Would you buy Grey Imports

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nikonuser

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Dave
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I'm going to buy a Nikon 70-200 VRII and 2 suppliers I'm looking at have confirmed that their products are sourced from outside the UK but will offer their own independant 12 months cover etc.
If I did purchase fron either of these it would mean a saving of £70 and £130 respectively......am I being 'penny wise pound foolish' by even thinking of buying grey imports.
Is the issue with grey imports only on the first 12 months guarantee or are there longer termproblems.
Dave
 
Hi Dave

First thoughts are who are you sourcing from as that could sway the decision for me. I know Ian (Kerso) on here imports from USA and lots of people are very happy with his service and Canon will honour the warranty on their lenses from him. Another is HDEW which there are several reviews of good service on here.

I'd also look at the total cost of the lens, if you're looking at £1700 - a £70 saving isn't worth it for me, I'd much prefer to pay the slight extra and pick up locally and know I've no issues with warranty should it be required.

Hope this is of help
 
If they iffer there own cover i dont think i would mind so much, you also need to make sure they cover the taxes if you get slapped with import duty aswell!!!!!
 
Hi Guys thanks for your opinions.
I'm looking at both HDEW and procamerashop prices are £1545 and £1500 respectively whereas Mifsud are at £1599
I would have thought any import duty would have been paid by the importer and not by the third party??
Dave
 
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nikonuser said:
Hi Guys thanks for your opinions.
I'm looking at both HDEW and procamerashop prices are £1545 and £1500 respectively whereas Mifsud are at £1599
I would have thought any import duty would have been paid by the importer and not by the third party??
Dave
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Heard good things about Mifsuds (Bolton street) for the slight expense over HDEW, I'd buy from them

I'm not sure about procamerashop at all
 
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I would feel more comfortable buying s/h in the UK than having a new Grey import. There is one for sale in the classifieds section at the moment for £1275
 
Andy - is there a Mifsuds in bolton or do you mean Bolton Street, Brixham, I've looked on their website and cannot find another shop....if they are in bolton I would drive up to collect......you are right they sell UK stock and its a good price for peace of mind as well.I did think about waiting until Focus on Imaging and see what their prices were but I've got a big hole in my pocket!!
Thanks everyone for your help
 
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nikonuser said:
Andy - is there a Mifsuds in bolton or do you mean Bolton Street, Brixham, I've looked on their website and cannot find another shop....if they are in bolton I would drive up to collect......you are right they sell UK stock and its a good price for peace of mind as well.I did think about waiting until Focus on Imaging and see what their prices were but I've got a big hole in my pocket!!
Thanks everyone for your help
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Hi yes i meant Bolton street (I've amended the post). It's Mathers in Bolton - might be worth a call to see if they can price match / beat the price.

Jessops is also worth a try
 
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I dont think a shops own warranty is as good or better than manufacturers..... they dont replace goods they get them fixed.. you return to shop.. they then send to the manufacturer... I would much prefer a manufacturers warranty and send direct to them...cuts out time for a start and your dealing wiht the people fixing it not through shop..
 
Good point, Tony....thanks
 
Thanks for the Quidco reminder Twist, just ordered from Jessops and hopefully collect tomorrow...can't wait!!
thanks everyone for all your help and thoughts
dave
 
nikonuser said:
just ordered from Jessops and hopefully collect tomorrow...can't wait!!
thanks everyone for all your help and thoughts
dave
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Excellent news Dave. Enjoy your new lens
 
Hdew cameras use a Canon approved repair centre for their warranty anyway so I'm sure you'd be fine with them. I bought my 5D2 and 24-105 f4 L from them for £2,025 which was around £370 cheaper than buying it from L.C.E. or Jessops at the time. Great service from them too, ordered on a monday night and delivered on friday morning.
 
nikonuser said:
Hi Guys thanks for your opinions.
I'm looking at both HDEW and procamerashop prices are £1545 and £1500 respectively whereas Mifsud are at £1599
I would have thought any import duty would have been paid by the importer and not by the third party??
Dave
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Dave, unless the company you buy from is registered here in the UK you become the importer and liable for duties and taxes. If they are registered here then where the goods come from is immaterial as you are buying from a UK company - no different than buying from Nikon directly.
 
