Grey import yes or no

Should i buy a grey import?

  • Yes

    Votes: 37 71.2%
  • No

    Votes: 15 28.8%

  • Total voters
    52
Messages
4
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No
Hi all

I am looking to buy a Canon 750D and can save about £140 by buying it as a great import from DigitalRev.com

Having done some research it's my understanding that Canon won't honour the UK warranty, however DigitalRev offer their own 1 year local warranty

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on grey imports and whether it's worth the initial saving?
 
Hi thanks, I've seen a few threads about it but so much to read through so thought it easier just to ask directly!
 
I'd prefer buying used from a shop in UK than grey import if its just £140 saving. For example LCE has a 750D £150 cheaper. Their 6 months warranty is good and hassle free (having once used it myself).
If you are ready to buy used privately you can save even more money which I consider to be same risk as grey import.
Just my 0.02p...
 
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Unless it's a significant saving, I usually buy U.K. Stock from Amazon direct. That said, I saved nearly 1k when I bought my 6d and 24-105L on release from Digitalrev which was well worth it, and not had any issues.
 
I have bought grey imports twice. The first time I saved quite a bit at the time, and at that time I was in a less well financial situation than I am now, so in my mind it was a no brainer. I understood that Nikon, at the time would not even touch it, and the saving I made, which I can't remember but was a couple of hundred £s, was enough to negate that being a problem. Luckily nothing ever went wrong with the camera.

The second last year of a D500, came after waiting 6+ years for Nikon to bring out a replacement for the D300S I had. At the time there was little stock in the UK, and that month I just about had enough to buy the import by saving about £120. I would have had to wait a month to pay the UK price, and there was no guarantee that there would be UK stock the next month. Now something did go wrong with this camera, but it was self inflicted. The camera was in my bag which fell off a table and damaged the LCD. :eek: I didn't initially get in touch with Nikon because I thought they would not touch imports, as that was their policy in the past. I got a quote from one company for about £350, but they were not sure as they had not had a similar fault with a D500 as it was so new, so it could go up. They were also not sure they could source the LCD screen, again as the camera was so new. So I gave Nikon a call and explained that it was import, and would they fix it, and they said 'yes'. :) They would have to see it to give a quote. Once they had had a look at it they said £173, unless they found other problems. Thankfully they didn't find anything else wrong with it. :) I was very surprised and glad that Nikon's policy of not even touching an import had changed. :banana:

They did say it would take two to three weeks, which stopped me from booking a holiday on which I wanted to use the camera. The camera actually came back in ten days which would have been in the time frame to be able to go on the holiday, but by then the plans were cancelled. Can't knock them for doing the job quicker than they said. :clap:

For the OP I would say do you have the money to pay the cheapest UK price? Do you plan on selling the camera to fund another purchase at some point? If it fails within the warranty period are you willing to go to the trouble of potentially sending the camera half way around the world to get something fixed, and the cost and time involved?

Like my situation last year, if this is the only way to get the camera that you want / need now, then maybe, but for such a small saving I would probably not.

And the reason I ask if there are plans to sell on in the future is being grey could affect its second hand price, as people are wary of buying grey second hand, and being a mid range camera, there will be many UK versions for buyers to choose from, forcing the potential sale price down. I generally don't sell my cameras, because I have them for so long that they are not worth enough to bother trying to sell, so that has factored in to my decisions on whether to go grey or not.

Some 'grey' companies are better than others with dealing with problems, but it may not be a fast or cheap thing to get sorted when the camera may have to leave the country. Obviously, like my cameras, nothing went wrong with them from a manufacturing point of view that needed the cameras to go back to Hong Kong, and most cameras don't break thankfully. ;)
 
Hi thanks for your comprehensive reply.

In this case Digital Rev (the seller) offer a local warranty. If anything goes wrong, you send it to a local supplier, get a quote and send it to them, and they pay your costs.

From what I've read online they do honour this agreement and are quite reliable in this aspect.

I know £140 doesn't seem like a massive saving but it could go towards a battery grip, tripod, memory cards etc
 
Some people won't go near grey, and that's there prerogative, but as long as you go into it knowing the pluses and negatives of buying grey then you are at least making an informed decision. :) That is why threads like this are good every so often, as brings to most peoples attention what things need to be considered. The money I saved on the D500 paid for a 32GB XQD card and a 32GB very fast SD card, as well as enabling me to get the camera when there was little stock here in the UK. I was hoping for a larger saving as I had done with a previous camera, but because of how new it was and the short supplies, that didn't happen. :( A saving is a saving though. :)

Just as an aside, looks like a good deal from Digital Rev, but companies can go bust, and while I know companies can go bust here too, you would at least have a UK camera with a warranty Canon would honour. ;) Again, unlikely to happen, but something to keep in mind when talking about non UK companies giving warranties and local ways to get repairs.

