Buying Camera gear in Aus? Who do you use?

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dr croubie

Too many photos, too little time.
Jun 1, 2011
1,383
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steveb said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you mean by "grey-import stock" but after a bit more research I have decided to buy from here in Aus for peace of mind and reliable warranty and after sales service
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My understanding of 'grey import':
Multinational company, say with offices in Hong Kong and Australia.
Hong Kong arm of the company buys the wholesale stock, pays Hong Kong taxes, import duties, warranty is valid in Hong Kong (or Asia in general).
The company then does an 'intra-company' transaction to move the stock to its Australian arm.
The Australian arm then sells the goods, but Canon Australia won't recognise the warranty because it's Asian-warrantied only. (i'm still not sure how this affects the statutory rights we get here though)

It's cheaper than buying from an Australian-only company, because they have to pay the Australian Canon Wholesale price, which is necessarily higher for various reasons (main one being just the volume of sales in Aus is a lot lower than Asia)
 
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Hillsilly

Oct 16, 2010
1,100
2
You still have statutory rights. Australian sellers are caught by the new Consumer Law. This means that if a camera or lens is faulty, the retailer has to repair, replace or refund it. Although, you are still relying on the goodwill of the retailer to rectify the situation quickly. An unmotivated retailer (eg one that has to pay for the repairs out of their own pocket) could drag the process out and be very difficult to work with.
 
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scottsdaleriots

Guest
when i was in the process of buying my 70-200mm 2.8 IS II lens i did a hell of a lot of research as you should do with the purvchase of any lens/camera (in my case anything i buy; camera, lens, bag, microfibre cleaning cloth [lol :p], etc) of where the best place to buy it - here or overseas. i chose australia for mainly peace of mind and WARRANTY! pretty long story cut short i chose ted's (melbourne city) over michael's (rip off) and camerahouse and those other shifty-looking places. the sales guy was helpful - i got a 'deal' for buying my L lens and a hoya filter (special order since they dont stock that particular filter), saved about $200 overall. was it worth it? perhaps not.

it leads me to suspect they get some sort of commission to a degree...? i asked if i could get like a 'bonus' item for free, you know like a filter case or something. they gave me a pack of 100 sheets of tissue paper. TISSUE PAPER(!) for a $3300+ L lens and a $195 filter. i mean WTF, seriously!! and they dont have a 'wesar n' tear' warranty, camera house do for like $650+ extra. the ted's sales guy (dunno if i should say his name) said that BOTH michael's and camera house (and obviously the other shifty-looking camera places in the city) have and thus sell grey import/market items. which did partially 'help(?)' me to make up my mind with the decision to buy from ted's.

my zoom was a little stiff (it was as smooth as it should be) so i went back to ted's (the sales guy that i bought the lens&filter from wasnt there) a few days before my 30 day refund policy expired to get it checked out but the a*^hole who grabbed my lens (which was mounted to my camera) turned it a TINY bit and said it was fine. he said it was exactly how it should be and that he had a 70-200 2.8 IS II lens and that's how the zooming ring should feel - a little more stiff than the focussing ring, which mine was. i KNOW both rings should feel as smooth as each other (if you know what i mean). i knew he was wrong but i had to go, i was late for work, so i just packed my things and rushed out. then a few weeks later i went to my local ted's and pretended i was interested in buying the 70-200mm 2.8 IS II only on the agenda to test out the zoom and see if it should be stiffer than the focussing ring. i was right. anyways now i'm stuck with a damn expensive L lens with a stiff zooming ring.

i want to buy from amazon/adorama/B&H - i bought some gear from B&H coz it had the 'cheapest' shipping + handling fees outta those 3 outlets and OMG! i had a 3 week delay which i ended up scratching my L lens and the paint chipped off - long story that one and it pissed me off every single f'ing day!!! :(

i want to buy from overseas as it's cheaper in that respect but the shipping fees are quite ridiculous! absolutely through the roof not to mention GST and VAT taxes, etc. AND the warranty, if you buy from amazon (for example) there's no international warranty is there? grey import stuff also worries me as well and if there's a mishap with the lens less than 3yrs after you buy it then what happens? you cant exactly repair it. and there are NO lens repair stores (in melbourne) that i know of. i dont wanna spend a few thousand dollars buying a quality L lens overseas only to have it malfunction/break or whatever within 3yrs of buying it and no being able to do a thing about fixing it and with no insurance as well. sorry for rambling but can you see the big delima i have when buying a new lens, specifically and especially buying a L lens?
 
