I have used the services of a forwarding company from USA a number of times with no issues to date.
Concerning the matter of cost, my experience has been that the on-line retailer (B&H etc) will normally post the article for free within USA. The forwarding agent’s fee is not that much more than the normal cost of transporting the item to Australia (ie the fee B&H etc would normally charge for sending to Aus) which is included in their cost. As a result the extra cost is pretty negligible in my experience. The time delay is also minimal.
Concerning the matter of warranty, many of your Asian retailers are offering a third party warranty that is not dissimilar to that offered by Harvey Norman and other Australian retailers for the payment of an extra fee. This is designed to get over the concern buyers may have of not having a manufacturers’ warranty. I think the local company is more likely to deal sympathetically with genuine USA stock then they are to some of the stock out of Asia which has not been sourced properly from the original manufacturer.
The big advantage of dealing with a reputable USA firm such as B&H is that they are very up-front and honest about the stock you are purchasing and the prices reflect that. I am not sure that the same can be said about many of the on-line retailers who are possibly sending you “grey stock” etc..
regards
Ben
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