Buying camera in China...

tomanatura

Im travelling to China, so Im thinking about buing camera there, but according to low prices and news about fakes Im little confused.
I read, that some D800 were sold as D810 in boxes of D810... so my first question is, what does exactly mean "dslr fake"? Are there cameras (copies) made by other company than Nikon or is it about cheat?
Im thinking about D300s, D3300 or D5500
Thanks you

Ironheart

Where is your home country? You will likely have some fun with any warranty service. How much do you think you are going to save?

PB_PM

Usually a fake would be a camera that has been rebadged. So in the case of a "fake" D810 it could be a D800 with the name plate swapped for a D810 label.

Generally speaking buying out of your country is unwise, because you will not get warranty support. While 7 times out of 10 the camera will work fine, if the device you get happens to be a dud you're out of luck.

CaMeRaQuEsT

The only place in China were it will be good to buy your camera from price-wise is Hong Kong, as they don't put heavy duties on imported electronics goods, whereas in the rest of China they levy heavy tariffs on all imports and the cameras you're interested in buying are either made in Japan or Thailand. Also, you'll see that many of the lowest priced ebay camera retailers are based in HK, although most of them don't actually do retail in HK.

Pistnbroke

you wont get the best price in HK (son in law lives there) the best price is grey on ebay posted from your own country.Import duties should be checked as it works out about £25 per £100 of value in the UK and a postal return to HK is expensive. Just bought a £2399 D810 for £1404 which was less than the HK price . With UK law Nikon have to mend it in the first 12 months and provide parts/service for 6 years
I have seen similar $2000 prices in the US for the D810

tomanatura

I come from Czech Republic, if you take a look at taobao.com you can find D5500 for 296 EUR which is unbelievable or 35mm 1.8G for 74 EUR...
I know that I wont have warranty but for such prices...?
If I think about it, D5500 has unique size of body? Am I right? So there shouldnt be problem with rebadging....?

CaMeRaQuEsT

Taobao? Really? You realize that, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not. Buyer beware. Con men are a dime a dozen in China, lurking on every alley, preying on unsuspecting or gullible people. Don't say you weren't warned.

spraynpray

Face to face transactions in HK or China are fraught with danger of getting conned in my actual experience. CaMeRaQuEsT is spot-on there.

Ironheart

http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/star-wars-fakes-flood-taobao-after-alibaba-warned-about-counterfeits/

(I've included an excerpt from the Fortune article)

"But can they enforce copyright in China?

Search results found 61,000 items, most fake or unlicensed.

The West is again focusing on Alibaba’s BABA -0.80% problem with counterfeits, and again, it’s not a pretty picture.

The latest evidence is the supply of Star Wars products being sold on Taobao, Alibaba’s eBay-like marketplace. Clothes, light sabers, action figures, key chains, stormtrooper pillows, and Darth Vader masks are all being sold for prices—the action figures go for $2—that suggest they are not official goods from Disney DIS -1.83% , the franchise’s owner. A search on Taobao for Star Wars merchandise on Monday produced 61,000 listings.

The issue of counterfeits was largely cast aside in Alibaba’s runup to an initial public offering in New York last year, when Western investors were assured the problem was under control. However, a string of recent news reports and a warning from the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative offer evidence that the problem is far from under control.


Four years ago, in 2012, the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative took Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace off a blacklist of marketplaces known for being havens of counterfeits, which it had been on since 2008. But last week the same office issued a warning to Alibaba to upgrade its processes for brand rights’ holders to issue complaints about counterfeits being sold on Taobao or it intimates it risks going back on the “Notorious Markets List.”

(You can read the rest for yourself)

CaMeRaQuEsT

Face to face transactions in HK or China are fraught with danger of getting conned in my actual experience. CaMeRaQuEsT is spot-on there.

In HK, you pretty much have to avoid all small photo shops, especially those in Mongkok, the mecca of bait and switch, HK style: they hang a tag on a product with the lowest price in town, you bite the bait, pay, and then they tell you that they don't have the product in stock and that you have to wait 30 minutes for them to bring one from another store. While they make you wait, they try to up-sell you on a higher priced kit or model. If you don't accept their "better offer", they just leave you waiting for 3-5 hours and then tell you: sorry, the messenger had a traffic accident or some other lame excuse and they won't be able to fulfill your order and they will reimburse you. Bait and switch. You're rather much more safe buying at a big store or in the big malls, were the better deals are usually found anyways. Get yourself a Sunday copy of Ming Pao or South China Morning Post for the big store ads. All those small photo/electronics shops in HK are just tourist traps.