Portus Digital

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beefybarn40

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kevin
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Hi all

has anyone used the above company for buying stuff as they seem very good on pricing and also have a uk based office.
 
You have a gamble on your hands here ... Yes the prices are cheaper , but they are an importer, not a retailer ... So you could be liable for import duty and VAT ... Which by the time you do the maths you could be out of pocket .. 20% on £1600 puts you back where you started . You'll have no valid UK warrantee , they offer their own warrantee but if the go under you're stuffed . Nikon UK won't touch it .. I'm also concerned that their products could be fake. I have just bought my D800 from LCE , clearly marked as "made in Japan" on the phone the told me there's were produced in Thailand ... (I appreciate my D300 was made in Thailand and they have a factory there- but still why make a premium camera in Thailand?!? And why is mine made in Japan) ... It's your gamble . But if it's too good to be true .. It probably is... You could regret business with them big style if it all goes Pete tong .. Buy on credit card and you'll have protection from fakes ...but warrantee wise and tax if you loose .. You'd just be better off not buying a grey import .. With the Nikon cash back deals you're £200 outta pocket if you buy legit .., for the risk it's worth the out lay ..
 
Just bought a Nikon D3300 camera body from portus digital. Pretty sure this is a genuine Nikon with genuine handbook and software on cd. Battery charger is flat two pin with uk adapter so obviously made for other foreign market Camera works fine and fits all my previously purchased lenses which also work as expected. Have registered the product with Nikon, so will be interested to see what if anything comes back from them. Price savings were huge, but I suppose you have to compromise somewhere. If I only get the 12 month European warranty then so be it. There's always the warranty from prutus if they are still there? Very efficient service, polite when contacted and speedy delivery.
I may regret doing this, time will tell!
 
Came across this thread which seems to have generated a lot of comment and so I decided to sign up and have my say. I haven't bought from Portus but my colleague has and he is happy. There are a quite a lot of these grey market importers about and it is always pretty obvious by the price when they are grey. I have used these type of sites a few times - Simply Electronics - with good results 2 and a bad result another time - basically related to a lens I bought for my daughter for a holiday trip that was on back order forever. I cancelled the order then had to wait a month for a refund - not good but got the refund in the end. Bought that lens (sigma 17-70) from Wex in the end because of the timescales.

I also bought from UR Galaxy on Ebay years ago for a 70-200 non IS and was very happy so thought I would use them again when I bought my 300mm F2.8. This turned into a disaster and disputes and ebay police (just a term) involved etc. never did get the lens but did get a full refund and my name cleared. They were removed from Ebay not long after that - not sure if my experience was anything to to with that or if it was a combination of things.

Final and biggest punt was to get a 1DX from SLR hut. I ordered then afterwards read a load of bad press and reviews about them but interestingly, it was generally based on the "I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole" approach - with dodgy website, strange hours etc etc sited as the main reasons - in other words - no personal experience. I have to say I did lose sleep over it and even rang up to cancel my order but when they promised me a DHL number by day's end and an expedited order I agreed to hang on and sure enough 2 days later tracked by me at every point, it did turn up and works fine. The only thing was that it was set up in chinese but that
didnt take too long to figure out.

So at the end of all that - this is what I think.

If you want to do the morally right thing, buy from one of the reputable, uk sellers and have the peace of mind and no risk.
If you are prepared to take a chance and save potentially quite a lot of money, knowing the risks - these grey sellers do come and go - 1st Camera is one that springs to mind - then be sensible and at least get some payment protection and pay on a credit card. You might have to fight to get a refund or do a return or wait a long time for it turn up. You might have to go back to your credit card company and put the payment in dispute. You might have a very painful experience and as long as you understand the risks versus the reward then you are walking into it with open eyes.
 
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