No local camera store. What do you do?

[GrandNagus50]

Sales tax collection is only required by retailers after a certain threshold of sales is made to each state and that varies by state. I'm not familiar with any state that has no sales tax these days. In the case of Georgia where I live, it's $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions for the state. That means small out of state retailers are not unduly burdened. Most retailers have to use a service to keep up with the astounding number of sales taxes and jurisdictions. In my case I have state, city, county, and transportation taxing authorities each with their own rates.

Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no state sales tax. $100,000 in sales to California is close to nothing; I can't imagine there are many retailers online who don't reach this threshold. In my experience, (almost) all online retailers now automatically add my local sales tax once they know the shipping address. I assume they have software that performs this function automatically.

 

[ricardo00]

LensRental carries the 150-400, $356 for 7 days.I may try it next spring.

Thanks! Must of missed it, though a bit steep.

 

[Ivan Rothman]

In Chicago there are a few "minor" camera stores, nothing like a B&H. I like the B&H website when I need to do some homework and I use it to buy obscure items or hard to find items. Otherwise I stick with Allen's camera for mail order Great service.

I am completely in tune with Rich.
I live in NY and will use B&H for some hard to find items. And with the PayBoo card that B&H gives, they reimburse me for any state sales tax.
But for almost all my major (and minor) purchases, I go with Allen's Camera in Pennsylvania. I have been with them for 25 years and they off me outstanding service. Not only on the purchase of new equipment, but also on trade-ins for my old equipment when buying something new.

 

[RichF]

Sales tax collection is only required by retailers after a certain threshold of sales is made to each state and that varies by state. I'm not familiar with any state that has no sales tax these days. In the case of Georgia where I live, it's $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions for the state. That means small out of state retailers are not unduly burdened. Most retailers have to use a service to keep up with the astounding number of sales taxes and jurisdictions. In my case I have state, city, county, and transportation taxing authorities each with their own rates.

Wonder if the $100,000 is total sales or sales to a particular state. Also curious how phone orders are handled?

 

[EricBowles]

Wonder if the $100,000 is total sales or sales to a particular state. Also curious how phone orders are handled?

It is sales to a specific state - in this case Georgia. In theory, anything shipped to the state is part of that total - phone, internet, etc. So someone like B&H or Amazon would easily hit that threshold for most states, but a smaller midwest or west coast dealer would be unlikely to approach that level. I would guess other states have similar thresholds, so only the largest states would hit that level. Based on population, it would probably take a dealer with more than $50 million in revenue to hit that level if 70% or so of their sales were in state. Of course generating 30% of your business through internet and telephone sales would be quite good for most retailers with a solid brick and mortar base.

A good dealer does not want to rely on that benefit to justify a relationship. They still need to do all the things a dealer does to win your business. If it's just based on price, it's not much of a relationship longer term. Still - an 8-10% cost advantage can be meaningful.

Back to the original post, the problem with my last local dealer is I was getting regular marketing and emails from 3-4 out of state retailers that was much more effective and more frequent contact than I got locally. My last local store was still operating as though it was the 1990's when it closed in 2018.

 

[MikeInMI]

On occasion I need to actually see and touch something before buying it. On those occasions I go to my local camera shop. But most of the time, I spend a lot of time reading or viewing online reviews at places like dpreview.com and buying off of amazon.com and B&H (after reading their user reviews). I especially like Amazon because they make returns so easy if I'm unhappy. But I have to say that I seldom have to return something. I bought my Sony A1 and A9 II, as well as six Sony lenses all online based on extensive online research.

 

[Ken Miracle]

It is sales to a specific state - in this case Georgia. In theory, anything shipped to the state is part of that total - phone, internet, etc. So someone like B&H or Amazon would easily hit that threshold for most states, but a smaller midwest or west coast dealer would be unlikely to approach that level. I would guess other states have similar thresholds, so only the largest states would hit that level. Based on population, it would probably take a dealer with more than $50 million in revenue to hit that level if 70% or so of their sales were in state. Of course generating 30% of your business through internet and telephone sales would be quite good for most retailers with a solid brick and mortar base.

A good dealer does not want to rely on that benefit to justify a relationship. They still need to do all the things a dealer does to win your business. If it's just based on price, it's not much of a relationship longer term. Still - an 8-10% cost advantage can be meaningful.

Back to the original post, the problem with my last local dealer is I was getting regular marketing and emails from 3-4 out of state retailers that was much more effective and more frequent contact than I got locally. My last local store was still operating as though it was the 1990's when it closed in 2018.

Idaho appears to be a bit different whether it is a small state or not. When Amazon started charging sales tax it was big news and an agreement based on them having facilities and doing business in Idaho. Amazon, Sierrra Trading post or any other entity like them that have a physical presence ie. stores or warehouses etc. in Idaho we pay sales tax unless we drive accross the border to Oregon where there is no sales tax.

B&H charges tax as noted and offsetts with the Payboo credit card (the card administrator is a pain). No clue why B&H is collecting Idaho sales tax. I honestly think it is a marketing scheme or just for consistency of charging sales tax everywhere.

I have not run into another camera gear seller with no physical presence in Idaho that has charged me sales tax and that includes Nikon USA, Really Right Stuff, Think Tank, Mikes, Roberts, Glazer, Bedford, ProCam, Samy's etc.. .

 

[EricBowles]

Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no state sales tax. $100,000 in sales to California is close to nothing; I can't imagine there are many retailers online who don't reach this threshold. In my experience, (almost) all online retailers now automatically add my local sales tax once they know the shipping address. I assume they have software that performs this function automatically.

There is subscription based software that handles sales tax by all the various jurisdictions. It's just not practical to keep up with the rules and rates individually unless you limit sales to known areas.

 

[RichF]

There is subscription based software that handles sales tax by all the various jurisdictions. It's just not practical to keep up with the rules and rates individually unless you limit sales to known areas.

In Illinois each city, county can add a bit to the sales. I think that Illinois state sales tax is 6.75% but local taxes increase this to 10.5% or so.

 

[Ductape]

Unfortunately there is no "local" around here for camera store. In the late 80's I started. Simple enough ordering my darkroom needs from back east. Then the other stuff followed X-700, D8008........Magazine adds, long before the internets. The trend continued always getting easier. I am the one to blame. Bezos didn't create Amazon, it was bozo's like me willing to wait a few days and save that extra 5 precent. Sorry.

 

[Mark Garfinkel]

I try to support our last local camera shop (Cemeras Ect, Newark De, Nikon non-pro) when I can, then Allen's Camera (within reasonable driving distance, large ticket items I have shipped to me) then B&H. My state (De) doesn't have a sales tax. We have one photo lab left for my printing needs Colourworks Photographic Services, Wilmington De. Hope there around for a while.

 

[Roy]

Our local Samy's closed a few years ago and now there is no real camera store within 50 miles. I used to make most of my big purchases there, but I've been using mostly B & H since. I miss being able to go in and handle the merch. What do you do in this situation?

Its sad but the few stores left are populated by salesmen instead of photographers...