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Old 18-06-2008, 08:25 PM
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Hong Kong E-Bay

Hi Guys, just wondering about the amount of cameras that come out of Hong Kong and sold on E-Bay.

Has anyone had experience with these items, and would they be the same thing if one was to buy the same model in Australia.

Is there something that one should look out for, if one was to purchase an item that comes from there.

Leon
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Old 18-06-2008, 08:33 PM
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madtuna (Steve)
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Hi Leon.

A lot of the ones listed as being in Australia are directly sent to you out of China.
The Cameras are exactly the same, just sometimes the manuals are in Chinese or else a photo copy or bad translation.
I am not sure about warrenty though.
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Old 18-06-2008, 08:39 PM
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Ok, Thank You Steve, they certainly are much cheaper than here, and I suppose a manual in Chinese is not that important as one can download an English version from the Canon website.

Warranty, well there you go, not sure on that myself.

leon
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Old 18-06-2008, 08:56 PM
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occasionally they do not have the 'world wide warranty' This meaning that if something should go wrong, it must be sent back to HK for repairs, rather than being fixed at one of the canon service centres in Aus.

Also, Note the shipping on most of these items and their prices are set up to be deceptive.... if the item is 670, and the postage is 79, then 749 for the item in your hands, is not always much cheaper than one from australia. Also, you will see alot of them have varying postage rates from HK for the same item, this is due to the way they scale what you pay for each, giving you a lower item price with a higher postage rate, making the less aware people on ebay think they are getting a better deal from one supplier than another.

Its much of a muchness.. I've bought a few things from HK, my nikon VR70-200 f/2.8 for example, attracted a rather nasty import tax, which i was told by the seller that I would not have to worry about.

The import tax (if applied) plus the cost of postage will almost certainly negate any savings on the actual item price (taxes only applicable on items costing over $1000..)

Hope this has been helpful.
Alex.
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Old 18-06-2008, 09:16 PM
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It is helpful Alex, thank You, there always seems to be hidden costs as one looks deeper into things.

Leon
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Old 18-06-2008, 10:12 PM
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I'm eying off some of nice telephotos , telezooms, and tele-macros all L class Canon EFs from HK , can save a stack of money (up 40% or there abouts cf shop prices here !!!!), and some of the them come with EXTRAs (like UV-sky filters etc) .
I'm going to get my EF 70-200mm f2.8 L IS USM this way (HND price $3200 , other $1700) , well that's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

BTW : Harvey Norman prices are not all they are cracked up to be with DSLRs , they can't even match Michaels or Paxtons. Don't get sucked in by their flash TV advertising and pretend sales.

Someone told me that Canon gives 7 years GLOBAL warantee on their lenses irrespective of where they are bought.

I'd be hessitant to buy a DSLR from HK though , if something goes wrong you'd be on your own I suspect.
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Old 18-06-2008, 10:34 PM
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Ian, you might want to take a look at http://d-d-photographics.com.au/

I've just bought the following from them:
Sigma 12-24mm, Canon 135mm F/2L, Canon 70-200 F/4L and Canon 300mm f/4L for a total of $4106....

Nice and cheap, Can pickup in my area (and sydney) and their shipping rates are great...

Really really good people to deal with too, (although even when droping 4k on L glass they didnt want to shave a single dollar of the price...) what can you do? !
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Old 18-06-2008, 11:15 PM
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Hi Leon.

For your info. If you buy a new camera from HK especially from EBay, they say that it is under Canon warranty or is listed as 12 months warranty. That warranty is given from the seller themselves and "NOT" Canon. What people don't know is that Canon "DO NOT" , repeat... "DO NOT" provide International Warranty. If you bought your 5D in Australia, look at the warranty card. It does say Australia/New Zealand printed on that warranty card or that Canon have changed the rules. A very close friend of mine works at Canon HeadOffice in Australia who knows best .

Although my work at Hewlett Packard deals with notebooks, but i do indeed get alot of end-users buying their notebooks on EBay wanting their notebook to be covered under warranty. When we pull up the serial number in our records, it doesn't exist .

Another thing i have to mention is the reason why in HK goods are sold cheaper is most goods do not come with warranty from the manufacturer surprisingly unless bought from a respectable retailer such as Myers, DickSmith here over there. If you been to Hong Kong you will know the small stalls are the ones which sells the non-warranty goods. They are called "Water Goods" hence the reason why lower price and goods on tax is much lower. How do i know this? I come from Hong Kong

Ask yourself saving that $200-$300 buying a DSLR from HK for a 12 months warranty is it worth it? you'll be the judge

Last edited by EzyStyles; 18-06-2008 at 11:30 PM.
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Old 18-06-2008, 11:50 PM
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Gezz eric .. your the guy ripping the things apart and throwing away the filters

I'm pretty sure warranty is out the door after that and everyone here with a canon wants to do it
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Old 18-06-2008, 11:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
Ian, you might want to take a look at http://d-d-photographics.com.au/

I've just bought the following from them:
Sigma 12-24mm, Canon 135mm F/2L, Canon 70-200 F/4L and Canon 300mm f/4L for a total of $4106....

Nice and cheap, Can pickup in my area (and sydney) and their shipping rates are great...

Really really good people to deal with too, (although even when droping 4k on L glass they didnt want to shave a single dollar of the price...) what can you do? !
Discovered them a while ago.

Quikshop look good too ($1929 for a EF 70-200mm f2.8 L IS) , anyone used them ?
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Old 19-06-2008, 12:43 AM
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wish i had have found them before... would have saved another $250... Although I never like having lenses sent to me... I've seen the wonderful work auspost can make of glass :/ And i guess I couldnt be happier, I have a whole whack of L glass I didnt have beforehand.. Thats gotta be a good thing.
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:10 PM
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I get stuff from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ in New York.

