"White box" lens purchase

G

Gusss100

Suspended / Banned
Messages
37
Name
Gareth
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

First post by a newbie on here.

After a lot of thought, I've decided to push the button on the Canon 24-105 lens.
On Amazon the best price is about £729.00 but it's described as coming in a "white box".
This price seems to be at least £140 less than the best price I can find elsewhere.

What are the dangers of buying this lens compared to the non white box version?

All advice much appreciated
 
My worry would be that the lens could be a grey import & Canon may not touch it under the warranty if it develops a problem.
 
It's come as part of a kit, nothing to worry about. Canon have international warranty on lenses but country specific on bodies.

Your also covered by Amazon. Splash the cash you won't regret it.
 
No danger whatsoever, mine was a 'white box' lens. Basically they're lenses that were destined to be sold as part of a kit with the 5Dmk2 but have been separated for individual sale, hence no proper box or case. The lens will be perfectly fine though, no different to a standard 24-105 purchased elsewhere and will still have the same warranty as any other new lens. :)
 
Last edited:
You might want to look at the 24-105s on digitalrev here, if you're ok with grey box (ie Canon may not offer free service but you'll get a 1yr full cover warranty with digitalrev I think):

http://www.digitalrev.com/product/canon-ef-24-105mm-f/ODY4

Also look at their thread in the shopping and suppliers section for free priority handling for TP members. At £529 it will save you a lot of money!
 
Thanks for great advice. At £529 I'm going for it.
Cheers
 
If buying from Amazon make sure it is "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon" - some of their marketplace sellers look a bit dubious.

Al
 
Don`t buy from digital rev.
I know that they use some of the len`s sold as new, and they are far eastern company.
I would not touch them with a prov barge pole.
Hope this helps
 
Triffic lens, use mine as a walk around on 7D body, GO FOR IT,
Jim
 
Dave P said:
Don`t buy from digital rev.
I know that they use some of the len`s sold as new, and they are far eastern company.
I would not touch them with a prov barge pole.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Thats a load of tosh, DV sell grey imports nothing wrong with them at all.
 
Dave P said:
Don`t buy from digital rev.
I know that they use some of the len`s sold as new, and they are far eastern company.
I would not touch them with a prov barge pole.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I know stacks of people who've bought from Digital Rev without any problems whatsoever. I can't help but feel you're being a little overly cynical in that reply.
 
Well, I've pushed the button with DR now. Hope the more positive posts about them prove to be true.
 
I wouldn't worry Gareth, countless people on these forums and farther afield have bought and only had positive experiences with them, if you're worried a quick search will reassure you. Enjoy the 24-105, it's a fantastic lens
 
hiphopopotamus said:
I wouldn't worry Gareth, countless people on these forums and farther afield have bought and only had positive experiences with them, if you're worried a quick search will reassure you. Enjoy the 24-105, it's a fantastic lens
Click to expand...

Cheers mate for your reassurance. I did have a few nervous moments about this over the last few days. Just got me thinking what exactly defines a "grey import".

Anyone enlighten me please?
 
Gusss100 said:
Cheers mate for your reassurance. I did have a few nervous moments about this over the last few days. Just got me thinking what exactly defines a "grey import".

Anyone enlighten me please?
Click to expand...

Simple. It's a product which was designed to be sold in a different market. So basically in simple terms here the products are distributed in China (or other parts of Asia) where prices are cheaper. They are exactly the same products...

However - manufactures don't like it. The reason for that is they don't make as much money. The reasons for the price differential are almost impossible to explain, although it might be that the products are manufactured in Asia and it is cheaper to pay someone to fix it under warrantee in asia due to cheaper wages. So basically the Manufacture whilst admitting the product is identical sometimes muck you around with the warranty.

The other issue is VAT. Now contrary to a lot of internet rubbish, if you pay the VAT you are completely legal. However it is common practise to erm... Claim the value of a product is £30 instead of £2000. Meaning the exchequer is out of product.

I hope that explains it.
 
You also owe the tax man import duty, all the taxes are your responsibility as the importer so by not paying you are evading tax. Most of the grey importers lie on the declarations which is also illegal.

I'm still amazed HMRC are still turning a blind eye to this when an occasional blitz would almost certainly end the trade.
 
a1ex2001 said:
You also owe the tax man import duty, all the taxes are your responsibility as the importer so by not paying you are evading tax. Most of the grey importers lie on the declarations which is also illegal.

