is this lens genuine or a copy?

evilonion

evilonion

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with so much risk involved in buying on the internet i was hoping to get some input on this lens :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130679393864?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

There are several other websites selling this lens for around the same price, where as jessops and warehouse express and others are selling it at around £350

The seller has good feedback and says the item is in the uk, although with a 7 day delivery date i have a feeling its coming from china. Are these still ok to buy? If i can get a bargain id be more than happy :)
 
It wont be a copy, but it will certainly be grey market.
 
Looking at his feedback (and the fact he is stating Royal Mail delivery) I would think the item is probably in the UK. There seem to be a number of HK sellers on eBay who state they have goods for dispatch from the UK lately.

But it would definitely be HK grey stock, you would need to check Nikons terms with regard to warranty on imports.
 
Dave1 said:
Looking at his feedback (and the fact he is stating Royal Mail delivery) I would think the item is probably in the UK. There seem to be a number of HK sellers on eBay who state they have goods for dispatch from the UK lately.

But it would definitely be HK grey stock, you would need to check Nikons terms with regard to warranty on imports.
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If you actually read the feedback then you can see that most people are waiting 2-3 weeks for delivery, which doesn't suggest to me that the item is in the UK at all, but rather that the seller orders the stock from HK after an Ebay purchase has been made and then sends it on once it arrives in the UK. One buyer even states in his feedback that the seller is in HK,not the UK.

There are, as you say, a number of HK sellers that state they have goods in the UK ready for dispatch, however, they tend to either be dropshippers, or have simply picked a UK location out of a hat, bit are, in reality wholly HK- based.

The simple way to find out is to send a message via Ebay asking for a UK contact address/phone number (the supply of which is a legal requirement) and if they reply check it to see if it is genuine. The time they reply will also probably be a fairly good indicator of their location, if it is the middle of the night here then there's a fair chance the person responding is in a different timezone.

The "no-VAT" claim should set alarm bells ringing too, as even just going by the feedback left, their sales for the last month, never mind the six plus years they have been trading on Ebay, surpass the point at which VAT registration becomes a legal requirement by several hundred percent.

Warranty-wise you're on your own, whilst Nikon
lenses have a worldwide guarantee this is only valid if you personally purchased the item from a Nikon dealer in the foreign country, it doesn't cover grey imports.

In this case the seller states that all warranty items will be returned by airmail, pointing to them having to be sent back to HK (no doubt at the buyer's expense) in the first place.

Ultimately, as a buyer, you have to weigh up whether the wait/risk/potential warranty issues are worth the saving.....
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The "no-VAT" claim should set alarm bells ringing too, as even just going by the feedback left, their sales for the last month, never mind the six plus years they have been trading on Ebay, surpass the point at which VAT registration becomes a legal requirement by several hundred percent.
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This is important to me and I suggest it should be to you. I don't want to get into a debate about the level of tax we pay or the wastefulness of government spending. But it is a simple fact that many businesses in the UK pay their taxes and create jobs, and illegal operators like this undermine them.
 
Another look at their feedback, now that I'm on a laptop not my phone, and it seems that the majority of their previous sales are for shoes or shoelaces and from Australian buyers, which does negate the VAT issue somewhat, however, as I said in my previous post, the even just the most recent period for which they have been selling lenses (Jan-now) in the UK puts them well over the threshold...
 
Well it does say a member in hong kong
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/belloamigos101








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Positive Feedback (last 12 months): 99.3%
[How is Feedback percentage calculated?]

Member since: 31-Jul-05 in Hong Kong
 
Why not contact the seller and ask him to confirm the lens is definitely in the UK and will be posted out by Royal Mail. Pay by Paypal for the additional protection and then the only "risk" is the warranty, but as you say, it's priced similar to second hand so probably worth doing IMO.
 
If you have any doubt about the authenticity of the goods or the seller, just move on and buy from someplace you're 100% happy with.
 
yeah already contacted them and they assured me it was being sent from their premises in the uk.
They also said they would supply me with a receipt and paperwork to prove i wont get stung with an import charge.

If it doesn't arrive by royal mail then i will leave negative feedback. But they dont seem to have any complaints about where its sent from.
 
DTB said:
If you have any doubt about the authenticity of the goods or the seller, just move on and buy from someplace you're 100% happy with.
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apart from jessops which has a bricks and mortar shop im wary of pretty much every single company on the internet haha
 
evilonion said:
yeah already contacted them and they assured me it was being sent from their premises in the uk.
They also said they would supply me with a receipt and paperwork to prove i wont get stung with an import charge.

If it doesn't arrive by royal mail then i will leave negative feedback. But they dont seem to have any complaints about where its sent from.
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I would agree, looking at the first page of feedback only 3 out of 25 complain of slow delivery, no one complains of any other serious problems. Pay with PayPal and you mitigate any financial risk as well.
 
Dave1 said:
I would agree, looking at the first page of feedback only 3 out of 25 complain of slow delivery, no one complains of any other serious problems. Pay with PayPal and you mitigate any financial risk as well.
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Apart from the one about unpaid tax, why would there be unpaid tax on an item shipped from a UK address?
 
where would you stand in regards to this?
if a company claim to send from a uk address and states then in the sale records... if customs then ask for duty due to the item being shipped from china, where do you stand?