Hdew are a UK company, they are in Surrey.
I've just bought from them, and all is good. If the camera dies it goes to a Canon approved repair centre in the UK, and from experience they are usually quicker than Canon are.
 
nikonuser said:
I'm going to buy a Nikon 70-200 VRII and 2 suppliers I'm looking at have confirmed that their products are sourced from outside the UK but will offer their own independant 12 months cover etc.
If I did purchase fron either of these it would mean a saving of £70 and £130 respectively......am I being 'penny wise pound foolish' by even thinking of buying grey imports.
Is the issue with grey imports only on the first 12 months guarantee or are there longer termproblems.
Dave
Click to expand...

For the sake of £70 I wouldn't buy a grey import when talking about £1500+. I did buy a "grey" 70-200 VRI at a time when there were none available in the UK, however I returned it when the dealer was unable/unwilling to provide an invoice or any written guarantee.

A third party importer may well offer their own warranty, but you're banking on them still being in business 12 months down the line....
 
I had a Tamron lens delivered from Amazon Uk today , after trying to register it online for 5 yr warranty it became apparent that it wasn"t sourced through the UK importers ( Intro 2020).
The accompanying paperwork confirmed it was Sourced direct from Germany by Amazon , after speaking the the official importers they agreed to honour the 5 yr extended warranty as the lens was bought from Amazon UK and not from the market place.

Julian
 
Try to avoid buying new no matter where the goods come from, classifieds are my friend
 
I'm not overly against having a grey import, but I don't like the idea of evading import duty as a few of the companies seem to, or it being my responsibility as may be the case. The fact that some companies offer to the pay the tax if it gets caught at customs just makes me think that something iffy is going on all the times when they don't get caught.
[my understanding of importing and tax etc may of course be wrong]
 
I want a 7D with the 15-85mm lens.

Jessops is flogging them for £1556.95

Digital Rev has em for £1469.00

And Onestop sells em for £1356.59

Both Digital Rev and Onestop get good reviews on here. I would rather Digital Rev as they are represented on here but there are big savings with Onestop, £200.36 in savings instead of £87.95 with Digital Rev. £200 buys a lot of beer. I have no issue with grey imports. As for the 12 month warranty, I expect to be on the road for 7 of the 12 months anyway so I guess I will just have to be careful.
 
I've bought stuff from Onestop before and they are very reliable, no import duty or taxes either. I've just looked at www.panamoz.com and they have them listed at £1,332 but are out of stock ATM. I bought a Sigma 150-500 OS from there recently for £617.99 inc p&p and there's no tax or duty to pay with them either and it was ordered on a monday night and delivered on the friday morning by fedex and trackable all the way.
 
nikonuser said:
Thanks for the Quidco reminder Twist, just ordered from Jessops and hopefully collect tomorrow...can't wait!!
thanks everyone for all your help and thoughts
dave
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Well Dave ...:shrug:

Did you manage to get it, how is it
 
I bought my 7d from hdew.

The only difference is the non-Uk charger. Adapters are supplied so unless this is an issue (wasn't for me) I have no problems with buying grey imports. I even send mine to Canon UK to have the AF checked, they didn't question the fact it wasn't a UK camera. For the savings I was worth it, for me, anyway.
 
I got my 7d and 17-55 from hdew. 7d appears to be a UK version. UK charger and manual. Both were delivered fine and I didn't have to pay any taxes or fees
 
Just a word of warning that may/may not apply here.
I have a Tokina lens which is a grey import. The CPU went on it so I asked Kenro (UK suppliers of Tokina) if they could fix it. I offered to pay up front for any services but as it was a grey import they would not touch it with a s***ty stick!
I ended up sending it to another UK repairer who did the job for me within a couple of weeks at a more than reasonable cost.
After this experience I will no longer buy any grey imports.
 
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Ask kerso before you buy he has done me proud for cameras ,lens,batteries , and cp filters , cant fault the guy on anything
 
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