Sigma 70-300mm, Pentax Q w 01 lens locally, adapter K to Q new locally, but my next purchase in progress will be like my Q10+02+06 , from overseas, because I don't see APDS engaging the local consumer and Pentaxians.

I don't know why , maybe someone could explain so I could understand , if there is any difficulty in engaging local consumers.

I think APD did try to engage the customers. They did join one of our outing and let's have a feel of the K5iis and Q10 etc....
They do advert but not as strongly as the other brands does. Their facebook page always have updates of Pentax stuff. And also, a recent competition for the Q10 watch.

......... engagement would mean that you have to get married and that's a long term obligation ............ :bsmilie:


Seriously .... any business primary objective is to make money. As far as APDS is concerned, Pentax is not the only brand they are carrying and they are probably still "testing the waters" with it. If Pentax becomes a viable and lucrative option, then they would perhaps become more committed. Otherwise, they may just move on as what Emjay did. Anyhow, nowadays, it relatively easy to make a purchase on the internet and you guys certainly know where to find the best deals. So what's there to stop you when anything is just a click away?

I personally think it was not Emjay choose to move on. It was a decision by Ricoh which bought over Pentax from HOYA. Locally, APD was the distributor for RICOH. It does not make sense to have 2 distributor of in SG for the two products brand.

Anyway, it's all history for now. APDs is the local distributor. We are just hoping they listen to our views and come up with better pricing for Pentax Products. Not the Body and also the lenses.

I would always prefer to buy locally if possible. At least I can see, feel and touch before buying. Less issues of sending it back if there is a problem when buying overseas.

Though I did not buy as much as FW does locally, I bought most of my stuff locally unless they are not easily available.
My purchase of bodies K7, K5 silver and K01 was bought locally.
Lenses: DA18-55WR, 50-200WR, DA40, DA15 and DFA100WR.

My recent new body, K30, was bought from e-offer.sg for the better pricing. Therefore, if the future new products by Ricoh-Pentax offered by APDs to us, which is still a premium higher than getting online. I will have no choice but to follow suit.

 

[fengwei]

Lesson to be learn from history, sell at reasonable price with profit, but must put back some to efforts to get new customers! APDS seemed have other priorities and no plans made known for Pentax locally as far as I know.

As ranchy said, actually APD has been trying to promote Pentax in the past a few months. We've seen quite a number of ads on either news papers or on their facebook pages.

Bro, check post #30 ....good price. Maybe you you can tag your order with the rest who want to do a mass order ....

Anyhow, just wait to see how APDS will respond, I know that they are monitoring this thread closely .....

Well, I'm sure APD is monitoring this thread and clubsnap very closely, because they do care

Let's hope we'd see some changes after APD have heard our voices, at least make our local price more inline w/ oversea prices. Now the new camera GR is coming, a very good chance to promote and expend Ricoh/Pentax user base.

Still remember I paid $400USD for the GR1 film camera back in 1998, while most other p&s film cameras cost less than half of this in those days. But GR1 managed to be one of the most popular p&s film cameras in the late 90s to early 2000s. It has to be the most successful camera Ricoh ever made.

If the new digital version GR camera is a good performer, which I'm sure it will be, this camera will SELL.

 

[PhilipKr35]

The only Pentax Ricoh advertisement I can recalled is the cut out coupons for $50-$100 discount. I gave up on their Facebook after Q10 took like ages to appear in Singapore.

Anyone know when GR reaching Singapore shores?

As ranchy said, actually APD has been trying to promote Pentax in the past a few months. We've seen quite a number of ads on either news papers or on their facebook pages.

Well, I'm sure APD is monitoring this thread and clubsnap very closely, because they do care

Let's hope we'd see some changes after APD have heard our voices, at least make our local price more inline w/ oversea prices. Now the new camera GR is coming, a very good chance to promote and expend Ricoh/Pentax user base.

Still remember I paid $400USD for the GR1 film camera back in 1998, while most other p&s film cameras cost less than half of this in those days. But GR1 managed to be one of the most popular p&s film cameras in the late 90s to early 2000s. It has to be the most successful camera Ricoh ever made.

If the new digital version GR camera is a good performer, which I'm sure it will be, this camera will SELL.

 

[sobrietyanonymous]

just buy overseas! apparently amazon now supports electronic shipments overseas.. i purchased a headphone and a mp3 player lately.

other major sites like adorama and bh photos are reliable sites also.

screw ADP. since they arrived our prices have risen significantly.

 

[PhilipKr35]

I wouldn't go that far to that extent of using such strong words, since as consumer we have choices and free to buy from anywhere we think have reasonable price and balance with great service and experience.

just buy overseas! apparently amazon now supports electronic shipments overseas.. i purchased a headphone and a mp3 player lately.

other major sites like adorama and bh photos are reliable sites also.

screw ADP. since they arrived our prices have risen significantly.

 

[pinholecam]

Let's not let this be a howling for blood against the distro.
It serves no propose other than to entrench the position of all sides.


To APDS credit, they have put up quite a few ads on papers (Today newspaper if I am not wrong)

 

[flame angel]

Rakuten: Pentax[ Pentax] K-5IIs body kit - Shopping Japanese products from Japan

S$981.26

Oh man!
If not for the fact that I'm happy enough with my K30 and hoping to get the next newer model.......

Even with lousy Vpost, shipping will be about $60+ (excluding local Jpn shipping and GST).

