Leica INSANE SG pricing..

[adamdewilde]

Hi fellow CSers.

I would just like to bring to your attention the fact that Leica Singapore's pricing is outrageous compared to HK. A $200 plane flight away would save you over $6,000 on a Leica SL + Zoom.. I was wondering why my unit wasn't selling. And when I checked with my HK dealer, I found out why. For instance if you know where to look in HK, you can get the new 90-280 for $6,700 SGD!!

This isn't isolated to the SL. The S-007 is $10,000 higher for the body alone. M lenses are between $1,000 and $5,000 higher then HK pricing and that's just unfair. Especially since warranty is honoured. And even if it wasn't, the savings are so insane you could break your gear a few times over before being even with Singapore pricing.

What to do right? Well I think an email to Sunil expressing the unfair treatment will do, be sure to CC the CEO up in Germany too, since Sunil will just hide the unfair treatment. I think if enough of us passionate Leica users write in, perhaps they'll listen and lower the prices in SG.

For those of you who have already been cheated, like myself. And those of you like myself who have used gear for sale but now are beat down on price. We're not going to get anything out of this. But since it won't stop us from buying in the future, I still think an email is in order.

Be sure to speak up. This is why Singapore is always getting screwed. Nobody speaks up!


Best,
Adam

P.S. feedback email address for your convenience:

info.lcap@leica-camera.com

Sunil Kaul
Managing Director, Leica Camera Asia Pacific

Oliver Kaltner
CEO, Leica Camera AG


P.P.S. CS Mods, you can take this post down if you'd like. But again, it does not benefit the Leica community here in Singapore to remove such posts.

 

[JacePhoto]

It's good to bring this up. Perhaps a lot of people do not know about this.

Let's go HK Leica in the future.

 

[zag]

welcome to reality and it has been like that since a long time when sg has become country of high cost for doing biz.

yes it is very frustrating for us leica users, I don't think they will do anything about the RRP in sg.

if you are well-travelled, for eg. picking up M lenses from US; Japan or EU will always be a bargain. I always do that unless hard to get M lenses. such as APO M series for example.
However US and Japan has started to become less attractive as exchange rate strengthened against sgd. UK will be great for now if they have not adjusted the list price.
I thought HK has become less attractive recently due to mainland shoppers. those bargain prices could be "water good" to have such of difference. pls share where to buy good deal for SL body and lens..

a good reference would be list price by BH Photo for US, leica dealers in the EU for euro list prices. yodobashi for Japan list price.

good luck!

 

[ziggy]

Leica Singapore prices have always been much higher than elsewhere. I have bought from Ffordes UK, and they are very reliable. However they may be wary of credit card payments for the first order. Try their website www.ffordes.com.

Some examples of prices from their website, less VAT of 20%, GBP1 = S$1.83 - SL601 @ about S$8,160, 24-90mm @S$4,800, 90-280 @S$7,100, all excluding freight and GST.

 

[daredevil123]

If you think prices in SG are high, wait till you see camera equipment prices in UK, Australia or New Zeland...
Price differentiation by region has always been there, for everything from baby food to mobile phones. Just a fact of life. Many factors come into play in pricing decisions. Also remember that cost of doing business in SG is also amazingly high. With those high rental glamorous showrooms in prime districts and great service staff, the cost of these luxuries need to covered by revenue from somewhere.

The good thing is that world is getting smaller due to transportation and the internet, and many are learning to cross boundaries in search of better pricing.

 

[adamdewilde]

Yes, but we're not talking 7% sales tax. We are talking 30%+ markup in most cases.. I for one will not be supporting Leica Singapore anymore. Take a trip to HK, enjoy your weekend. Save thousands of dollars.. It's a win win.

And I would much prefer if Leica had one shop in Singapore. And spent the rest of the money on a proper service centre here. So not everything would have to go back to Leica Germany. Instead of opening 5 shops and then have bugger all for support. Seriously that white room they have, it's used for cleaning sensors on a good day.

It's a joke, I had a wobbly lens and they couldn't tighten it here. The service staff tightened the mounting screws, and I told them that wasn't the problem and might even be detrimental to the lens, they laughed at me but obviously didn't fix the lens. I went to HK the next weekend for work and my dealer brought out his tool a simple metal tube and fixed the lens in two seconds, free. Something that would have spent 6 - 8 weeks in Germany and cost me $$.

I'd much rather Leica SG spend it's resources on a service centre. Maybe then I'd consider it worth it to spend a bit more here on gear.


