Okay, you technically can search for the price of any Amazon product, not just photo gear. So, should you feel compelled to see if you can find better price on toilet paper by having it shipped to you from a foreign country, I suppose you are free to do so, but we’re just going to stick to the fun stuff for now, you know, like cameras and lenses.
I noticed a post on Facebook recently by a UK based photographer who was able to save £75 on a Sony A6000. Had he purchased the camera from Amazon.co.uk it would have cost him £449. After he did a little investigating, he discovered he could purchase the same camera for £374 by ordering it from Amazon.de and taking advantage of Amazon’s free shipping. Depending on what product you’re looking at and where you are located in the world, you could find savings well into the hundred’s of dollars using the same method of researching all of the different Amazon sites.
This is where the Amazon Global Product Price Check comes in. All you have to do is cruise around the Amazon site you would normally use in your location, once you have found what you’re looking for, copy the ASIN number and paste it into the Global Price Check tool.
You can find a the ASIN on Amazon in two places: in the product URL and in the product description.
The ASIN can be found in these two places.
Once you have pasted the ASIN into the Global Price Check, they’ll search 11 different Amazon sites and return their findings on a page like this:
The website automatically displays conversions to USD prices, in addition to the local currency of each respective Amazon site. It also links you directly to the product page.
In some cases, there is a catch. You’ll have to make sure the product qualifies for free international shipping, or the cost of international shipping will still make it worthwhile. From the handful of searches I’ve done between the UK and parts of Europe, this isn’t often an issue. You can let us know your success rate in the comments below.
(And, as a sidenote, I hope you’ll take into consideration the environmental impact of having packages mailed and use your best judgement when ordering a product from a far, far away place just to save a little money.)
Another thing to keep in mind is whether or not the product you’re purchasing will work in the location you want to use it in. You may need an international electrical plug adapter, for instance, or translation book to read the manual.
Also, duties, taxes, and delays coming through customs may be a concern in some areas. It may take a short amount of initial research, but Amazon will handle a lot of this for you during checkout. If you like finding deals, it could really pay off…
Nikon 4809 SB-910 Speedlight
Canon 7D (Body Only)
Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6
Blackmagic Cinema 4k
Sony A7
In some of the searches I performed, there were savings upwards of $500USD. In a manual search performed between the sites, it was discovered there’s a £570 difference on a Nikon D750 between the UK and .de Amazon sites. The possibilities are endless, so I will leave you to it. Happy savings and remember to report your finds in the comments below.
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