DigitalRev for new Camera - Use their website, their Ebay, or buy from the UK?

thezeronumber

thezeronumber

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I'm very interested in photography and videography but have yet to delve into the subject with some decent equipment. There is only so much information you can absorb without a quality camera and i'm very much a hands-on learner, so it was time to make a change. Being my first DSLR, i researched long and hard for a few weeks and eventually decided on the Canon 60d as it ticked all the boxes (yet to decide on the lens but i'm not too keen on the kit one). The problem is now finding where to buy it from.

I've watched a lot of DigitalRev videos on YouTube and they are as informative as they are entertaining, so upon realising they had a store i was eager to have a look. Their prices are pretty competitive and a fair bit cheaper than everything i have found in the UK. For example, the cheapest Canon 60d body i can find in the UK is between £780 to £800 and may or may not include postage, yet on the DigitalRev website it can be found for just shy of £736 with free shipping. I was struggling to find a used 60d body on Ebay for that price, let alone a brand new one with all the supplied contents! However i did find something else interesting on Ebay, namely DigitalRev's own accounts. There are two i've seen - digital-rev and digital-rev-oz - although i cannot notice a real price difference between either despite one clearly being aimed for the Australian market (even though both ship to Australia anyway, so does anyone know why there are two?). Moving on, things get cheaper still when looking at their listings because i found the Canon 60d body for £679 on both.

It gets a odd at this stage because i'm thinking "why is it cheaper on Ebay even though it's the same product and it even comes with a free accessory kit?" I've also heard that DigitalRev will refund you any import charges/GST (Goods & Service Tax) if you send them a copy of the receipt, but they will only do this with a purchase from the website and not Ebay. Am i right in saying if you buy from Ebay there may be hidden costs when going through customs, where-as for the website what you pay is literally what you pay? I'm also a bit confused over warranty and the term "grey import" as there seems to be a lot of stuff flying around. I read from one user on here that his instruction manual was in-fact photocopied and didn't seem like the real thing. From some people i hear you can get the item repaired for free in the UK if it was from no fault of your own, from others i hear you need to return it to Hong Kong and they will cover the postage charges, from someone else i will hear the above only you will need to fund the shipping both ways, etc. I also have no idea if the warranty differs between the website and the Ebay or which one is true for either.

Bit of a headache really; i thought finding the right DSLR was going to be the hardest part! If i do choose to ignore DigitalRev and their potential savings and instead go through a UK supplier, could i still unwittingly purchase a grey import or will they all be genuine items covered by UK warranty? Is there a way of checking?

Sorry for the lengthy post, i wanted to cover everything i possibly could which was bothering me. I'd appreciate any replies.
 
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Have a search on here, some good and bad stories. Also seems to vary regarding paying import tax.

Personally, i'd rather pay the extra, buy here and have it in my hand in a day.
 
There is also onestop-digital (HK) that guarantee no import tax & if you do pay it they will refund it.... They come recommended & have used them myself & also there's HDEW cameras who a few members have used on here ( search for them on the forum to see reviews on them etc)
 
Tijuana Taxi makes a point i thought of before, but hearing it from someone else truly emphasises how sensible a decision it would be; an extra £40 really is nothing if it means having UK warranty with no strings attached. I guess i will stick to purchases on our own shore.

I asked Kerso for a list in the past (everyone else was doing it so figured why not) and was overwhelmed by the number of products available, although none of them suited me at the time. But a Canon 60d for £699 and it comes with full UK warranty? If it's truly there and i can find that then i would be a very happy chap indeed. Thanks for the heads-up you two.
 
+1 for Kerso

Pete
 
I have used both kerso and digital rev and had great experience with both. My next purchases will be with kerso though. He is very prompt, and his prices are fantastic!
 
I'm in the market for a new camera too, it's the warranty thing that's putting me off buying from HK. I don't mind buying a few odds and ends from there but £500+ and what if you have to send it back for repair..
You may get the duty paid first time thru customs but I had to send something back to the US for warranty work and with the cost of shipping plus thought of more taxes to pay on it's return into the UK I got it fixed locally.
 
D40 Guy said:
You may get the duty paid first time thru customs but I had to send something back to the US for warranty work and with the cost of shipping plus thought of more taxes to pay on it's return into the UK I got it fixed locally.
Click to expand...

If you have already paid Vat and/or import duty you shouldn't have to pay it again if sending back abroard for an in waranty repair.

You need to state the package is to be sent for 'free waranty repair' and sent under Outward Processing Relief "OPR".
The shipper will need a commercial invoice stating contents, value, who it's from and where it's going and any other relative information!
You need to ask the shipper that the package is to be 'controlled'. They should then issue you with an export certificate.
If customs then ask for duties on it's return you can present them with the export certificate and hey presto ! :) hopefully you get your stuff back in to the UK without shelling out more £££

So summing up it's a "mega balls ache" :eek: to send stuff back abroad for repair and definitely not worth the hassle even if saving quite a few quid when buying the more expensive items.
Buy locally and sleep easy .
 
Hi, thank you for checking our website, to clarify

EBay : all listings are shipped from HongKong and import tax/handling are paid by the customer upon receipt unless stated otherwise , only those listing with " NO VAT/in UK" shipped to UK address will be able to claim their VAT back from us once receipt has been received.

Website : all orders from website includes import handling, which means customer will not have to pay anything else upon delivery.

As for the warranty, all our products comes with our own sellers warranty, main difference between eBay purchase and website is that for all ebay purchase, we would have to ask customer to return camera back to us for repair and we cover all the cost if confirmed Manufacturing defect.
 
Thanks for the reply, although i will likely be purchasing from Kerso due to a full UK warranty and lower price total overall (plus a free 8gb card, which isn't to be sniffed at). Cheers.
 
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