I just got a Canon 17-55 IS f2.8 lens - it was about $1000 less than the Australian RRP. The lens is SO much better than the 17-85!!!

Ordered on Friday, did 30,000 km and arrived Perth on Sunday..... then took 3 phone calls and 4 emails to UPS and another 5 days to get it the last 30 km. A friend also ordered a camera and 2 lenses the same day, but he got his stuff on the Monday.

Just be aware that if the price is over $1000AUD, you get hit with a customs fee (about $60) plus 10% GST. This is especially so if it comes via a courier - by post it often just comes straight through.
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:11 PM
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Good Information Guys, and I thank you, My question was just an observation really, I am not actually going to buy from HK.

I have however noticed that some people selling there Canon stuff on Australian E-Bay, and when I checked out where they had bought their product, originally they said i had come from HK in the first place.

So I just wondered are Canon Products sold around the world all the same, like is a Canon 5D in China, the same as the Canon 5D in Australia.

Just wondering

Leon
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:19 PM
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The Canon 70-200 IS f2.8 is currently $1572USD + $63.80 from B+H. Add one GST etc, or take the risk and pay $106 for post and see if it gets through without being picked up by Customs.

That's less than what I paid for for the non-IS lens a year ago....

Actually, I think the non-IS is better for astro than the IS version. Slightly better resolution, less CA etc. But of course the IS is better for handheld normal photography.
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
Ian, you might want to take a look at http://d-d-photographics.com.au/

I've just bought the following from them:
Sigma 12-24mm, Canon 135mm F/2L, Canon 70-200 F/4L and Canon 300mm f/4L for a total of $4106....

Nice and cheap, Can pickup in my area (and sydney) and their shipping rates are great...

Really really good people to deal with too, (although even when droping 4k on L glass they didnt want to shave a single dollar of the price...) what can you do? !
I agree with AlexN.
I bought a 40D from them just after they were available in October last year.
I also got a Canon 70-200 IS USM F/4L and a 50mm lens (and some other bits and pieces)
Didn't even get a smile when I asked about discount for cash

Last edited by snowyskiesau; 19-06-2008 at 02:12 PM.
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:48 PM
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See the Nikon website: http://www.nikon.com.au/pagearticle.php?pageid=65-52b9b66212

And note this bit - "Owners of grey items may not be able to download online software and firmware upgrades available from the Nikon site, due to incompatible serial numbers."

And you can't register on the web in the other countries unless you have an address in that country...a bummer for firmware updates to cameras

Last edited by mdgodf; 19-06-2008 at 02:38 PM.
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:51 PM
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yeah. The 5d in china would be the same as us/jap/aus. Sometimes with different firmware or accessories. Power plugs etc. Much the same..
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Old 19-06-2008, 01:58 PM
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You have all been very helpful Thank You.

Leon
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Old 27-06-2008, 01:32 PM
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Hong Kong E-Bay

Quote:
Originally Posted by mdgodf View Post
See the Nikon website: http://www.nikon.com.au/pagearticle.php?pageid=65-52b9b66212

And note this bit - "Owners of grey items may not be able to download online software and firmware upgrades available from the Nikon site, due to incompatible serial numbers."

And you can't register on the web in the other countries unless you have an address in that country...a bummer for firmware updates to cameras
I cannot agree with that as I just bought a Nikon D300 from HK 6 months ago and I also got the firmware upgrade on the net 3 weeks ago.

More on that topic, I would like to share my opion and experience to all of you my friends.

I purchase more than 90% of man's toy from HK either ebay, online shop or in person, ranging from AD$11000 Sony projector to AU$20 USB-serial adeptor (the price quoted are aussie price, i paid of course much cheaper). During these 9 years there was ONLY 1 item failed me (the Denon DVD player). I would like all of you my friends ask yourself a question, "how many items that failed with the warranty period?"

Regarding buying stuff from ebay (or online), we have to make sure the price is actually quote price+S&H, it is NOT only applied to Hong Kong.

Regarding to camera, you are right, the body are not warranted ontside HK but the Lens are.

In response to some of you that goods form a small stall in Hong Kong are "water goods", I do not agree too. The so called small shop/stall also sell "retailer goods" and this applied to the BIG shop too. My experience is "water goods" is cheapest, then the "retailer goods" to the most expensive "Aussie goods". After all, these goods are from the same factory, either Japan, Thailand, Malaysia or China. When I was living in HK, I normally go for the "Water goods" as they are cheaper, and with the low fault rate, I don't really care about the warranty, at the end they just a toy. I came from HK too. ;-)

Some of you mentioned about the $200-300 different and should not compromise the warranty issue. It depends!!!! if the price is just 500 then I would say 200 different is killing me. One of the example, I bought a Nikon flash SB800 last month from ebay HK at about AU$380, price different is roughly 100, do you think its a small amount or small in percentage??

Someone also quot the bhphotovideo.com and the quikshop.com, I tried both of them and they are good shop. Please be noted that quikshop is actually based in Hong Kong.:-)

At the end, I believed we just feel uncomfort when we see the word "from Chinxxxx" as it go beyond our comfort zone. I work in an international company and a lot of my colleagues go to HK or China and they just enjoy the shopping overthere and they will also give whoever going there a shopping list to see if that someone can help.

Wish this would not offenced anyone of you my friend.
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Old 27-06-2008, 03:03 PM
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tis where i got my d40 from... 9000 photos on and its still rock solid

just watcdh for waranty...
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