Hdew Cameras

[Mike Farley]

Has anyone used this company? They are local and have been around for quite some time, offering some significant savings on imported "grey" goods. Other than allowing customers to benefit from lower prices offered by manufacturers elsewhere in the world, there appears to be no significant difference in what is on offer compared to equipment sourced through manufacturers' official UK distributors, including full manufacturers warranty. The company offers collection from its offices as an option.

http://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/

There are some things which the website does not explicitly state:

• Is a VAT receipt provided?
• Is the warranty supported by the UK distributor?
• Are leads with UK plugs provided?
• Have all relevant import duties and taxes been paid and included in the quoted price?

[davidc]

Quickly googling them, there are many cases where people confirming their stock is from HKG. I'd therefore suggest the following answers to your questions -

No
Maybe, but this may or may not be a problem depending on what you are buying
Yes
No

This is based on personal experience shopping from HKG which I've discussed before and can HIGHLY recommend a different place if people are interested.

[Mike Farley]

I have just spoken to Hdew who advise:

• A VAT receipt can be provided on request. Not all grey importers do this. Portus Digital advised me that this was not possible as the company is registered in Australia. The person I was dealing with got very defensive when I asked under which jurisdiction the sale was transacted and told me that I would need to request this information in writing.
• Warranty seems to vary by manufacturer, but are international rather than for the UK and it would be best to check the situation for a specific make before committing to a purchase. In the event of a fault occurring during the first year, Hdew will initiate a contact with a manufacturer approved repairer in the UK with whom the customer then deals directly. Cameras (but not lenses) have an extended insurance backed warranty provided by a third party. It is unlikely that any equipment can be registered with the UK distributor.
• Leads with UK plugs are provided. By comparison, Portus Digital said that some cameras come with adapters rather than a UK lead.
• All required taxes and duties are paid at import, which allows the camera to be taken out of the country and re-imported at a later date.

This is based on personal experience shopping from HKG which I've discussed before and can HIGHLY recommend a different place if people are interested.

What is your recommendation?

[davidb]

All required taxes and duties are paid at import, which allows the camera to be taken out of the country and re-imported at a later date

If you take the camera out of the country a VAT receipt is essential as proof of purchase when you return to the UK.

[Mike Farley]

All required taxes and duties are paid at import, which allows the camera to be taken out of the country and re-imported at a later date

If you take the camera out of the country a VAT receipt is essential as proof of purchase when you return to the UK.

Agreed. HMRC can tell from the serial number if an item was originally supplied from outside the UK, rather than being an official import, which makes it all the more important to have the receipt. That said, the probability of being stopped is low if you are returning from most holiday destinations. The only occasion it happened to me was in 1976 when I came back to the UK on a flight from Hong Kong and had an Olympus camera bag stuck at the top of my luggage. I think that the customs officer was quite disappointed when I produced the receipts. Not that I could buy very much while I was away as Harold Wilson's government had got itself into a spot of financial difficulty at the time and there were restrictions on how much currency could be taken out of the country. A maximum of £300 if I remember correctly and the amount had to be recorded in your passport. Given the price of equipment at the time it was probably less than the cost of a couple of lenses.

[davidc]

Blimey I didn't realize cameras were invented that long ago, before I was even born Did you really go on holiday with a camera and take your receipts with you?

I've used onestop-digital.com and they are based in Hong Kong. What sets them apart is their prices - absolutely fantastic, and the savings I made shopping with them let me get an entire lens + memory cards extra on top of what I'd be able to get in the UK - and also their VAT refund policy. If the items arrive and are assessed as needing to have tax paid you do so then email them the receipt and they refund the money. This happened to me, I did as required and I received the refund from them. So I've paid the VAT charge as required by customs & got it refunded.

The only drawback is minor. If the product fails in the first year you need to send it back to HKG for assessment and that'll cost upwards of 40 GBP to do so. Then again, it'll cost you 20-30 in the UK anyway. After the warranty expires your product is in the same state as something bought in the UK, i.e. no warranty, and you'll need to pay to get it fixed regardless of source.

It really is an absolute no brainer to use them.

[Mike Farley]

Blimey I didn't realize cameras were invented that long ago, before I was even born Did you really go on holiday with a camera and take your receipts with you?

It's all true. The youth of today did not invent everything.

I thought that you might be referring to Onestop Digital. I have not done an extensive comparison of all prices, but Hdew are over £100 cheaper for the Olympus E-M1 and 12-40 lens kit I have been thinking about. So far as I am aware, Hdew is the importer and the equipment counts as being supplied in the UK, which simplifies some aspects. With Onestop and some other UK based grey importers such as Portus Digital, the customer is the importer. I believe that Onestop will pay for collection and return of any goods while under warranty if a fault is found.

Sometimes prices for grey imports are not much lower than those brought into the country via manufacturers' official channels, or can be even higher on occasion. Onestop is not usually the cheapest HK based supplier, but does offer its VAT/import duty guarantee. Where the customer is responsible for paying any charges levied by HMRC, there is the risk that the total price paid ends up being higher than purchasing in the UK.

I probably would not bother with non official channels when the price difference is small, but it does become much more tempting when there are large savings on offer.

[davidc]

From memory I saved over 700 GBP on my order.

[Mike Farley]

From memory I saved over 700 GBP on my order.

It's good to know about your positive experience.

[davidc]

The Tamron 70-200 lens recommended to Rose is £1099 on wex photo in the UK, it's £809 on onestop.