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buying on Ebay
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Hi All,
new to this site & am interested to hear from Photographers who have bought equipment on E-Bay. I have purchased a lens on E-Bay a couple ot times. 1st time it was damaged! 2nd time I had to pay ?500 in VAT & duty! It’s a dangerous game buying on E-Bay…be warned. It always looks like a bargain is to be had and CAN be had, but let caution prevail.
Gary
Hi Gary,
Welcome to the site. Yeah, Ebay is a mine field. I’ve found after several years on Ebay that photographic equipment is heavily prone to being hit by duty & VAT. As long as you understand this and accept the risk you’re OK. Hong Kong seems to be user friendly with declaring costs, etc but from the US you can depend on being hit with duty and full VAT. There are several threads on this site on this subject so have a look around.
I won’t buy anything at this stage that isn’t backed by a Paypal guarantee or almost perfect feedback. Again, there are several suggestions here on PI. Also, don’t forget the PI sponsors. I’m awaiting delivery of a backup LaCIE 500Gb drive from Sheldon which is equally priced to well known European sites and is cheaper than Ebay itself so good deals can be had. Glass, unfortunately seems to be the opposite but a little extra cost here with a local guarantee is really worth it, I’m sure you’ll agree. :wink:
Alan.
I agree with you Gary. There are a lot of scams out there but there are also a lot of genuine people out there selling in good faith. I tend to buy more from companies on ebay rather than individuals as companies rely on good feedback to stay in business. As you say, let caution prevail!
If you’re looking for Canon gear, and nervous about the HK route, have a look at Ian Kerr’s store. He’s based in Scotland, so duty/VAT (or indeed Canons warranties) aren’t an issue. I’m in the process of buying a 100mm macro. which after taking into account differences in shipping, the current Canon rebate, and the possibility of getting hit for tax, worked out cheaper than buying from HK. It’s due to ship midweek, so I’ll post back and let ye all know how it goes!
JMcL wrote:
If you’re looking for Canon gear, and nervous about the HK route, have a look at Ian Kerr’s store.
I’d be nervous about using him again, I had a bad experience with him – long delays and major mis-communication. He tainted my otherwise perfect e-Bay record, the moody git :x . Good luck if you do decide to use him!
stasber wrote:
JMcL wrote:
If you’re looking for Canon gear, and nervous about the HK route, have a look at Ian Kerr’s store.
I’d be nervous about using him again, I had a bad experience with him – long delays and major mis-communication. He tainted my otherwise perfect e-Bay record, the moody git :x . Good luck if you do decide to use him!
Oops, too late. He assures me stock is due in on Tuesday, so fingers are crossed. I’ll be well pissed off if I miss out on the ?30 rebate!
John
JMcL wrote:
Oops, too late. He assures me stock is due in on Tuesday, so fingers are crossed. I’ll be well pissed off if I miss out on the ?30 rebate!
John
Well, John – good luck! My issue stemmed from a similar case. Except that I bought it with the Buy it Now option, and heard nothing at all from him for a good 2 weeks – even the PayPal hadn’t gone through. Then I asked what’s going on and he said he’s still waiting for stock to arrive. Then nothing for a further couple of weeks but my PayPal did go through during that time. Then he assured me it was going to be dispatched ‘soon’. It arrived the day after the shoot I wanted it for, which didn’t go down too well with me. I made the mistake of contacting him before leaving a *neutral* feedback to say I got it but service & communication was crap, so he started bickering about my damaging his reputation. I left him the neutral feedback and he duly returned the favour saying that I was impatient. I was always fair and polite in my emails with him.
I hope this isn’t the experience you have – he has many satisfied customers, though I did notice the trend from time to time of people leaving him a neutral or negative on account of his less than satisfactory service. So I can’t recommend him.
Anyway – hope this is not the case for you.
In reply to the original question – I have bought (and sold) items on ebay quite regularly with very few problems.
For safety in buying from Hong Kong, I would initially stick to one of the more established sellers like Digital Rev (my own regular), Kea Photo or UR Galaxy.
Yes – you sometimes have to pay VAT/Duty, but usually not. Even with that, the cost is a lot less than Ireland.
I still try to buy in Ireland when the price difference is not too huge, but sadly it often is.I have bought and sold photographic equiptment from eBay and apart from anything.YOU MUST read the auction a couple of times and question anything you see that looks out of place.Another thing is the shipping, ask before you put in a bid.Sometimes the shipping will cost more than the actual item.Sellers put an auction for ?1 and shipping ?10 so when the item sells for ?5 the seller will only be billed from eBay for a percentage of the ?5 and not the shipping ( total sale price)
I have payed Import duty on a Canon 10D which was only ?90 and still worked out cheaper than downtown,but you should not buy from the states as the customs are watching shipmnts like hawks.I have bought from HK also with any problems, they will put whatever value you want on a parcel. Dont be scared of eBay… .instead just beware. Its like I saw a Canon 5D in the buy and sell last week for ?1500 emailed the guy and have had no reply..If it sounds too good to be true.Then it probably is!!!!!Just a quick update re Kerso, the lens was sent last week and arrived Monday as promised, so maybe your experience was a one off stasber. Still, it’s always worthwhile to hear about bad experiences
I got a Canon 300mm F4 L IS from Kerso… No duty and way way cheaper than anywhere else. Communications where very good but yeah I too had delays… In fairness to Ian, the delays where warned to me from the start, as at the time of my order they where out of stock everywhere…! I would do business with him again, providing his feedback is still up to scratch…!
Richie
I’m glad and relieved to hear it, John.
richiehatch wrote:
In fairness to Ian, the delays where warned to me from the start
This is the difference between your experience and mine. Had he been upfront in this respect I’d have no worries at all – even if it was delayed as much as it was. I have enough experience on eBay to suss things out. I had to chase him and drag the info out of him. Sure, twas a bad day at the office, that one.
I recently purchased a 70-200mm f4 IS from Kerso through Ebay. Had it within 3 days. Price was very good as Sterling was a little weaker at the time. Otherwise have used some of the HK ebay shops. I found Kea Photo very good for items under around 400 euro. Above this price the items seem to be shipped by DHL/Fedex and duties/taxes etc. have to be paid.
MJ
I’ve bought from Ian Kerso in Scotland, eBay shop “FlashCamera”, twice now and found him excellent. Last Monday morning I ordered a Canon EF 2x and this Monday just gone it arrived, ?100 or about 25% cheaper than Conns. Similarly a 300/4 lens about 33% cheaper than Conns with quick delivery. My experiences have only been positive.
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