scopes-do we live in rip off britain?

[sako 75 .243]

How can you call it rip off Britain when you're trying to cheat the system?

 

As for "present", do you really believe customs are that naive?

Wait till they ask for proof it is a present

 

hmmm....look at my post again...DO we live in rip off Britain? ok how meny guys on here have been on holiday and brought cheap gold,diamonds or what ever and not declared it at customs ?

[MrCetrizine]

I work in Dubai and buy my Binos and camera lenses here. I always make sure I get international warrantees with them.

Don't buy Canon gear then. They don't do international warranties. Some of them include multiple countries though.

[bradders]

 

hmmm....look at my post again...DO we live in rip off Britain? ok how meny guys on here have been on holiday and brought cheap gold,diamonds or what ever and not declared it at customs ?

There's a bit of a difference between bringing in stuff like that personally and ordering it and having a mate "gift' it to you from abroad.

There's a word for it, I think it's called conspiracy.

C&E don't like falsified valuations.

 

Do you know what I do when I bring stuff in from abroad?

I keep my gob shut and don't shout about it on the internet

[Wsm]

For dealers looking at this thread there really isn't much incentive to actually jump through all the hoops of opening a UK business and having a well stocked shop (with the hope of making 10% if you're lucky) whilst being viewed as some latter day Dick Turpin is there

[Avian]

Don't buy Canon gear then. They don't do international warranties. Some of them include multiple countries though.

I use Nikon, which fortunately comes with international warrantees, as do Leica scopes and Binos.

 

I think it also depends on which country you buy it in. Some companies give international warrantees for good in one country but not another.

[1967spud]

 

Hi wsm,

 

Are you saying that if I brought the scope from the states that a sightron dealer in this country will not honour the warranty?

thats exactly what i will say

[achosenman]

All dealers in the UK (myself included) should cease from making any profit whatsoever and instead import stuff and pass it on to the whining punters just to keep them happy and stop them crapping on about "Rip Off Britain"

 

I agree.

 

Having helped out at mates RFD, the mark-up is minimal. The stock outlay cost is horrendous and the business rates are crippling for high street premises.

10% profit on products' from Zeiss et al is a pipe dream.

 

The other thing that used to bug me was punters coming in to inspect goods, getting free advice then going onto the web for a £4 discount. Then they whined and bitched when we were not interested in sorting out their problems when it went to ratsh*t

 

ATB

[jungle_re]

Quite a few different things in play here and as most things valid points in a number of different views.

Britain/Europe I think is done a disservice by some companies Zeiss springs to mind as one where there standard product struggle in a price driven market like the US so they make some very nice alternative products but don't offer them in Europe as they would detract from the higher end more profitable sales. The HD5 conquests spring straight to mind, £800 for a 5-25x50 zero stopped assembled in Germany with European glass in us money and that was ordered from the states with vat and import paid at he company end in the US. Falsify details as gift and elaborate postage routines does smack more of tax avoidance and smuggling and is somewhat different to bringing things back from a trip. Those that cry about the poor British seller I doubt are whiter than white either. I buy and bring back the form the sates often mainly due to either supply issues in the uk or non available products and don't feel a jot of guilt I also buy and use many British shooting vendors to the tune of meny thousands plenty of which reside here.

 

We are done over by something do better in other and really good in other, talk to you us friends about what he pays for a moderator ticket! You pays ya money and take your choice.

[jungle_re]

Apologise for the terrible spelling and grammar struggling with a mini ipad offshore and can't seem to edit hopefully you can decipher the just of it

[The Gun Pimp]

Let's face it - we all want best value for our 'hard-earned'. But, do you still have a local gunshop? 20 years ago we had two in my home town - both now shut.

 

I'm lucky with Fox Firearms at Diggle but without Brian, it would be an 80 miles round trip to Hannam's. How much does that add to a tub of powder?

