Big Saving on Lens
I've always tried to support the local economy by purchasing locally. I don't mind paying a little bit extra for the local support and warranty. But, I do object to paying huge premiums for the local convenience.
I had to rethink this strategy of local procurement recently when I purchased a new Olympus 11-22mm F2.8-F3.5 lens.
The best local (New Zealand) price that I could find on the lens was around $1600 NZ. This seemed very excessive to me so it was time to do some investigations. After a quick look at the Amazon website it was obvious that I could do much better than this.
As the value of the item including shipping was more than $500 NZ I was also going to have to pay an import fee and GST on the incoming goods before they would be released. There would also be a delay for shipping of the goods.
I went ahead and ordered the lens via a seller on Amazon. It only took 4 days to arrive in the country (I was expecting a couple of weeks). Once I payed the GST and import duties it took another week before I got the goods. So, a 2 week wait for the lens was a small price to pay for the savings that I got.
As Olympus have a 12 month Global Warranty I am still covered for any manufacturing defects.
The current NZ-US exchange rate certainly helps at the moment for importers (doesn't do much for exports though).
In total I saved over $500 NZ on the lens with it costing around $1100 instead of $1600.
So, if you are not in a hurry it certainly pays to do your homework first and consider importing.