lens from hongkong

[kev145]

Hi all, has anyone bought any lenses from hongkong, how reliable are the supplers, are they the genuine canon lens and how much import tax if any do you have to pay. Look forward to hearing from anyone who has any advice on this
cheers
kev

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by kev145

Hi all, has anyone bought any lenses from hongkong, how reliable are the supplers, are they the genuine canon lens and how much import tax if any do you have to pay. Look forward to hearing from anyone who has any advice on this
cheers
kev

I've bought Nikon & Tokina lenses from HK, as well as quite a lot of accessories. The suppliers are usually very good, and delivery is surprisingly swift, usually a week or so. The lenses are genuine, but don't have manufacturer's warranty. You have to weigh that against the savings, which at present aren't that great due to the sorry state of the pound. I haven't been hit for import duty or VAT on any HK purchases yet. A freind who buys regularly from the USA (not photo equipment) seems to pay on almost everything.

HTH
Chris

[lifecapture]

Depends upon the brand you are buying, all canon lenses come with 1 years international warranty regardless of where they were purchased. As for tax and import duty its around 30% if its caught. Try one stop digital, they state that if you get hit by duty and VAt they will refund you.

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by lifecapture

...all canon lenses come with 1 years international warranty regardless of where they were purchased...

Nikon UK have a similar 1 year international warranty on everything but camera bodies (iirc), but they do want you to (a) be the original purchaser, and (b) have purchased from an authorised Nikon dealer. It seems that buying from pretty much all of the HK eBayers fails one or both of these tests. The dealers seldom supply a Nikon warranty card with the purchase, and if they do it comes at a premium. I thought it was prudent to mention that the warranty we expect may not be available when bought from Hong Kong.

Chris

[kev145]

Thanks for the advice, as greenwing says with the exchange rate there's not much in it. Got what I was looking for at simplyelectronics and payed less than from HK. Well worth a look and no I'm not on 5%
cheers
kev:

[flake]

Sorry to bring you bad news Kev, but Simply Electronics are actually HK based:

SimplyElectronics Limited
Unit 7, 8th floor
682 Castle Peak Road
Kowloon, kowloon HONG KONG
HK

A quick Google on them brings up over 44,000 hits for problems people have had with them. I'm sure that on the old site there was a thread and a warning not to buy from them.
Of course some people never experience any problems at all from them, and you might be lucky, but when you're buying on line you really should check the vendor very carefully before you do.

[lifecapture]

International warranty is exactly that, its from the date it was originally sold, there can be no argument with that.
In addition one should always use credit card payment as that has a years protection built into it.

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by lifecapture

International warranty is exactly that, its from the date it was originally sold, there can be no argument with that.
In addition one should always use credit card payment as that has a years protection built into it.

International warranty is fine, provided the purchase meets the conditions for the warranty. If you don't have the warranty documents, you don't have a warranty, and that's how many of the HK lenses are sold. My Tokina lens came with no Tokina warranty but a 7 year Mack warranty.

I'm not sure how Credit Card companies stand on international purchases, especially when as often happens the transaction is done through a 3rd party (PayPal) which is itself based abroad.

I'm playing devil's advocate here. We need to remember that companies will often use small print to get out of what we think are their responsibilities. That goes for camera companies and credit card companies. The HK dealers on eBay are usually quite honest about warranties, saying that the only warranty is through them. I just looked at the first Canon lens that popped up as a buy it now from HK, this is what the listing says about warranty:

HKDZone supplies a full one-year warranty with a sales invoice.
We are responsible for any defects caused by manufacturer.
Damages caused by misuse & failure operating are not covered the warranty.

That says to me that you won't get any joy from Canon UK if the lens goes wrong. You have to send it back to HK.

Chris

[kev145]

Hi all, thanks for the feedback, I did dig a little and found their address is given on the Isle of Wight, should have gone into it a bit deeper, there is a lot of feedback about them on google and not all of it is bad , lots of bad reports about British companies so is it a case of be as careful as you can and keep your fingers crossed?
kev

[flake]

It's a question of looking at the feedback from other customers before ordering and then makeing an informed decision. Even Amazon have their problems so it's worth checking what's a normal & acceptable score as well.