Grey imports a bad idea? Need advice

Nutsy

Nutsy

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Hi, New to the site. Been told to ask here as you guys might be able to help me.

In the UK, hobbyist photographer who uses his camera for work on occasion.

Anyway Ive had my 400d for many years now. Loved the thing to bits. But I've been asked to do some wedding photos by my cousin. So I've considered upgrading to a 7d.

Now prices are a bit high in this country. And I've found some sites online that do seriously great deals but there in Hong Kong. DigitalRev being one of them.

Need advice on importing... I know back in the day it was considered a big no no because warranty will be void and such. Is it still the case?

Or does Canon now have worldwide warranty? And is importing from Hong Kong going to cause huge duty charges?

And can Chinese based sites be trusted?

Basically i want to know if its a really bad idea to buy from there.

Let me know.

Thanks
Simon
 
DigitalRev will offer a price including UK taxes pre-paid.

Warranty - they will ask for quotes in the UK, and either pay to have it repaired here, otherwise it has to be sent to Hong Kong.

Consider KERSO as well.
 
You'll be liable for duty and VAT, and I don't think Canon will (normally) honour a warranty outside CE countries. They ask to see the receipt, not the warranty card.

Have a look here for best prices http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/ or send a PM to Kerso (see advertisers section) who is a private importer with very good prices and excellent rep. His stuff is covered by UK warranty.

Welcome to TP :)
 
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Thanks guys will take a look at the site and see what Kerso says.

Im just waiting for a payment to come in before i make my decision. But it seems importing is still a bad idea :D
Thanks for letting me know.

Simon
 
I actually asked canon about this (seemd the sensible thing to do) and they (Frankie_Jim@cuk.canon.co.uk) said they would NOT honour warranty on cameras brought into the country BUT they would honour the waranty on lens..

If you decide to import then Its up to the person you bought it off to look after you and KERSO would be my reccomendation easy peasy...
 
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What KIPAX says!

:plusone:
 
I don't know about Canon but I brought my Nikon D80 as a kit with all the trimmings via the web from Brooklyn NY thinking (foolishly, naively, stupidly) that I had a great deal. I got stung for import duty and then found out that the warranty was useless on the body but the lenses carried a worldwide warranty.
Other than that it was a great beginners camera just had to be bl@@dy careful with it.
Not my best deal but I was quids in and it got me past the "chief accountant". :D
 
Tbh, what are you going to save 10%? Even on a £1200 body, its only £120, which for peace of mind if anything goes wrong, it well worth it.
 
Dinsdale said:
I don't know about Canon but I brought my Nikon D80 as a kit with all the trimmings via the web from Brooklyn NY thinking (foolishly, naively, stupidly) that I had a great deal. I got stung for import duty and then found out that the warranty was useless on the body but the lenses carried a worldwide warranty.
Other than that it was a great beginners camera just had to be bl@@dy careful with it.
Not my best deal but I was quids in and it got me past the "chief accountant". :D
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The worst part of that is the fact you bought it from Brooklyn - that's where all the scam artists operate from ;)
 
Actually some of the HK imports the Bodys where going in the 900 quid area. Hence the interest in them.
 
Nutsy said:
Actually some of the HK imports the Bodys where going in the 900 quid area. Hence the interest in them.
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Got mine from Wilkinsons (shop not web) when they had a deal on - £1300 for 7D with a 580ex II speedlite. So roughly £1000 for the body with UK warranty. :D

I've not seen any deals like that lately, but not really that interested. Phone around, you never know.

Good luck.
 
I bought all my current kit from Kerso. 2 D700's five lenses and two flashes. (He managed to get some Nikon stuff before the exchange rate stopped play again) With the savings I made on the whole lot I could almost afford to replace one camera body if it goes wrong! The lenses have an international warranty and for the price I'm willing to take the chance that the bodies will continue to perform.

It's a case of weighing up the risk vs the benefit and being comfortable with your choice.
 
Kerso's latest price for a 7D that I have (13-Jul-10) is £1095 + Postage.
 
Brooklyn's been known for camera & electronics scams for years though, at least since I bought my first D100 about 8 years ago and was researching prices.

In Brooklyn, if a deal looks too good to be true, it is, simple as that. :)
 
Kaouthia said:
Brooklyn's been known for camera & electronics scams for years though, at least since I bought my first D100 about 8 years ago and was researching prices.

In Brooklyn, if a deal looks too good to be true, it is, simple as that. :)
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Sounds a bit like TCR in london :D
 
Oh, I dunno, I've bought a few bits on TCR (although it did spring to mind), but I've always done my deals in person when I've been in London.

The Brooklyn guys are pretty much mail order over the web only, so that when they list something "Body Only" it literally is JUST the body. Then once it arrives at your doorstep and you call them to complain, they try to hard sell you the battery, strap, charger, and all the other stuff you're SUPPOSED to get in a body only box at 3-5x the normal rate while refusing to refund your purchase.
 
Nutsy said:
Sounds a bit like TCR in london :D
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I was there on Saturday, but to look in the furtniture shops at the top. When I 'd done that I was rather short on time as I was meeting a friend at "the spice of life" further down and didn't want to keep her waiting, so didn't go in the electronic shops - do they have DSLRs and lenses then? It looked like TVs / hifi / phones and so on from the window displays.
 