And guys, the prices you're mentioning above. Not even close to what you would pay in HK (USA pricing sucks unless you have a dealer willing to give you 30% off USA list prices). Think about all the resellers here who sell new items with stories about their friends don't want, or their uncle is selling or whatever they say. The ones that offer the 24months warranty and slip under the mods radar somehow. Now drop their price by about $1,000 an item. Thats what HK is selling for in most cases. For example. I paid $18,000 SGD for my SL+Zoom. In HK you'd pay $10,700 SGD for an SL+Zoom. I'm trying to sell my SL+Zoom in Singapore for $13,000 a HUGE loss.. And I'm still not competitive with HK pricing it seems. Nothing to do, just keep the SL+Zoom even though it doesn't suit my needs.

I'm just annoyed because most of my gear was purchased here (especially the SL which they promised me they solved the pricing discrepancies on). Trying to support Leica SG. And in the end they just don't care about us customers. We don't get better service treatment. We just pay higher prices. And with HK market, the resale value here sucks so bad that you don't even want to take a chance on new lenses anymore because you will loose for sure.


Anyway, I didn't want to rant so much, just wanted to make people aware. Hopefully if Leica users here speak up, Leica SG might be more reasonable. Or at the very least Leica users here can travel to HK to pickup gear and be happy to have saved money.

 

[faithsilence]

Yup, indeed the prices in Leica Sg is insane. I was quoted SGD9K (!!) for the Leica M262 body, where it was about SGD7k in HK. With the 2k in savings, I can go HK for a few days, eat dim sum until they come out of my nostrils and staying in a decent hotel lol. In fact, prices are also reasonable in the UK (including shipping sans VAT). I was also similarly quoted 11k for M240 in SG, where I can get one below SGD9K in HK. I guess this is for BNIB items, for poor folks like me, I can only settle for 2nd hand Leica stuff. A Leica dealer in HK told me he has a lot of Singaporean customers. He was also shocked at the prices of Leica in SG. In the UK, a brand new 35mm Summicron ASPH 2 is 3K plus (including shipping, for overseas shipping, no VAT), it costs a whopping 4.3k here. Someone I know bought a 21mm Lux ASPH at such a good price, he could not resist. It should be around 11K here, he got it for 8K plus IIRC.

 

[1Ds]

Ive been buying Leica camera body and lens from HK from the past 3 years ready save a lot $$$

 

[shierwin]

Ive been buying Leica camera body and lens from HK from the past 3 years ready save a lot $$$

Mind to share which HK outlet you patronize?

 

[vengels]

This is not limited to Leica products. Even Fuji products are a lot cheaper. I bought my X-Pro2 at $500 cheaper in HK.

 

[dohcvtec]

I second what Vengels' input, however one is best to have the knowledge on where to buy these camera equipment . If not just as good as being a carrot in the mentioned countries above.

I'm not sure about UK or NZ but for as far as I know, US and Australia are always cheaper than the price listed by local retailers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[vengels]

Whenever I bring up this issue, one of the CS reviewer/moderator will say Fujifilm SG includes freebies which make the SG deal very reasonable.

But after breaking down the costs, it is definitely still cheaper in HK. Also the freebies may not be what I want/need.

More importantly, consumers need to check if the international warranty is valid here in SG.

 

[ziggy]

I second what Vengels' input, however one is best to have the knowledge on where to buy these camera equipment . If not just as good as being a carrot in the mentioned countries above.

I'm not sure about UK or NZ but for as far as I know, US and Australia are always cheaper than the price listed by local retailers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just did a quick comparison between Tamarkin NY and Ffordes UK for an SL+2 zooms. NY is USD18,795/S$25,600 vs UK GBP13,100/S$23,720 w VAT. If UK VAT of 20% is excluded, price is S$19,770, or 25% cheaper than the US. Also note that freight from UK is cheaper than from the US. Not sure how much it is in Singapore because I've given up buying Leica things here.

 

[Justpassby]

Whenever I bring up this issue, one of the CS reviewer/moderator will say Fujifilm SG includes freebies which make the SG deal very reasonable.

But after breaking down the costs, it is definitely still cheaper in HK. Also the freebies may not be what I want/need.

More importantly, consumers need to check if the international warranty is valid here in SG.

Yes, useless n overpriced freebies...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Justpassby]

Just to chip in my 2 cents on this. Branded items price has always been higher in sg than other countries, of course various reasons may affect pricing, like currency exchange rate, profit margin, operating cost, tax, product placement in market segment and etc.

