Buying equipment in Hong Kong

phelo2000

Wondering if anyone has ever bought camera equipment, dSLR/lenses while in Hong Kong (as apposed to a ordering over the internet from a Hong Kong supplier) and had any advice. Recommended shops? Bring equipment back into Ireland? etc etc ...
Thanks.

greeneyedspirit

I got a camera body (Nikon D300) from Onestop Digital in Hongkong. Free delivery, too
No hassle at all, prompt and speedy delivery. Not sure what the story is with the import tax, I never got anything...

AnCatDubh

Expect that you will have to pay import taxes / duty - if you so a search on the forum you will find lots of threads on the topic. If you end up not having to through no fault of your own then I guess it will be an added bonus but you would be best advised to expect the worst. There was one supplier (can't remember who - but search may help out here) who guaranteed that they would refund any import duty that you ended up paying. You still had to pay it though locally.

The expectation of the law is clear. If you import from outside of the EU then expect to pay the appropriate duties.

Hong Kong is the same as any Non EU country in this regard (just like America from an import taxation perspective).

If you buy it, don't bring it back in the new box. Thats just wasteful. Kind of the same reason that you should really take anything expensive you buy out the package.. as you know.. why bring any excess rubbish back into this country? You'd just over tax the landfill.. and thats not good.

Merrion

I bought my EOS-5D in Hong Kong while over there on holiday.
There are lots of shops and practically no significant price difference but was advised to avoid the area at the bottom of Mong Kok by the ferry terminal as some shady practices are supposed to go on there.

jtang

hong kong has very low taxes and they tend to get new gadgets/tech before most other asian cities do (its a nice small testing ground for companies). you could try getting your kit from sham shui po, there would be many shops around that area, i would be pretty sure you will find something with in a 20-30minute wander around the local metro station.

try looking checking out around the areas around the metro stations where they cross over, there are usually lots of shopping areas around the main metro stations. it would probably take you half a day to go to 2-3 stations and wander around to find what you want since they are quite close by.

btw its probably not worth getting stuff from high street stores, they cost as much as it does in ireland usually, the smaller shops are often better imho.

wandererz

I was over in May, had limited time so did not get a chance to check out too many shops. However one of the larger chains is Fortress. I started out there just to get an idea of pricing etc.

There's one in Melbourne Plaza on Queens Road Central (QRC). (google map Melbourne Plaza). I'd also stopped of at Citicall on Queen Victoria Street which is just a short walk away.

I then checked out a whole lot of smaller shops in the area between QRC and Stanley Str /Woo On Lane. They all seemed to have similar pricing.

Eventually ended up back at Citicall because they offered the best overall package for the price.

Picked up an EOS 500d w/ standard 18-55mm lens, uv filter, sky filter, extra battery, tripod, display protector and waist bag for €730 all in.

....oh ...and three 8GB memory cards too!

Granted i wasn't going to use the waist pouch, and the tripod was fairly basic but it was just what i needed at the time.

To put things into perspective the cheapest i can find a 500d almost 3 months later is €695 at dixonstaxfree.co.uk without any acessories and local price here is around €900.

So, definitely worthwhile. You could also check the Fortress website before you go for indicative pricing. (fortress.com.hk).

Also, check out this blog which i found extremely helpful:

http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/recommended-camera-shops-in-hong-kong/

and

http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/camera-lens-street-price-list/

Hope this is helpful.

phelo2000

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm amazed by the quick response to my post, and how many people chipped in!

jtang

note that citicall and fortress would be considered to be expensive by locals in hong kong. but it probably costs as much or less than it would in ireland.

wandererz

jtang wrote: »

note that citicall and fortress would be considered to be expensive by locals in hong kong. but it probably costs as much or less than it would in ireland.

Sure, although in my case Citicall worked out better than the 11 or so other places i checked out.

Roland's blog links above do give a faily good breakdown of reputable shops though.

If you know what kit you're going to get and can do a little bit of research before going, it leaves more time for the holiday. I'd suggest using some of those numbers above and giving them a call about prices. Only takes a minute or two and with skype-out costs almost nothing.