I was down in London last year for the Broadcast Video Expo, and there were plenty of shops with Nikon and Canon DSLRs and lenses ranging from entry level kit all the way up to pro gear (saw quite a few D3 bodies and 70-200 f/2.8VR lenses on the shelves).
 
KIPAX said:
I actually asked canon about this (seemd the sensible thing to do) and they (Frankie_Jim@cuk.canon.co.uk) said they would NOT honour warranty on cameras brought into the country BUT they would honour the waranty on lens..

If you decide to import then Its up to the person you bought it off to look after you and KERSO would be my reccomendation easy peasy...
Click to expand...

This is very interesting as I called Canon about this last week.
They said providing a receipt could be provided for a body or lens, they would honour warranties for good purchased outside the UK including outside of the EU.

However, in most cases HK isn't currently that much cheaper so I suggest the OP gives Kerso a try.
 
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Tottenham Court Road. :)
 
Not wanting to be controversial here, but given that a receipt these days is a bit of A4 paper, if I had a body which was broke and under warranty, I would just tweak the invoice before I sent it to Canon/Nikon, to be safe.

It's a disgrace that they operate like this anyhow, so I'd have no problems doing that.
 
loplyg said:
Not wanting to be controversial here, but given that a receipt these days is a bit of A4 paper, if I had a body which was broke and under warranty, I would just tweak the invoice before I sent it to Canon/Nikon, to be safe.

It's a disgrace that they operate like this anyhow, so I'd have no problems doing that.
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One suggestion put to me when researching buying a UK warranty option was if it went wrong, put it on your tripod and somehow it might be coaxed into falling over (not sure how that would happen, tripods are quite stable I'd have thought) and would almost certainly need an insurance claim. Needless to say I didn't give it much further thought.

I ended up selling it on eBay as a "body-only" for £360.00!!! after owning it for 14 months. :)
 
You know, thinking about it, in the event that a body from HK does go wrong, it really isn't a big deal to post it back to HK to have it fixed...

In this day and age of email, websites and fast/cheap postage. Hell, I buy stuff from HK all the time and it arrives in days and shipping is the same as it costs from UK suppliers - sometimes cheaper!

All in all I doubt it's much of an ordeal to send a body to HK for warranty repair.

Considering you can save hundreds or even thousands by buying from there...
 
You know, thinking about it, in the event that a body from HK does go wrong, it really isn't a big deal to post it back to HK to have it fixed...

In this day and age of email, websites and fast/cheap postage. Hell, I buy stuff from HK all the time and it arrives in days and shipping is the same as it costs from UK suppliers - sometimes cheaper!

All in all I doubt it's much of an ordeal to send a body to HK for warranty repair.

Considering you can save hundreds or even thousands by buying from there...
 
We've done this question numerous times but the reality is that at the moment it is not financially all that good buying from HK where it used to be. I am liking buying stuff from Digital Depot and getting full UK warranty.
 
hashcake said:
This is very interesting as I called Canon about this last week.
They said providing a receipt could be provided for a body or lens, they would honour warranties for good purchased outside the UK including outside of the EU.

However, in most cases HK isn't currently that much cheaper so I suggest the OP gives Kerso a try.
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did they know you meant bodies? also its best not to phone.. you ahve no idea who your talking to and no proof.. lets say you take an import in and they dont cover it... your story will be a women said so on the phone 2 months ago :)

I ahve an email from canon so can print it out :)
 
loplyg said:
You know, thinking about it, in the event that a body from HK does go wrong, it really isn't a big deal to post it back to HK to have it fixed...

In this day and age of email, websites and fast/cheap postage. Hell, I buy stuff from HK all the time and it arrives in days and shipping is the same as it costs from UK suppliers - sometimes cheaper!

All in all I doubt it's much of an ordeal to send a body to HK for warranty repair.

Considering you can save hundreds or even thousands by buying from there...
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Trouble is you have no guarantee you'll ever see it again. A huge Ebay seller - URGalaxy - just disappeared. Loads of the big names of 2 years ago no longer are there now.

And a big point is that unless you can prove you paid full VAT when it arrived first, so be liable for import duty on the item when its returned from repair. VAT at full RRP off today on re-import.

Certainly for Nikon bodies where there is no warranty.. I think you'd have to be touched in the head to buy grey bodies.
 
hashcake said:
This is very interesting as I called Canon about this last week.
They said providing a receipt could be provided for a body or lens, they would honour warranties for good purchased outside the UK including outside of the EU.

However, in most cases HK isn't currently that much cheaper so I suggest the OP gives Kerso a try.
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If you were referring to this post we were talking about lenses. :)
 
Might sound thick but how do you know if you have a grey import

regards
Paul
 
Grey imports are not UK spec and to be honest there are very few grey imports around!

I've never seen or heard of one as most are parallel imports where the spec of the camera is the same abroad as it is in the UK.
 
Euro cameras are marked CE on the baseplate, and come with a UK plug on the battery charger, but as far as I know they're identical apart from that.

A few brands have different model numbers in different countries, eg Canon Rebel instead of xxxD etc.

Lenses you can only tell by (presumably) tracing the serial number.
 
KIPAX said:
did they know you meant bodies? also its best not to phone.. you ahve no idea who your talking to and no proof.. lets say you take an import in and they dont cover it... your story will be a women said so on the phone 2 months ago :)

I ahve an email from canon so can print it out :)
Click to expand...

Yes I did mention bodies but you have a very good valid point.
Always better to have it in writing so you can cover your back.
 
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