Ebay items from Hong Kong?

[D_Rochat]

Has anyone had any experience with ordering items from Hong Kong on Ebay? I'm skeptical as many places are selling "new" items for close to used prices with free shipping. For example, right now I'm looking at a Sekonic light meter and they are selling cheaper than what they go for used locally. Most of these places seem to have at least a 99% rating, but I just can't help but think it would be like ordering from China (potential knock-offs). Has anyone taken the leap of faith?

[Wedding Shooter1]

I'd never do it! Just buy from B&H...Quality stuff at great pricing. Engadget is constantly showing KIRF(keeping it real fake) stuff from over seas!

[wickidwombat]

I have bought HEAPS of stuff including expensive L glass
the following sellers i can recomend as being reliable, selling genuine products and have great service

Digital Rev
Dzone 2
OzDigital online (only better for australia because the return address is in NSW not HK)
and HK buy and sell

quite often if i order on a thursday or a even friday the item arrives monday morning order monday or tuesday its there by the end of the week.

[D_Rochat]

I have bought HEAPS of stuff including expensive L glass
the following sellers i can recomend as being reliable, selling genuine products and have great service

Digital Rev
Dzone 2
OzDigital online (only better for australia because the return address is in NSW not HK)
and HK buy and sell

quite often if i order on a thursday or a even friday the item arrives monday morning order monday or tuesday its there by the end of the week.

Hong Kong Buy and Sell (HKBNS) is actually one I was looking at. The price is close to $100 cheaper than local prices and it has free shipping. How are they able to sell cheap and ship (to Canada) for free? My index finger is twitching......

[wickidwombat]

I havent had to return anything to hkbns but their service is good. delivery is fast too (well to here in aus as we are pretty close) I think they ship by fedex from memory

[CR Backup Admin]

About three of four small items I've bought from hong kong sellers on ebay were misrepresented or just junk.  It cost more to return them than their worth. They get government subsided postal rates, and pay less for international postage than we do for US mail in the USA.  This means $$ to return it.

I bought a tripod foot for my 100mm L, and they sent the wrong one.  So next time, I bought from a different seller who guaranteed it was the right one.  Wrong, it was for the 100mm USM as well. 

I also bought a wireless remote release with a 400 ft range, but it worked on a good day out to maybe 6 feet, but more often two feet, just junk.

There are some sellers of Brand name merchandise like Digital Rev that don't have that problem, but in the USA, they are also quite a bit more expensive, and its graymarket with no US warranty.

[Ryan708]

Im sure anything coming from hong-kong is grey market no warranty. Communication with these companies is impossible, untill you leave negative feedback, then all of a sudden they "why no contact for problem fix?" The return shipping would kill you also. Id rather save 100$ by buying a used item off of a local on e-bay. my $.02

[V8Beast]

I forget the name of the seller, but I bought what was supposedly a brand new OE Canon battery from a Hong Kong retailer. The thing was junk. It was obviously used, the packaging was fake, and the battery wouldn't hold a charge.

[rahkshi007]

I have bought more than 20+ camera accessory including tripod, filter, remote shutter, cf card(transcend) from hong kong ebay.. Never have any trouble.. It is normally for that cheap price if u ever travel to hong kong and see their local price... But for those expensive stuff like camera body and L lens, i will not bought through ebay, but have a holiday in Hong kong and shop at there.. cause the [ travel cost+L lens and body ] still cheaper than the cost of [ L lens and body only ] in my country.

[wickidwombat]

I have bought more than 20+ camera accessory including tripod, filter, remote shutter, cf card(transcend) from hong kong ebay.. Never have any trouble.. It is normally for that cheap price if u ever travel to hong kong and see their local price... But for those expensive stuff like camera body and L lens, i will not bought through ebay, but have a holiday in Hong kong and shop at there.. cause the [ travel cost+L lens and body ] still cheaper than the cost of [ L lens and body only ] in my country.

i've bought hundreds of various accessories and I have had
2 arrive broken which they sent new ones after i sent photos
1 item never show up still trying to work that one out but it cost $2 so i dont REALLY care
and 1 item break, the seller insisted i send it back but the cost to ship back was more than it was worth
so i just told them not to worry and i didn't leave them feedback and wont buy from them again

everything else has been pretty good
things like studio strobe light modifiers, stands etc are soooo much cheaper from these sellers
they make nice elinchrom to bowens adaptors so you can use cheaper bowens modifiers on nice elinchrom lights

[stessel tank]

HAVE PURCHASED LOTS OF ITEMS FROM HK NEVER HAD A PROBLEM AS YET I ALWAYS TRY AND GET IT FREIGHT FREE OR WHEN ITS ON SPECIAL

HAVE USED DIGITALREV & HK BUY & SELL, BOTH GIVE THE GENUINE ITEM WITH VERY FAST SERVICE!!!

ORDERED  FROM HK ON MONDAY NIGHT RECEIVED THE PARCEL FRIDAY MORNING IN AUSTRALIA

I NORMALLY DON'T ORDER ITEMS OVER $1000.00 RE GST TAX FREE LIMIT IN AUST

SERVICE IS EXCELLENT

[ruuneos]

stessel tank.. please turn of CAPS LOCK.

But yeah I've been thinking this same thing is it good to take risk for ordering stuff from Hong Kong.
DigitalRev seem's to be trusted shop?

[Parallacs]

Think about it this way,

If you could list one location as the capital of counterfeit-land, where would it be?

Honk Kong has gained a reputation in the past decade of being the main source of fake electronics/videogames/apple. How else would Hong Kong get it any cheaper than the rest of the world?

Photography is a high-priced hobby/profession. You might as well pay the extra to have peace-of-mind that the items are not counterfeit or defective.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

It does depend.  I once saw a high end German made product on ebay froom hong Kong for a fraction of the US price.  I sent a e-mail to the US distributor asking if it was fake.  To their credit, they replied that it was real, purchased from a bankrupcy.  I then proceeded to buy and it was real.
 
I'd certainly buy from Digital Rev if their prices were lower than US/Canada.  I also buy my products wholesale thru a Chinese Trader, he gets good quality items for me.  I had him buy a couple of Benro tripod heads, but they were not much cheaper, and not very good.

[docsavage123]

I got my 400 F5.6 L from URGalaxy in Hong Kong on Ebay in 2007 for £700 when it was £1100 in the UK. It arrived by courier no import charges and is on my cps supported list and has been services by canon.

Digital Rev are good but could end up with import duty. URgalaxy are no longer on ebay I think for avoiding import duty  .

just remember that there is no warranty as such in the UK, US wherever it ends up so its the risk you take.