 

As far as Sightron scopes are concerned, we are very fortunate to have a UK importer like John Dean of Aimfield Sports. John is a shooter himself and generously donates his mats, bags and scopes as prizes every year.

 

I've just had a Nightforce go wrong. What do I do? The internet says ring Nightforce in America for a repair number. When I do - Nightforce tell me to go through the Sportsmans Gun Centre! Now there's another link in the repair chain. If it had been my Sightron, I'd simply hand it back to John. If it was a genuine scope fault, he'd loan me something until it was repaired.

 

Guys - there ain't no RFDs getting rich!

[achosenman]

 

Guys - there ain't no RFDs getting rich!

 

Yep never a truer word. My mate closed his RFD, sold the stock and now rents the premises to a hairdresser.

 

He earns more from a single months rent, than he ever made after all his overheads were paid at the end of each month from the RFD business.

 

ATB

[Jame5m]

There's only one way to make a little money at being an rfd.... Start with a lot of money!

[Jamie]

This has been interesting reading.....

I'm not surprised the "dealers" on here are a tad pi**ed off! I would be to!

If I was spending around a grand on a scope, the warranty would be just as important to me as choosing the right scope!

Sometimes the after service is as important as the item itself......

[MrCetrizine]

There's nothing like walking into an RFD, buying some scope mounts and having them ask if you'd like them to mount and boresight the scope for you, for free, purely because the rifle came from them originally.

[mildot]

I ordered my sightron from the states. Cost me about £550 I got stung on the import etc which added £150 so all in it cost me £700 to my door.... the same scope in the UK is nearly £900.....

 

So yes you could say we live in a rip off country..... You will find that most people that say its a bad idea are dealers themselves.... so they want you to buy from someone in the uk. Yes I do support UK sellers and shops but there is a point where shear savings comes first!!!! if it was only £50-£100 saving from buying abroad I wouldn't bother and I would then buy from the UK sources but not when its nearly £200.

 

tin hat on

[1967spud]

problem is mildot if you do have a problem and you have to send it back , whren you get it back youll have to pay customs again

[bradders]

problem is mildot if you do have a problem and you have to send it back , whren you get it back youll have to pay customs again

Not if you have proof it was a repair.

 

I went through this recently with a Leupold Tactical I sent back for warranty repair.

All I had to do was send them a copy of the emails and the proof of postage.

 

If you've had to pay again you're doing it all wrong

[bradders]

I ordered my sightron from the states. Cost me about £550 I got stung on the import etc which added £150 so all in it cost me £700 to my door.... the same scope in the UK is nearly £900.....

 

So yes you could say we live in a rip off country..... You will find that most people that say its a bad idea are dealers themselves.... so they want you to buy from someone in the uk. Yes I do support UK sellers and shops but there is a point where shear savings comes first!!!! if it was only £50-£100 saving from buying abroad I wouldn't bother and I would then buy from the UK sources but not when its nearly £200.

 

tin hat on

So if a dealer added a not unreasonable 20% profit to that (of which he'd have to pay around 20% tax on his profit), he would then retail it for £700+20% which is £840, which isn't that far from your "nearly £900"? Is that reasonable?

Or would you prefer him to say "here you go mate, £700 to you and I'm not making any money on it, in fact I'm losing money on it coz I can't claim the tax back"?

[Laurie]

I ordered my sightron from the states. Cost me about £550 I got stung on the import etc which added £150 so all in it cost me £700 to my door.... the same scope in the UK is nearly £900.....

 

Well, you don't say which model, but the 8-32X56 LRMOA is listed by Aim Field Sports as £890 RRP, so that seems a reasonable match? Depending just what the £ to $ exchange rate for private individuals was when you bought it, £550 ex retailer suggests somewhere around $880 US, but is that with or without carriage and insurance? Since the pound is rising strongly now, if you bought it last summer or before, the US price would have had to be less than $880 - I got $1.50 per £1.00 for a US trip in late July and that was a fantastic rate compared to only a few months before, but 10 cents poorer than right now.