Digital Rev have been going for many years, and were the company I bought my D200 off 10 years ago.

Btw, when I bought off Digital Rev all those years ago part of the deal was that they would pay any Customs Duty if it was charged. I did get charged, paid the Duty, and quickly got reimbursed by Digital Rev. I wouldn't have bought it if that wasn't the case.
 
If you were buying something cheap then I'd say yes but as it's a camera body I'd rather have the backup of a UK warranty.
 
I saved £1k each on my bodies, so I saved £2k in total going grey route.

If one breaks, I will just buy another new one for £2500 and would work out £500 more than had I bought UK stock. So the risk is £2,000 savings vs £500 loss if the camera breaks.

This does not include the fact that I have insurance on the cameras so if push comes to shove, I would pay for the repair out of my pocket, and the cost of the repair would be my excess on the insurance, which I think is £100. Or....take a trip to Hong Kong, I actually been to the Canon HK office, you can even sit and wait for your body to be repaired. It's quite an impressive place, you can play with most lenses there. £2,000 savings pays for the holiday for a week easy in HK.

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The only down side is CPS do not cover grey import gears anymore, the data base now knows the serial number.
 
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Ethics (for some) aside there is no problem with buying grey, at least with Nikon. They will repair your camera, and they will even fix recall issues for free. The only difference is the warranty, which is with the shop and not Nikon, but this is no different if buying used from a UK store. So if you buy grey and the store go bust you have no warranty, but if you buy used from a UK store and they go bust you also have no warranty. I would always recommend Panamoz fro grey import as they have a 3 year warranty rather than one year, and in every case that I have seen they have been nothing short of excellent in dealing with warranty claims. They tell you to send it to Nikon and then pick up the bill for you.

Nikon do not differentiate their lenses and so you have an international warranty with these anyway.
 
You need to read this from their website and more to the point you need to understand what they are saying.

When ordering goods from DigitalRev Limited, overseas deliveries may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once the package reaches the specified destination. Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you, unless an Import Handling Charge is included in the price of the goods. Customs policies vary widely from country to country, so you should contact your local Customs officer for further information. Additionally, please note that when ordering from DigitalRev Limited, you are considered the sole importer of record and must comply with all laws and regulations of the country in which you are receiving the goods. Your privacy is important to us and we know that you care about how information about your order is used and shared. We would like our international customers and customers dispatching products internationally to be aware that cross-border deliveries are subject to opening and inspection by customs authorities.
 
Digital Rev cover any import duty to the UK. It says it quite clearly at the checkout and I emailed to double check too
 
Ethics (for some) aside there is no problem with buying grey, at least with Nikon. They will repair your camera, and they will even fix recall issues for free. The only difference is the warranty, which is with the shop and not Nikon, but this is no different if buying used from a UK store. So if you buy grey and the store go bust you have no warranty, but if you buy used from a UK store and they go bust you also have no warranty. I would always recommend Panamoz fro grey import as they have a 3 year warranty rather than one year, and in every case that I have seen they have been nothing short of excellent in dealing with warranty claims. They tell you to send it to Nikon and then pick up the bill for you.

Nikon do not differentiate their lenses and so you have an international warranty with these anyway.

Surely not. If you buy from a UK shop you are covered by the manufacturers warranty.
 
1DX = £1400 saving, 7D2 = £430 saving.

I simply wouldn't have bought these cameras at UK prices!

Why would I but non grey?
 
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Digital Rev cover any import duty to the UK. It says it quite clearly at the checkout and I emailed to double check too

Yes, but they don't pay the VAT!
 
Not if buying used as I said (y)

Which is hardly comparing like with like. Buy new from the grey market and the retailer goes bust, you have no protection. If you had bought from a UK retailer you would still be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

If I have misunderstood the point you are making, apologies.
 
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Which is hardly comparing like with like. Buy new from the grey market and the retailer goes bust, you have no protection. If you had bought from a UK retailer you would still be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

If I have misunderstood the point you are making, apologies.
Yes you have ;) I was covering all bases as others in the thread have stated that they prefer to buy used U.K. rather that grey (y).
 
For the sake of £140 I'm not sure i would bother going for grey. Saying that, somewhere like Panamoz offer a free 3 year warranty, which they say Canon will fix (paid for by Panamoz), which might be a plus point even if the saving isnt huge. I cant think of many UK retailers that offer that.

Personally i find the Uk based (or with UK contacts) Grey market companies like Panamoz and HDEW offer the best back up services, as at least you dont have to send anything back to HK to get fixed. Ive used DR in the past and have no issues with them (other than a one off fake filter) but it doesn't seem like getting things fixed is quite as smooth as the other two.
 
