Buying equipment in Hong Kong

James306

James306

Suspended / Banned
Messages
418
Name
James
Edit My Images
Yes
What are peoples thoughts on buying in equipment in Hong Kong, I'm not talking buying on ebay from Hong Kong, I work on a ship that stops off in Hong Kong and there are loads of camera shops selling pretty much everything you could want at prices way better than anywhere else.

I'm aware it will affect the resale value of items, also the potential import duty, but because of the way I travel I'm quite unlikely to have an issue with this. Also the lack of a guarantee being purchased overseas.

Is it likely that the equipment would be of a lower quality, or is it just the same stuff but people avoid the risk of getting it online?
 
If you intend buying in Hong Kong rather than from Hong Kong, then I have one single word of advice for you and that is ... haggle. They'll think your weird if you don't. :lol:
 
I did much haggling when I was over there before, it's amazing how much you can knock off the price by walking to the shop next door and having them both outbid each other for the lower price!!

unfortunately I didn't go for anything of very high value as at the time I was a bit unsure on the quality of the equipment.
 
As for the import duty when I worked on the ships I bought quite a lot of stuff in HK then I would put it into bond on the ship.

After a year or so you could bring it onto land without incurring any duty.

Don't know if this still applies but at that time you could get some incredible stuff for a very much reduced price.

Obviously you had to keep the receipt.

.
 
I did that with a Sony cassette deck I bought in Singapore. Advised customs that I'd used it on the ship all the way home and they just waved me through with it. Piece o' cake.
 
Avoid Nathan Road in Kowloon,

There's plenty more places to go,

There's a multi level shop in Mong Kok that sell both used & new lenses and prices do not vary much between shops so haggling is not that good,

Also the £ is getting weaker against the $HK so know what you 'want' to pay as more often than not, the UK can be a LOT cheaper.
 
I bought a lens from Wing Shing a couple years back. Haggling is difficult in HK now unless you are spending alot, I only managed to get a free filter and door stop, lol! I went back again early last year and looked at D7000 prices and they were more expensive than online in the UK.
 
Wing Shing and Tin Cheung Camera are pretty reliable.

Stay well away from the tourist trap stores along Nathan Road.

The bigger Fortress and Broadway stores also have a good range of photography equipment and knowledgable staff in general.

Agree with the haggling not being very fruitful, you will however get stuff thrown in without even asking, haggle for more! When I bought a D5100 body from Suning I got a bag, tripod, extra battery, memory card thrown in.
 
As above Broadway & Fortress have the better warranties but there overheads mean their prices are generally higher too,

I priced up a new 15-85 canon lens recently, fortress was $6900 HKG Kowloon camera shops in general were $5700-5900hkg, so you need to shop around
 
If you're looking for cheap accessories (the kinda stuff you get from ebay hk sellers), Yongnuo flashes, straps, no name tripods etc there's a few shops in Ap Liu St (Sham Shui Po) behind the market stalls. Definitely worth a visit.
 
It was Sham Shui Po that I was looking at the camera shops, not Nathan Road, but I found haggling was actually worthwhile.

Thanks for the comments so far, I think I will definitely look into what they have and ee what the price works out to as and when I find myself back over there :) Also I get USD from the ship at a very good rate so hopefully that will improve my chances at it working out to a good price :)
 
I bought my 5D MK3 from Fortress last year i Sept for 22500HK$, that was an amazing price at that time. Service was good and as an tourist it is normal to have or two DSLR with you =)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top