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te4o

Feb 22, 2011
285
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Don't know about cameras but I bought my Zeiss 21/2.8 from topbuy.com.au and it came to my place pristine 5! days after ordering - regional Australia. I read a lot about unhappy customers there but read about equal amount or more happy ones and decided to give it a go - fantastic price, better than B&H and anywhere else.
I am NOT a member of their team - I am just one lucky customer. They offer Australian Warranty as after-buy.
 
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scottsdaleriots

Guest
^ yeah i alwaqys wondered about those smaller online businesses, as their prices are slightly cheaper but then agian it makes me wonder if it's a legit canon australia product or if it's imported/'grey market'. The thing I fear most is the warranty status from buying from those unknown online stores, as if I buy an L lens and like 10 months later it breaks or something, I've not only wasted $$$$ on it but I'm stuck with it and can't use it.

I heard camera exchange (melbourne) are good, they sell both new and 2nd hand stuff. But I think they have limited stock/range
 
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niccyboy

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scottsdaleriots said:
^ yeah i alwaqys wondered about those smaller online businesses, as their prices are slightly cheaper but then agian it makes me wonder if it's a legit canon australia product or if it's imported/'grey market'. The thing I fear most is the warranty status from buying from those unknown online stores, as if I buy an L lens and like 10 months later it breaks or something, I've not only wasted $$$$ on it but I'm stuck with it and can't use it.

I heard camera exchange (melbourne) are good, they sell both new and 2nd hand stuff. But I think they have limited stock/range
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Insure it. Then it's fine. Costs next to nothing..

Canon Aus will help with a lens if it is broken... Just complain to them on twitter.

Camera Exchange is a rip off. Go on Gumtree if you want to buy something then you can look at it.. I bought both of my Tilt shift lenses off gumtree for a steal.
 
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scottsdaleriots

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niccyboy said:
Insure it. Then it's fine. Costs next to nothing..

Canon Aus will help with a lens if it is broken... Just complain to them on twitter.

Camera Exchange is a rip off. Go on Gumtree if you want to buy something then you can look at it.. I bought both of my Tilt shift lenses off gumtree for a steal.
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Did you mean insure it with a company like RACV/AAMI? The home insurance companies?
Lol do Canon Australia really help? I know you said they helped you. Did you have to use your warranty? The paint chipped off my L lens when I was photographing at a major event (my camera was less than 2 and a half-3 weeks old when it happened :'( ) and the zoom ring isn't as smooth as the focussing.

Lol, did you have a bad experience with camera exchange? I never thought you could buy lenses from Gumtree, thanks for the tip I'll check it out. I found photovideo.com.au when I was on amazon looking/researching for tripods (they're a sponsored link), they have a large range but the prices are a bit stiff.
 
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wickidwombat

Oct 27, 2011
4,542
1
wopbv4 said:
Camera Electronic in Perth. These guys have been around well over 30 years and give excellent service. They are a bit more expensive (~5%) then others, but you do get top quality advice and whenever something is wrong they will handle it professional i.e fix the problem with passion. Website: http://www.cameraelectronic.com.au/
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yep cant fault their service, they also put a lot of sponsorship effort into the local arts community and their special prices can often even rival ebay prices. worth keeping an eye on their monthly specials
 
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Gollum

Guest
Don't like JB after the sales guy screwed me.

Was buying a number of lenses and a body for a trip OS. The price a gave me was good so we did the deal. When I got home I found out he had swapped a lens on the list for a cheaper version (no this wasn't an L/Non-L issue). As the material listed on the invoice was correct and only the total price was shown, I didn't get a good deal. Now you may think that this guy was just a low payed salesman... he was the manager.

I blame myself for not checking, never trust a company that employ this type of person.
 
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niccyboy

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scottsdaleriots

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niccyboy said:
Why would they do that? who does that? If it has a canon warranty it would be fine.
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I heard that amazon and B&H do that. they will charge you a restocking fee if you return the lens within a certain period (2 weeks or something) and will resell the lens - dunno if they'll resell the lens as brand new or as a refurb
 
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4

4thchicken

Jan 7, 2012
21
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te4o said:
Don't know about cameras but I bought my Zeiss 21/2.8 from topbuy.com.au and it came to my place pristine 5! days after ordering - regional Australia. I read a lot about unhappy customers there but read about equal amount or more happy ones and decided to give it a go - fantastic price, better than B&H and anywhere else.
I am NOT a member of their team - I am just one lucky customer. They offer Australian Warranty as after-buy.
Click to expand...
zeiss lens pricing is quite good in australia - recently acquired a 100/2 ZE - teds offered 2050 as the first price and JB 1999 (very competitive to grey import pricing). Michaels was asking for $2600+ lol
 
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