My personal opinion is, i don't mind paying a little extra if in return i was provided with good sales and after sales service (support, warranty, repair and etc). But for the case of leica sg, i don feel like buying from them simply because their after sales service simply below standard. It doesn't match the luxury branding that they are trying to portray, hence i rather buy from hong kong or used market as i don see why i should profit leica sg when they r not even meeting up the service standard.

No matter how many emails you sent to sunil or anyone in leica germany will not change anything. As much as we complaint about leica sg and their pricing, there are still a bunch of loyal buyers from them here in sg. Perhaps they are the one who receive a different level of treatment and service from leica sg, hence they willing to continue to pay more. As for me, unless leica sg improve on their service level, i will not buy from them. Simple as that.

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[yeokpd]

Yes, but we're not talking 7% sales tax. We are talking 30%+ markup in most cases.. I for one will not be supporting Leica Singapore anymore. Take a trip to HK, enjoy your weekend. Save thousands of dollars.. It's a win win. And I would much prefer if Leica had one shop in Singapore. And spent the rest of the money on a proper service centre here. So not everything would have to go back to Leica Germany. Instead of opening 5 shops and then have bugger all for support. Seriously that white room they have, it's used for cleaning sensors on a good day. It's a joke, I had a wobbly lens and they couldn't tighten it here. The service staff tightened the mounting screws, and I told them that wasn't the problem and might even be detrimental to the lens, they laughed at me but obviously didn't fix the lens. I went to HK the next weekend for work and my dealer brought out his tool a simple metal tube and fixed the lens in two seconds, free. Something that would have spent 6 - 8 weeks in Germany and cost me $$. I'd much rather Leica SG spend it's resources on a service centre. Maybe then I'd consider it worth it to spend a bit more here on gear. And guys, the prices you're mentioning above. Not even close to what you would pay in HK (USA pricing sucks unless you have a dealer willing to give you 30% off USA list prices). Think about all the resellers here who sell new items with stories about their friends don't want, or their uncle is selling or whatever they say. The ones that offer the 24months warranty and slip under the mods radar somehow. Now drop their price by about $1,000 an item. Thats what HK is selling for in most cases. For example. I paid $18,000 SGD for my SL+Zoom. In HK you'd pay $10,700 SGD for an SL+Zoom. I'm trying to sell my SL+Zoom in Singapore for $13,000 a HUGE loss.. And I'm still not competitive with HK pricing it seems. Nothing to do, just keep the SL+Zoom even though it doesn't suit my needs. I'm just annoyed because most of my gear was purchased here (especially the SL which they promised me they solved the pricing discrepancies on). Trying to support Leica SG. And in the end they just don't care about us customers. We don't get better service treatment. We just pay higher prices. And with HK market, the resale value here sucks so bad that you don't even want to take a chance on new lenses anymore because you will loose for sure. Anyway, I didn't want to rant so much, just wanted to make people aware. Hopefully if Leica users here speak up, Leica SG might be more reasonable. Or at the very least Leica users here can travel to HK to pickup gear and be happy to have saved money.

Hi,

I will be very much interested in the HK dealer mentioned. Can you share the contact and shop location in HK ?

Many thanks.

 

[adamdewilde]

Hi,

I will be very much interested in the HK dealer mentioned. Can you share the contact and shop location in HK ?

Many thanks.

Check out NPC Photo, he's a really cool guy. Tell him Adam sent you. He doesn't play funny games with prices etc.
He's not always the cheapest, but again a good guy.

You'll have to do your own research if you want the absolute lowest in pricing, but NPC and HK in general will be cheaper then most anywhere else in the world when it comes to Leica gear. Maybe some China shops are selling cheaper, but I don't read Mandarin and my wife refuses to get involved with my camera gear purchasing.

Right now I think you can get M240 or M262 for around $5,500 brand new at his shop. N lenses are cheap cheap.

 

[vengels]

Dropping by there to buy lens/camera can also go Australian Dairy Company for food. Very near NPC.

My go to place for scrambled eggs and macaroni when I am in HK.

 

[1Ds]

Check out NPC Photo, he's a really cool guy. Tell him Adam sent you. He doesn't play funny games with prices etc.
He's not always the cheapest, but again a good guy.

You'll have to do your own research if you want the absolute lowest in pricing, but NPC and HK in general will be cheaper then most anywhere else in the world when it comes to Leica gear. Maybe some China shops are selling cheaper, but I don't read Mandarin and my wife refuses to get involved with my camera gear purchasing.

Right now I think you can get M240 or M262 for around $5,500 brand new at his shop. N lenses are cheap cheap.

+1:thumbsup:

 

[sosharp]

+1:thumbsup:

Does anyone know what is the best price of Leica monochrom in Hong Kong?