Pricing is local. Voigtlander like all companies look at local demand (and their cost of supplying the market), and price accordingly. With the US median income being significantly higher than Japanese median income, a higher price is to be expected (higher demand) everything else being equal. Add to this the tariffs, which make direct purchases from Japan (substitutes) and costs for Voigtlander (supply costs) more expensive, and you have even more upward pressure on prices. This is just straightforward economics, no matter what some politically inclined people want to tell you.
None of this has anything to do with "ripping off"; it is what all companies do in a market based economy.
The price you pay is certainly related to production, marketing, shipping and tariffs. It is, to a great extent, a marketing decision as to where to price a product and of course competing products have a seat at the table. If you charge too little, your profits suffer and if you charge too much, fewer buy and your profits suffer, so there is a marketing sweet spot. Now, per capita income per year in the U.S. tops $84,000 whereas in Japan sits just above $32,000. How do you think these numbers work their way into marketeers setting a products price in the U.S. vs Japan?
maly149 wrote:
Leica stuff isn't likely to be cheaper in Japan now as a lot of the sellers have caught on. It's mostly new, made in Japan lenses where you'll see the biggest savings.
Maybe not in Japan but you can get Leica cameras significantly cheaper in Hong Kong. New Q343 is $6400 USD while it’s $7950 in US! Huge difference.
avinash wrote:
Map Camera and Kitamura have the best prices, even lower than Yodobashi. And I'm talking new lenses!!!
for example US list for the 28mm APO VM is $1149 without tax, you can buy it in Shinjuku for $730 tax free
Yodobashi will price match MAP Camera. A few months ago MAP was out of stock on the VM 28/1.5 I in silver so I went to Yodobashi which had it in stock and they price matched the MAP online price.
Yodobashi Camera's and Bic Camera's normal prices are actually equal to Map Camera's if one has their bonus points card in a way as they normally award 10% points for each purchase which makes up for the price difference, but the points can only be used towards next purchases. I guess for visitors who don't have those points cards they are often willing to negotiate the price difference, though I don't know if it works every time, might depend on the sales person.
Map Camera, Fujiya Camera, Ogikubo Sakuraya and many other smaller stores usually have the same prices (10% below Yodobashi and Bic when not considering points). Fujiya tends to have better deals on used CV lenses. Ogikubo Sakuraya sometimes beats all others with their special offers on new lenses (not always though). For example CV 28/2 VM was available at just below 112K yen when I bought one from Ogikubo Sakuraya (even though the lens was hardly available anywhere at the time, I only found stock at Ogisaku). They also have a 19K yen discount for the E-mount version currently compared to Map/Fujiya price (though I'm not sure if they have it in stock).
Cosina/Voigtlander don't set MSRP pricing in the US, as far as I know, though they may have a recommended price. It would be up to the distributor, such as Cameraquest.
It's not a new thing that Voigtlander lenses are cheaper elsewhere. Back in 2015 I bought the VM 35/1.7 from the Leica Shop in Austria for ~500 Euro, with free shipping, which was several hundred dollars less than the US MSRP. Also in 2015 Voigtlander and Zeiss pricing was notably lower in Japan while I was there compared to the US, but not as big a gap as there appears to be for some lenses now. In 2015 I wanted to buy the ZM 35/1.4 for USD ~1700 in Japan vs. ~$2200 in the US/Canada, but it still hadn't been released in the Japan market at the time of my visit. It's currently selling for ~$1200 vs. $1750 at B&H, discounted from $2400...
My gut feeling about US pricing is that on top of the costs of doing business, offering a warranty and providing domestic servicing, new release pricing is also set to take advantage of early adopters who are less price sensitive. This leaves a buffer for the eventual discounting that will occur at certain times of year, such as Black Friday, Boxing Day, etc. As well as discounting later in the product cycle. This isn't unique to Voigtlander. I'm also Canon user and similar happens with them too.
I'll be in Japan next week and I'm tempted by some of the Voigtlander pricing disparity, particularly the 90/2 APO (though it appears to have gone up about $100 in Japan in the last month or so). But I'm actually more interested in Canon. The last time I was in Japan the Canon pricing difference vs. USA/Canada wasn't significant, but now some lenses I'm eyeing are notably less. Not enough to make mail order a viable option due to the various hassles and costs involved, but since I will be in Japan in person anyway, it's very tempting. For example, the Canon RF 20/1.4 VCM that I'm eyeing is 20% less than in Canada and about 25% less than US MSRP. While I won't be buying one, the 100-300/2.8 is USD 7750 vs. 10600, or ~ CAD 11,000 vs. 14,000. With a big enough purchase, the savings would pay for the airfare and a short stay. As in other situations, this benefits those who can spend a lot to save some money. I think for the average consumer the general friction of a typical single lens trans-border transaction is enough to not make it worth the hassle to save $100-200 in the end. It's just frustrating to see that prices in some markets are considerably less, at least at first glance without taking into consideration various costs that are likely a factor for higher local pricing.
mranger211 wrote:
Pricing is local. Voigtlander like all companies look at local demand (and their cost of supplying the market), and price accordingly. With the US median income being significantly higher than Japanese median income, a higher price is to be expected (higher demand) everything else being equal. Add to this the tariffs, which make direct purchases from Japan (substitutes) and costs for Voigtlander (supply costs) more expensive, and you have even more upward pressure on prices. This is just straightforward economics, no matter what some politically inclined people want to tell you.
None of this has anything to do with "ripping off"; it is what all companies do in a market based economy....Show more →
I can not disagree more, everything went up in price after the tariffs and even though it was ruled illegal, and the monies being returned, we the consumer are paying the price. MOST of the times when the price goes upand stay up on stuff like this. On top of that Dollar has lost about 15~20% of its value!
You guys should look at what grocery stores are doing with dynamic pricing. You are going to really love that one. Same goods. Same location. Same tariffs (if applicable). Different pricing based on consumer. Dynamic airline pricing has been around for over 40 years.
msadat wrote:
I can not disagree more, everything went up in price after the tariffs and even though it was ruled illegal, and the monies being returned, we the consumer are paying the price. MOST of the times when the price goes upand stay up on stuff like this. On top of that Dollar has lost about 15~20% of its value!
I don't quite understand your comment. Which part do you disagree with? That tariffs increase prices? Or that pricing is local, ie the price in Japan has no direct impact on US pricing? It does impact it indirectly in as much as people can have stuff shipped from Japan, of course. I am happy to clarify what I was trying to say.
Yikes, what’s with all this victimhood? Buy the lens or don’t. Nobody is making you purchase and for many lenses, there are regular U.S. sales, or there is the used market. Companies and distributors set prices and consumers buy, or not.
bwcolor wrote:
Now, per capita income per year in the U.S. tops $84,000 whereas in Japan sits just above $32,000. How do you think these numbers work their way into marketeers setting a products price in the U.S. vs Japan?
Exactly. The rich Americans should pay their fair share compared to the rest of the world.
mranger211 wrote:
I don't quite understand your comment. Which part do you disagree with? That tariffs increase prices? Or that pricing is local, ie the price in Japan has no direct impact on US pricing? It does impact it indirectly in as much as people can have stuff shipped from Japan, of course. I am happy to clarify what I was trying to say.
produce prices are local, items imported are not locally priced unless taxes and price gouging is in play. two major thing happened for all usa prices on cameras to go up, tariffs and the devaluation of dollar. USA use to be much cheaper to buy camera equipment but our fearless leader had other plans
also cameraquest is not the only vendor that imports voitlander, the east coast has its own, it use to be rich (still could be), who also had a leica store
Voigtlander USA is ripping us off
