Equipment Purchase From Hong Kong, by e-mail

I have just completed a very satisfactory transaction with Tony Leung, New Sankyo Camera Co. in Hong Kong, all done by e-mail. He quoted promptly, I wired the money to him on the 6th of this month, he shipped the same day, and the equipment arrived today, the 9th. Exaactly what I had ordered, beautifully packed to avoid any possibility of damage in shipping. And at a price 27% less than the price at a major New York store (and substantially less than the well known UK dealer). I would recommend these people very highly. The e-mail address is newsanky@hkstar.com.

Richard,



Always glad to hear about a totally satisfactory e-mail transaction. Could you give us some more detail on what you bought and the prices and the shippign costs. If would be useful for those that want to make their own comparisons with prices elsewhere (e.g. Badger, MPEX, Robert White, BH, etc.).

Ted,

I bought a Gitzo CF G-1027. It was US$198 + $37 shipping.

I also recently had 2 satisfying transactions with a Honk Kong outlet. First transaction was done via EBay, the second directly. The dealer was Anthony (ebay account: amhlee), products arrived as advertised and very quickly (express service: 3-4 days). Payment was done by credit card via PayPal. The equipment I purchased was the 2 newest Nikon AF-S VR lenses, a 70-200/2.8 and a 24-120/3.5-5.6.

Richard ... definitely an excellent price. A solid 30% saving over Badger and a bit more over Robert White. As long as you are prepared to deal with the hassle of shipping it back overseas if you need repairs usually worth it. Most of the time I prefer to support US dealers to make my life easier when I need repairs and to help keep them in business in a dwindling market (as long as it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to do so).



I can also tell you how great it is to deal with folk like Badger or HP Marketing when you do have a problem. It is usually solved instantly. I had a combination lock on a Rimowa bag die on me a couple of months ago. A call to Bob Salomon had the replacement at my doorstep in two days with no charge. Taht is the tradeoff for buying in the US ... sometimes worth it and sometimes not.

What recourse is available if you get cheated or something goes wrong even if all parties behave ethically?

"What recourse is available if you get cheated or something goes wrong even if all parties behave ethically?"

If you paid by visa - tell your card issuer to recoup the payment - simple

I just wanted to chip in my $.02 - I bought a Gitzo CF tripod from amhlee on Ebay as well - excellent service and price - no complaints.

I was a bit nervous about it - but after all the good reports on photo.net I thought I'd give it a whirl - saved me a boatload of cash.

I like to save a dollar as much as the next guy, but I think there is something to be said for supporting the domestic suppliers. In the over 40 years that I've been buying photographic equipment I watched most of the good, local retail establishments fade into oblivion. They were victim of the mail order phenomenon. So, now with our "global" e-conomy we can buy whatever we want from anywhere in the world or so it seems. Does this mean we can look forward to driving mailorder houses with decent reputations out of business because they simply can't compete with guys in Hong Kong? Where the hell will we get our film, if there is any? What happens when we want to buy a filter or a cable release or a focusing cloth? Or, just talk to someone on the other end of a phone? When amortized over the life of a piece of photographic equipment is the potential savings really that much? And is it worth destroying what little is left of a once vibrant business?

I would rather buy American goods, and support American camera dealers, I did in fact do that from when I started serious photography to well in my late forties, I would not buy 'grey-market/outside the US.

I support folks like Steve Grimes who could have easily made millions instead of the minimum fees he was charging folks, an amazing man who actually gave as much value as he received, I've talked with Adam on a couple of my personal projects and I believe he is made up of the same stuff as Steve Grimes was and that's a good thing. I'll support Ries which is another class outfit who made modifications to my Gitzo 1500 so it would work with a Ries head and subsequently threw in a few minor modifications at no charge. A technician located near me, Ross Yerkes, works for his money and gives good value, and there are quite of few other whos don't believe in gouging/could make more/charge more/believe in craftsmanship at ridiculously reasonable prices.

There are businesses here that lay off folks, outsource their production to India, Malaysia, China, wherever, with a bigtime hit to the average working man. So you've got a lot of folks talking American and outsourcing their work elsewhere, I wish there was loyaly as the norm but there isn't, which is a shame. I stuck with buying only American despite being told a few times 'that if I didn't like the price to go get it somewhere else' and this attitude seemed to be the attitude of an increasing number of folks which was probably 'rubbing off' from the computer folks.

The fact was that I didn't like the prices and I decided to go somewhere else and I begin to see just how huge the mark-ups are here as opposed to other areas, and all the while, folks like Robert White were giving good service and charging less and staying in business, and making money.

I believe in being loyal to the countrymen where you live, but there is also a loyalty to the people who are loyal to you, I will support Steve Grimes and those kinds of folks who are just as loyal to most photographers who don't always have a huge amount of discretionary income, but I believe that the so-called 'global economy' has simply dragged down camera prices particularly here to what they sould've been in the first place.

Please consider this, the dealers here in the USA are on E-bay selling/undercutting their own prices, and believe me I would rather buy here than from Robert White/Mr Cad/Lawrence/Amlee, I just don't think it's the idea of being disloyal or being un American, it's about saving money and the folks here adjusting to making less money, the bottom line is that Robert White charges less and stays in business and make a profit, for me there's no getting around that, if they can do it, so can everyone else.