Buying flagship gears in Asia

[jpiovano]

Hello,
I might be traveling to Japan and China soon, so I quickly checked the prices online for Nauticam gear and flagship cameras from Nikon, Canon, and Sony. I was quite surprised by the significant discounts compared to European prices. as far as I checked, the savings exceed 1000euros for housing and same for cameras. In Japan, there's also a 10% tax that can be waived for foreign visitors by simply showing a passport.

Are there any potential drawbacks to purchasing equipment from these countries? I'm considering things like warranty differences, electrical compatibility, menus possibly locked to a foreign language, as well as issues with returns and after-sales service.

Thanks!

[bghazzal]

In Japan, Sony cameras intended for the Japanese market will be cheaper but with menus Japanese only (and sometimes cultural oddities like non-mutable shutter sounds), and no option to change language.
 

The hacks/firmware tricks to add other language support to Japanese modes are iffy, risk issues with software compatibility for subsequent firmware updates and will void warranty.
And importantly, most don't work for recent Sony models.
 

It also means cameras will be difficult to resell outside the Japanese market because of this - individual buyers are taking a risk in buying a hacked camera, warranty is void and pro retailers will consider the camera to be in Japanese, which makes it lose value (50%+)

 

However, you can also buy international models (海外仕様) in Japan at flagship stores or major outlets like Yodobashi or Bic Camera and, I think Kitamura, but they are a little more expensive.
Most if not all second-hand models in Japan, like the ones sold at Maps, with be Japanese models only.

You can then get a tax discount on new models and second-hand in stores offering tax free-shopping - just make sure not to use the auto-gates at the airport so that you get an entry stamp in your passport.
You can then get a QR code for tax free shopping from visit japan web or bring your passport (Japan being Japan, bring your original passport anyway). Online tax-free shopping is allowed but inexistent, most retailers won't do tax free online, even if you have the QR code. There are limits, I think it's one camera and lens set per person.
 

So it's a tricky decision, and one which I am currently facing for a Sony camera (I read Japanese, so a Japanese menu isn't an really an issue, but it won't be future-proof for resale, and I will need to know the Japanese menu equivalent for any English language info found online, which is a little tiresome).
Panasonic and Canon no longer have this issue like they did in the past, not sure for Nikon.

Lenses, however, are cheaper and readily available second-hand without language issues, with a solid second-hamd market

I don't see massive discounts on Nauticam products in Japan, I find that they're usually in the same range as elsewhere. There is basically one major Nauticam dealer here.
Where did you see good prices?
It might be because the yen is low at the moment, which helps. Or maybe i'm out of touch with European prices.

Second-hand underwater imaging gear market is limited (Mercari, Yahoo Auctions, Jimoti...)

Dive gear is generally much more expensive than Europe.

 

Edited December 1 by bghazzal

[jpiovano]

Thanks for your response, it helps clarify my thoughts a bit more.

Regarding Nauticam prices, I found a housing for the Canon R5 II on the same dealer’s website:
fisheye-jp at ¥598,000 (excluding the 10% tax), which converts to about €3,773.

Same for china, detail.tmall.com, which converts to about €3,523.

In comparison, the same housing in France costs approximately €4,700 : photo-denfert .

I haven't checked prices from other brands yet.

[hellhole]

there is also the chance that they might not have the item you want.

[Chris Ross]

Assuming the price in France includes VAT, that explains a good portion of the difference.  Technically I would guess you are supposed to declare goods coming into the country and pay the VAT upon return as any of these items would exceed the duty-free allowance for travelers. 

 

In addition to the warranty issues, you need to consider the policies of the local distributors for the cameras in question.  For example I understand that Nikon USA won't even do paid work on a non-US model camera, at least that was the case a few years back.  The issues are that warranty and support aren't free, the margin in country pays for the support infrastructure.  In some cases there are excessive margins, but that is steadily eroding due to the ablity to buy goods from overseas sources and online sales in country.