If bought from Japan, Can i use others shipping service, such as comGateway. Heard that they got better service.
The DSLR is shipping with battery right? I thought batteries are prohibited items to be shipped, will it be a problem for shipping? Thks!

 

[ricohflex]

In order to win the Pentax distributorship, APDS must have incurred expenses.
APDS is trying to recoup that and in addition - make profits.
Usually a company needs to commit to a certain sales target before being granted distributorship.
Pressure is on APDS to sell high volume.
But at the same time, it has to make a good profit.

The world has changed. It is no longer like the 1960's. Where the distributor or sole agent can make huge profits. Basically then it was take it or leave it. Now you can buy directly from Japan via Internet at a much lower price.
If everyone does this, then it may break APDS.

But not everyone is aware of this. Not everyone wants to bother to buy off Internet, even if they are aware.
There will be people who are willing to pay more to buy from a local retailer.

Pentax was a resounding name in the 1960's with the likes of Asahi Pentax Spotmatic and scallop barrel Super Takumar lenses.
In 2013, Pentax is a pale shadow of what it was, in terms of brand ranking.
Though the K5 IIs looks like good spec.
To come into its own, Pentax needs to sell a full frame DSLR in future.

 

[pinholecam]

If bought from Japan, Can i use others shipping service, such as comGateway. Heard that they got better service.
The DSLR is shipping with battery right? I thought batteries are prohibited items to be shipped, will it be a problem for shipping? Thks!

I know that there is Vpost and Tenso
Not sure about comGateway.

Shipping with battery, I think some of the guys have successfully done it.
If I'm not wrong Phillip has got his Q10 from Jpn.

 

[PhilipKr35]

I had bought Q10 two lens kit from Amazon Japan and shipped to Singapore via VPost, I think VPost is OK, it is tracked online or with iPhone App now.
Q10 lithium ion battery was with package, as long as the battery is not inserted in the camera or device if I am not wrong.

VPost is OK, my experience . There was another guy who bought using VPost as well, he PM me and I went through the process with him and the address in Japanese was having some problem being entered on the Amazon .co.jp website form.

Day1- Ordered amazon.co.jp, waited 1 week before Amazon.co delivered to Japan address.
Day 8- Day 11- VPost need 3 days to acknowledge online that they received the goods at Japan address.
Day 12- I go online and paid for Processing fee+freight+GST+if you like insurance from VPost as well.
( If you have a few items from different retailer in Japan, you have to wait for all items to arrive at Japan address, then you process one time together and VPost charge you one time processing fee regardless of items, and you only pay GST for item above S$400, so lets say you bought Q10 at S$684 and you buy GRDIV as a separate order which cost less than S$400, you don't need to pay for GST on the GRDIV, regardless as long as each item pr Invoice is less than S$400- no GST)

Day 13- VPost acknowledge received payment and goods shipped,
Day 18- I received goods at front door.

Happy Shopping!

If bought from Japan, Can i use others shipping service, such as comGateway. Heard that they got better service.
The DSLR is shipping with battery right? I thought batteries are prohibited items to be shipped, will it be a problem for shipping? Thks!

 

[PhilipKr35]

We are like a customer of Pentax who is lost and aimless and distro is like far away not knowing what is their plan for 2013.
In any business, relationship with the customer is critical, without which there would not be loyalty, no awareness, no customer/distributor informat
A simple acknowledgement that the distro plan to bring in the GR by mid May would have suffice to attract us and perhaps there would be a simple launch event, etc...

I am the sort buys only Pentax so far, who would be willing to pay a little more to keep a good relationship, so, it is not that difficult to please.

Let's not let this be a howling for blood against the distro.
It serves no propose other than to entrench the position of all sides.


To APDS credit, they have put up quite a few ads on papers (Today newspaper if I am not wrong)

 

[hjbyeo]

Apart from the pricing, I have to say I'd got good things to say about their support for my GRD4 awhile ago. Some of you may feel otherwise, but for me, I felt my issue was addressed appropriately and quickly too.

And I believe they'd made an attempt to get back our best Pentax support guy, and I believe he's already with them. This looks like they are looking at steps to make sure the community is being serviced with the right support.

My only concern with APD had been its pricing of the products. They just don't seem to have a grip on the "market" prices. Maybe they do, but they have already committed to stocks priced higher because of the prevailing exchange rates back then?

In any case, I am wishing that they come up with a fairer pricing, keep on par with the "market" prices, and I am sure Pentax/Ricoh fans will continue to support the brand locally.

 

[geengar]

Yeah looks very much like it. The coloured K30s are affecting me real bad. Silver, Red or Yellow? mmm . . .

Ah Felix, silver one more classic imo but unfortunately they dun have the other colours like Silky Blue which I have not seen one in Sg yet.

Im also a colour fan, which is why I go for Pentax K-r as my first DSLR after reading reviews about it and knowing that it is available in many colours. My Blue Kr was bought from GizmoBuy when Emjay was still distro. It was from Japan but Emjay honor the warranty which is important to me and I further extend the warranty with them for another year. My next DSLR was a 2nd hand purchase from B n S since the Blue K-30 is readily available in Singapore. My current purchase is a Blue Q10 from SgCameraStore for the same reason, so that APD will honor the warranty. Unfortuately, seeing the Yen dropping makes me a little heart pain.