The legal contract is between you and the company who say they shipped from the uk, if this is the case would customs then be going after the company as they are the ones bringing the item in?
 
evilonion said:
where would you stand in regards to this?
if a company claim to send from a uk address and states then in the sale records... if customs then ask for duty due to the item being shipped from china, where do you stand?

The legal contract is between you and the company who say they shipped from the uk, if this is the case would customs then be going after the company as they are the ones bringing the item in?
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If it's being shipped directly from HK to you then HMRC would view you as the importer, it should be easy enough to prove this wasn't the case though.

I made enquiries about buying a lens off a similar seller last year, they stated it was in stock, in the UK, so I asked if I could pay extra for next day delivery as I was going on holiday at the end of the week. The next reply was that they were now sold out (despite still being listed) and it would be 2-3 weeks for delivery.

When I returned 3 weeks later I asked the same questions again, and once again was told they had just sold out......
 
ive sent en email but not had a reply so kinda guessing they are in hk as well ;) i will ask them about next day delivery and see what they say :)

They said royal mail so i already asked them about delivery and stated royal mail 1st class is usually next day so why does it take 2-3 weeks according to their feedback...

Im not too worried about delivery date tbh, as its such a good price compared to jessops and warehouse express. Just fun to make the seller squirm a bit.

Id always assumed items from hk were fakes but the feedback seems to be quite good to the quality of the items.
 
I only buy from Jacobs
they match any genuine uk price.
examples of service............
bought a 70-200 f4, used it for 2 weeks, decided on 2.8 instead....FULL refund against the 2.8 !

600D body, used it for 3 months, noticed mark on viewfinder, exchanged for new 600D without question !

Now how would the HK seller address these issues:thinking:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Apart from the one about unpaid tax, why would there be unpaid tax on an item shipped from a UK address?
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whenever I bought stuff from China I get a nasty shock. DHL asking for £££ for customs and sometimes weeks later another bill!

UK supplier for me without question
[apart from the Chinese thing about skinning dogs alive and keeping bears in cages for bile extraction]
 
pollie said:
I only buy from Jacobs
they match any genuine uk price.
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You are lucky, my local Jacobs won't budge a penny let alone price match, even on higher profit items like accessories.
 
evilonion said:
worth avoiding or would it just be a warranty issue?
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Nikon lens warranty is International, so no problem on that front. Bodies though are regional warranties.
 
PsiFox said:
Nikon lens warranty is International, so no problem on that front. Bodies though are regional warranties.
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That's a common misconception.....

What does owning a "Grey Market" Nikon product mean to you?

Nikon European offices cannot provide any technical support or warranty service for Grey Market product, additionally they may not perform any fee-based repair work on Grey Market products. Contact the reseller or importer of your Grey Market products for warranty and service information as well as software updates and downloads.

Does owning a "Grey Market" Nikon product mean I don't have a warranty?

Nikon Europe offer a warranty service system for products which are sold via it's own distribution channels. If you own a Grey Market product it will have to be returned to the reseller or importer for warranty service. Refer to your reseller for service contact information.
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Source
 
Flash In The Pan said:
That's a common misconception.....



Source
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Ah but that applies to a Lens imported by a UK seller and then sold to a UK buyer, for which I completely agree with you.

However, I have bought from HK and have HK receipts and have had the Int'l warranty accepted as I had a said receipt from the country in question. i.e it was not a "grey" import.
 
PsiFox said:
Ah but that applies to a Lens imported by a UK seller and then sold to a UK buyer, for which I completely agree with you.
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That's the case with the lens in the op, regardless of whether the seller is actually in the UK or not it's still a grey import. The seller also needs to be an official Nikon dealer for the warranty to apply.
 
Personally I wouldn't buy a new lens off EBay, I have had trouble in the past returning one. Ended up selling it on EBay as a second hand item! Saying that, I have had 2 excellent second hand lenses from there both of which I still own and use all the time. There are second hand bargains to be had but new? I would be very careful...
 
sounds odd, as if this is a UK business, how do they avoid VAT?

I agree with the above, if on eBay, I would not buy a big ticket item unless from a trusted source, or collect in person, so I can test the goods before paying.

I recently purchased a canon 500d from Cash Converters for £255, had everything bar the leads, software and charger (as I already have a 550d no big deal) - lens 18-55 standard kit lens.

Sigma 150 - 500 lens for above private seller locally, collected in person & checked lens OK.

I've also used London Camera Exchange and feel the 6 month warranty on secondhand items worth it
 
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i decided not to use this company as they wont answer certain questions that iev asked.
Ive also made a complaint to ebay as a business seller on various issues.

They avoid vat by sending the item as a gift and putting a low value of around £100 on the item.
 
Best 'official' price I could find was Amazon at £310 (from Amazon not MarketPlace!) but if you want bricks and mortar have a look at the list of shops here (ignoring Amazon at the top of course!): http://www.cameraferret.com/product.php?id=67.php
 
evilonion said:
They avoid vat by sending the item as a gift and putting a low value of around £100 on the item.
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Ooh, how illegal is that?

If you've got that in writing from them, I imagine eBay would close them down pretty quickly.
 
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