 

Looking for this scope on major US retailer websites now, the cheapest I could find amongst the 'majors' is SWFA Optics which probably retails more scopes (of all makes) than all UK dealers put together and can negotiate substantial quantity discounts as a result. It quotes this scope at $950.95. Bruno Shooters Supplies where I got a Weaver T series from direct many years back when nobody seemed to sell them here shows a blank page when you click on 'Sightron' - presumably no stock currently, and Bruno is under terrible pressure right now in its home market thanks to the current US primer / powder / bullet shortage and won't reply to emails ... etc, etc.

 

Sinclair International which is now part of the Brownells empire and with a HUGE turnover / buying power lists the scope at the same price more or less (+ $2).

 

You have to ask yourself how some American online suppliers manage to sell some of these things at the quoted prices and where they get them from. I can understand Bruno and SWFA being able to sell things at apparently low prices by our standards before adding VAT etc as a result of the quantities they order and the resulting discounts they'll be able to negotiate. But ... some of the others you see on Ebay etc?

 

However, even at SWFA's price for the 8-32X56 LRMO and even with the recent rapid increase in the value of the pound, I reckon you save £100 at most over the official UK retailer's price. How much is the UK based warranty service worth to you?

 

(In case anybody thinks that a scope from SWFA looks attractive, I'd better paste this paragraph from their website here as well. I don't think Bropwnells / Sinclair will sell us a riflescope either these days.)

 

SWFA, Inc. only does business within the United States of America and will not directly or indirectly export or assist in exporting any product(s) purchased through SWFA, Inc. SWFA, Inc. has decided to cease all international sales due to credit card fraud and the majority of the products SWFA, Inc. offers, being restricted and prohibited for export by the United States government.

[sako 75 .243]

Laurie,

 

this is the site that I had seen them.... 4scopes.com

[Jagged 77]

Europtics or Liberty Optics are the two best Us scope retailers who will ship to the UK, they look after Hide members too if you happen to be a member there. If one of my Sightrons goes wrong I know either Scott at Liberty will take care of it or Sightron will direct. I would like to support AIM further (in addition to the 3 drag bags plus range mat) but I always got substantial savings buying direct from the US even with duty, VAT etc at those particular times, it might not always work out that way of course. The biggest risk of course is if you choose to take a gamble with an ITAR restricted item and it gets seized en route! With that being the case if I had my heart set on a mil mil Sightron I'd buy from AIm.

[247sniper]

Rip of Britain.......You should try living in the isle of Man

[The Gun Pimp]

Rip of Britain.......You should try living in the isle of Man

Yeh but you get the TT for free - costs me £750!

[247sniper]

Yeh but you get the TT for free - costs me £750!

 

Aye, O and we also have handguns too!

[Jamie]

 

Aye, O and we also have handguns too!

Apologies for being briefly "Off Topic" BUT, No way! That's ridiculous! And really pi**es me off!

I used to love using the 1911.....

 

My local RFD has 2 prices for new rifle sales. One for cash and debit cards, and a higher one for credit cards. He says it's due to the high charges he has to pay when customers use Credit Cards...??

As most of his rifles are already priced at 10% higher than other RFD's I'd be interested in how many "New" rifles he sells a year??

 

I appreciate sometimes people, including myself have had to buy outside the UK for the best deal, due to having young families, and maybe only one person working due to this. So you pay your money and take your chances as they say... I think most can relate to that.

 

But looking at the future regarding the number RFD's trading.... If more people buy from overseas, the amount of RFD's will go down in the UK. Which I presume would mean price rises at the ones still trading... And as some of the "important" items have to be bought face to face, then the price will be higher still?? As most people will have even further to travel to get to there nearest RFD, so you have the fuel bill to add to the overall price as well! All that added together can not be healthy for our

sport/Trade.....