I'm still amazed HMRC are still turning a blind eye to this when an occasional blitz would almost certainly end the trade.
Click to expand...

How much do you think it would cost to Police it properly? These are one of transactions not bulk imports... Your also missing something else, how much is something worth? It's rhetorical for a reason. You are expecting customs to value every product that comes into the country? What happens when the l-series lens is a mug? Or when the £400 flash is just the plastic casing with the electrics stripped.
 
they could still confiscate misdeclared goods though - ie if the box says Toy parts but there's a camera inside.

And like alex said you wouldn't have to police it all the time - a few one off blitzes would destroy consumer confidence in the smugglers and put them out of business (reputable grey importers like Kerso and Hdew wouldn't be effected as they aren't misdescribing and are paying correct import taxes which they charge back as part of the price - this makes them slightly more expensive than others but still cheaper than UK rrp)
 
a1ex2001 said:
You also owe the tax man import duty, all the taxes are your responsibility as the importer so by not paying you are evading tax. Most of the grey importers lie on the declarations which is also illegal.

I'm still amazed HMRC are still turning a blind eye to this when an occasional blitz would almost certainly end the trade.
Click to expand...

Can you explain why when I bought my 60D from HDEW a grey import so to speak, It was ordored on wed afternoon and delivered thurs morning with a UK invoice. No international packaging.
 
Last edited:
hdew import themselves to a uk warehouse - they also pay correct import duties and can supply a uk vat receipt.

this is rare amongst grey importers though (Kerso is the other one I can think of) - most of them despatch from overseas and if they have a uk address at all its just a mail forwarder.

if your despatch comes in from abroad then you are the importer
 
For a direct seller to buyer transaction from outside the EU, any misdeclaration of value, description of goods or HS Code is the responsibility of the shipper / sender if it's thier documentation that is being used for clearance. Any import duties payable are the responsibility of the receiver.
 
viv1969 said:
For a direct seller to buyer transaction from outside the EU, any misdeclaration of value, description of goods or HS Code is the responsibility of the shipper / sender if it's thier documentation that is being used for clearance. Any import duties payable are the responsibility of the receiver
Click to expand...

someone who knows what they are talking about - rejoice :clap:
 
big soft moose said:
they could still confiscate misdeclared goods though - ie if the box says Toy parts but there's a camera inside.

And like alex said you wouldn't have to police it all the time - a few one off blitzes would destroy consumer confidence in the smugglers and put them out of business (reputable grey importers like Kerso and Hdew wouldn't be effected as they aren't misdescribing and are paying correct import taxes which they charge back as part of the price - this makes them slightly more expensive than others but still cheaper than UK rrp)
Click to expand...

I don't want to be confrontational, but just want to give another side to this argument.

Do you realise how much stuff is imported every single day? For the one of blitz which you talk off, do you realise how many extra staff would be required? Customs are rightly more interested in intercepting drugs and weapons than they are about cameras.

The other point is more simple... Things arnt labeled as chilrens toys. They will be labelled at electronics and a low value put down. As I've said, who decided what something is worth? If they say I've payed $30 and I say that then they have to prove that I have not. It might seem simple to you, but we are talking about massive numbers here.

Another point is, that this blitz would also affect every other import. It would damage our economy. By checking rigorously every package they would be slowing down all imports.

I'm not saying I don't think something could be done. But I think it's more complicated than is being made out.
 
supersammy said:
The other point is more simple... Things arnt labeled as childrens toys.

.
Click to expand...

yes they are - that used to be standard practice for panamoz - label the box as 'toy parts'

also yes a blitz would cost money , but it would cost a lot less than the evaded import taxes. Ditto with the damage to our economy - is the damage caused by a slight slow down in import for one day every now and then greater than the damage caused by the lost trade for british retailers caused by unfair competition from over seas ?
 
supersammy said:
Do you realise how much stuff is imported every single day? For the one of blitz which you talk off, do you realise how many extra staff would be required? Customs are rightly more interested in intercepting drugs and weapons than they are about cameras.
Click to expand...

Incorrect. HMRC already has a very large team (larger than that for drugs or weapons) dedicated solely to the interception of consumer goods.
 
viv1969 said:
Incorrect. HMRC already has a very large team (larger than that for drugs or weapons) dedicated solely to the interception of consumer goods.
Click to expand...