Nobody can answer your question given the info supplied... 140 quid? if you have a jag parked outside your mansion and servants to think about paying then no.. if your in a rented flat just about making ends meet then yes... We don't know enough to know if 140 is worth it.. the only person that can answer that question is YOU! :)
 
I have used HDEW before to but a Sony A6000 and the service was great. It came with a non UK lead but I already had a spare and I just mentioned it in an email saying everything was basically fine and I got one in the next post. nice and friendly as well. For me well worth it as they are in Surrey so you can go and see them. Panamoz are good as well from friends although their prices are not as competitive as they once were. onestop digital are another. But as others have said unless things are tight for £140 it's not enough IMO
 
There has to be a tipping point where it just makes sense. £140 is not small potatoes to be fair and £164 saving is more than enough. And with HDEW you do get that warranty, they are UK based and have been around for years.
 
So were Jessops...
 
A lot of people still got their fingers burned when their gift vouchers suddenly became worthless and their kit was locked inside stores waiting for the administrators to free it.

However, my point was that even (relatively!) well respected High Street names can go pop overnight despite being
UK based and have been around for years.
 
Hi all

I am looking to buy a Canon 750D and can save about £140 by buying it as a great import from DigitalRev.com

Having done some research it's my understanding that Canon won't honour the UK warranty, however DigitalRev offer their own 1 year local warranty

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on grey imports and whether it's worth the initial saving?

I have bought three cameras and lenses from Digital rev and never need to use their guarantee.
though the lens would have been covered by Canon anyway.
The Fuji X10 went back to Fuji, to have the Globe effect sorted and they did not even ask for the Guarantee.
I can believe not all grey importers are equal... but Digital Rev seem fine.
Paid for out of guarantee repairs are no problem.

Yes, but they don't pay the VAT!

Yes they do... they cover vat and duty and import charges
 
Depends on the level of "paranoia" we all suffer from but its always a relative gamble

Argument for buying from the cheapest, well known, supplier regardless of grey or not. In which case I'd consider second hand from one of the members here or AV Forums for better price. Risk of going wrong is always there but exposure is less.....

Pays your money and all that. But as to buying grey.... is almost as much of a risk as anything else I guess depending on how you look at it.
 
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You need to read this from their website and more to the point you need to understand what they are saying.

When ordering goods from DigitalRev Limited, overseas deliveries may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once the package reaches the specified destination. Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you, unless an Import Handling Charge is included in the price of the goods. Customs policies vary widely from country to country, so you should contact your local Customs officer for further information. Additionally, please note that when ordering from DigitalRev Limited, you are considered the sole importer of record and must comply with all laws and regulations of the country in which you are receiving the goods. Your privacy is important to us and we know that you care about how information about your order is used and shared. We would like our international customers and customers dispatching products internationally to be aware that cross-border deliveries are subject to opening and inspection by customs authorities.

Those Are their international conditions.
When you buy from the Digital Rev UK site you are fully covered for the tax, vat and import charges. As they have said many times on this site and others.
When you buy from them on Ebay you are not covered, and come under their international rules.

When I bought a 17-155 f2.8 lens from them, and the post offices wanted cash in hand for tax and vat and clearance,. Digital Rev repaid me into my account the same day.
They sort it and claim it back from the carrier.
 
Yes they do... they cover vat and duty and import charges

A few years ago I emailed "Mr grey Supplier" and asked if I declared the VAT to HMRC on receipt of the goods would they refund the VAT element of the sale.

Still waiting on an answer.

If you have proof that things have changed, then I'm all ears.
 
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Why not ask on their Forum here https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/digitalrev.108/

You can ask a price and clear up the tax vat issue directly with them. They have done it many times before

They have also answered the question in full here

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/general-questions.615998/#post-7280155

...and as has been established just as many times before, their business model is based on only a proportion of the packages being intercepted and charges levied, not to mention the spurious declarations in respect the value on the forms.

Of course, they are doing nothing wrong - it is the purchaser, who is acting as sole importer and therefore committing VAT fraud.

Bury your head in the sand or justify it what ever way works for you, but the fact remains if you import a package in this manner and you don't pay the VAT (and if due import duty), you are committing a crime. If you are lucky enough to have your package intercepted and pay and reclaim the right amount of VAT from DR or other grey importers, then great you've got a bargain - if like most, your package is unlucky enough to slip through then net, then you've just broken the law. Perhaps next time go full out and nick one from a passerby down a back alley in London - you'll save even more!

Of course the apologists will moan "here we go again" and "there's always one", but sod it. I've bitten my tongue on enough threads on this topic. There's a sticky on it somewhere.
 
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