In that case you might like to explain to me why they have not done anything about it? The team may be "large" but it's certainly not large enough to stop this happening. Either that or they are just lazy and incompetent.
 
big soft moose said:
yes they are - that used to be standard practice for panamoz - label the box as 'toy parts'

also yes a blitz would cost money , but it would cost a lot less than the evaded import taxes. Ditto with the damage to our economy - is the damage caused by a slight slow down in import for one day every now and then greater than the damage caused by the lost trade for british retailers caused by unfair competition from over seas ?
Click to expand...

I have no idea. However you do have to question why they are not doing this already if it was simple? I don't claim to know anything about this stuff. I am simply someone who imports lots of products, and always gets away with not paying vat or import taxes.
 
supersammy said:
I am simply someone who imports lots of products, and always gets away with not paying vat or import taxes.
Click to expand...

Not the greatest idea to admit tax evasion on a public forum imo :runaway:

that aside they probably are doing it already, sooner or later you'll get caught - and then HMRC will have their nose in your affairs which will not be a good day out.
 
supersammy said:
In that case you might like to explain to me why they have not done anything about it? The team may be "large" but it's certainly not large enough to stop this happening. Either that or they are just lazy and incompetent.
Click to expand...

I suspect that the team has other priorities - consumer goods is a very wide gamut , and they may be more focussed on other types.

but it wouldn't take much for some civil service management type to change that priority - and then the camera smugglers and those buying from them will be right up the swanee
 
supersammy said:
In that case you might like to explain to me why they have not done anything about it? The team may be "large" but it's certainly not large enough to stop this happening. Either that or they are just lazy and incompetent.
Click to expand...

Actually, I can think of very few things I'd like to do less.

I can give you thier telephone number. If you'd like to call and interrogate them yourself, I'm sure they could use the giggle.
 
supersammy said:
I have no idea. However you do have to question why they are not doing this already if it was simple? I don't claim to know anything about this stuff. I am simply someone who imports lots of products, and always gets away with not paying vat or import taxes.
Click to expand...

The word you're looking for is evasion.
 
big soft moose said:
Not the greatest idea to admit tax evasion on a public forum imo :runaway:
Click to expand...

Done on a personal level, tax evasion is "sticking it to the man" or something and therefore to be applauded, apparently.

Done on a corporate level it's fat cat greed evil blah blah.

Double standards are rife in the UK ;)
 
the HMRC have a report customs evasion on line section - unfortunately we don't know who he really is (I bet the green team do though ... if they were feeling public spirited)
 
big soft moose said:
the HMRC have a report customs evasion on line section - unfortunately we don't know who he really is (I bet the green team do though ... if they were feeling public spirited)
Click to expand...

I'm more than happy to PM you my personal details, if you give me your word they will not be spread over this site or other sites you go on.
 
that would be incredibly stupid - because the only place i'm going to be putting them is the HMRC report evasion form

but if you feel the need to fall on your sword i'll give you my word that i'll only share them with HMRC and any other government agency that requires them

(of course how I will know they are genuinely yours is an interesting question )
 
big soft moose said:
that would be incredibly stupid - because the only place i'm going to be putting them is the HMRC report evasion form

but if you feel the need to fall on your sword i'll give you my word that i'll only share them with HMRC and any other government agency that requires them

(of course how I will know they are genuinely yours is an interesting question )
Click to expand...

Actually it's not incredibly stupid. It's a demonstration of how silly these internet crusades are. Your going to make a claim that someone on the internet has said they have no vat or import duty, on products which you can't list and at times you can't state.

There is as much chance of them bothering to act on something so silly, as me getting some action from Kate Middleton.

EDIT - info sent.
 
Last edited:
well we shall see

personally I believe HMRC when they say they put the addresses of possible evaders on a watch list - they may not be able to do anything about your past evasion , but next time you import something and don't declare it you could land yourself in a shed load of trouble
 
Well, I didn't mean to spark such a debate that's for sure.
All I know is that the lens arrived today and looks absolutely mint.

By my reckoning, I paid £200 less than the best available UK price.

I always like to do things "right" in life but on this occasion, if I've managed to save a couple of hundred quid and get a non counterfeit product

I'm chuffed.

A year ago I bought a watch from Amazon and was shocked when I had to pay £50 tax when I collected it from the UPS depot.

Looking forward to getting out with the lens this weekend
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top