Scam or not?

[AJI]

On the look out for a Nikon D700 at the moment (well the girlfriend is), and came across this website....
http://vmarketv.com/product.asp?id=4934
D700 for 899euros, via a Chinese website in Beijing.

Most D700's on western websites are over the £1,000 mark.
http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&safe=of...


I'm guessing most if not all Nikons, Cannons etc. etc. are put together somewhere in China anyway, but is this website too risky to buy from do you think?

[andy-xr]

Not a chance I'd risk that. I'm also looking (again), cheapest I've found is £1500 new

[d1d215]

you could group up with lets say - 100 people, everybody "invests" 9euros and see what happens . but in real life I think stores can't even get this price.

[AJI]

Anybody used this company before?

http://www.simplyelectronics.net/


I'm trying to do an online order but keep getting messages about unable to proceed due to 'geographical restrictions'.

On ringing them they request over the phone payment and credit card details etc.

Apparently they are located in the Isle of Wight.


Just wondering why the 'geographical restrictions' come from when I am in England?

Edited by AJI on Wednesday 17th March 13:53

[Simpo Two]

AJI said:

Apparently they are located in the Isle of Wight.

From http://www.simplyelectronics.net/terms.php

This website is owned and operated by SimplyElectronics Ltd. These Terms of Use govern your use of the website. By visiting or shopping at the website, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, as well as the other policies posted on the website.

By showing the products on the website, SimplyElectronics Ltd is making an offer only to those who are legally capable of accepting, and do accept, such offer in Hong Kong ("the Offer ") to sell those product(s) on the terms and conditions set out below. If you place an order for products shown on the website, your order will be deemed an acceptance in Hong Kong of the Offer pursuant to these Terms of Use.

In these Terms of Use, we refer to SimplyElectronics Ltd. as "SE" and the website as the "Site". Our address is:

SimplyElectronics Limited
1501-1508, Millennium City 5,
418 Kwun Tong Road,
Kwun Tong, Kowloon,
HongKong

[AJI]

Very strange.

So this website is set up to look like a UK based site selling products to the european market yet they are based in hong kong and don't accept uk online orders.

[AJI]

Just to add..... forget the above !

My PC is now letting me proceed with the order after clearing my cookies.
ie. no 'geographical restrictions'error message this time.

Edited by AJI on Wednesday 17th March 14:20

[rottie102]

AJI said:

Anybody used this company before?

http://www.simplyelectronics.net/


I'm trying to do an online order but keep getting messages about unable to proceed due to 'geographical restrictions'.

On ringing them they request over the phone payment and credit card details etc.

Apparently they are located in the Isle of Wight.


Just wondering why the 'geographical restrictions' come from when I am in England?

Edited by AJI on Wednesday 17th March 13:53

I've had this discussion with my brother before. Him being a tightass just like you sir was searching on the net for all those "super deals" from all over the world.

Everytime he asked me to check a website google was coming up with loads of stories about people being scammed by them

If something is too good to be true - it most likely is!!!!

Buy from a reputable dealer, with UK warranty and good aftersales perspectives (which means you can just take it to the shop and get it fixed or replaced - electronic stuff DOES BREAK DOWN.)

As for the website above - their prices are not even lower than Jessops or PC World with special deals, yet you are willing to buy something from Hong Kong, wait for it for weeks, then pay custom duty on top of the price??

Edited by rottie102 on Wednesday 17th March 14:26

[AJI]

rottie102 said:

AJI said:

Anybody used this company before?

http://www.simplyelectronics.net/


I'm trying to do an online order but keep getting messages about unable to proceed due to 'geographical restrictions'.

On ringing them they request over the phone payment and credit card details etc.

Apparently they are located in the Isle of Wight.


Just wondering why the 'geographical restrictions' come from when I am in England?

Edited by AJI on Wednesday 17th March 13:53

I've had this discussion with my brother before. Him being a tightass just like you sir was searching on the net for all those "super deals" from all over the world.

Everytime he asked me to check a website google was coming up with loads of stories about people being scammed by them

If something is too good to be true - it most likely is!!!!

Buy from a reputable dealer, with UK warranty and good aftersales perspectives (which means you can just take it to the shop and get it fixed or replaced - electronic stuff DOES BREAK DOWN.)

As for the website above - their prices are not even lower than Jessops or PC World with special deals, yet you are willing to buy something from Hong Kong, wait for it for weeks, then pay custom duty on top of the price??

Edited by rottie102 on Wednesday 17th March 14:26

Yes I am a bit of a tight ar$e I admit.

But the website does say delivery within 2-5 days. And they are about £100 cheaper than most other places.
(Jessops is over £100 dearer....unless I have missed the special deals - which I never seem to be able to catch).

[rottie102]

You do realise that the custom duty will be probably more than £100??

[AJI]

rottie102 said:

You do realise that the custom duty will be probably more than £100??

The quoted price is the final price that should be paid on a website order.
When you 'add to cart' and the final price is shown with VAT and delivery added etc. then they have no further course to demand extra monies for additional things.

This is how website shops work I hope.

[gary71]

I went through all this when I bought my D300s recently. My reality check was Jessops would do it for £40 more than Warehouse Express, which were in turn about £30 cheaper than the various less well know online outlets.

So I bought it face to face in Jessops, they chucked in a CF card, and when I got home and found the battery wouldn't accept a charge I went back to my local store (not the one I bought it from) and got a new battery, no quibble or fuss.

It's not worth saving less than 10% of the cost for 100 times the potential hassle n

[Simpo Two]

I certainly wouldn't buy anything as complex as a D700 from Harry Wong's Bargain Emporium 10,000 miles away. Even if the company is pukka, any issues are going to be difficult or impossible to deal with. If you take photography seriously, do yourself a favour and buy it from a reputable UK dealer.

[size13]

AJI said:

rottie102 said:

You do realise that the custom duty will be probably more than £100??

The quoted price is the final price that should be paid on a website order.
When you 'add to cart' and the final price is shown with VAT and delivery added etc. then they have no further course to demand extra monies for additional things.

This is how website shops work I hope.

Unfortunately not. It won't be the company demanding more money, it'll be hmrc I think

[bradders]

AJI said:

On the look out for a Nikon D700 at the moment (well the girlfriend is), and came across this website....
http://vmarketv.com/product.asp?id=4934
D700 for 899euros, via a Chinese website in Beijing.

Most D700's on western websites are over the £1,000 mark.
http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&safe=of...


I'm guessing most if not all Nikons, Cannons etc. etc. are put together somewhere in China anyway, but is this website too risky to buy from do you think?

It's quite interesting to note that the retail outlets in Shenzhen that I popped into last November offered prices that are actually higher than you can buy on the high street in the UK. They would not bargain either. Likely due to them being authorised resellers. I will be back there early next month and let you know if there's been a shift. Based on my past experience as stated, it is quite likely that you would be stung very badly paying 899 Euro for a D700 from a Chinese outlet.

As others have mentioned, unless you visit fairly regularly, or have good contacts there, then I would not buy something quite so delicate and expensive without knowing the vendor has a very good reputation.

Cheers, Bradders.

[bonsai]

Have a look at this

http://www.avforums.com/forums/camcorders-video-ed...

They're not a scam site, but you could still have all kinds of trouble. Depends if the saving is worth the risk to you.

[rottie102]

AJI said:

rottie102 said:

You do realise that the custom duty will be probably more than £100??

The quoted price is the final price that should be paid on a website order.
When you 'add to cart' and the final price is shown with VAT and delivery added etc. then they have no further course to demand extra monies for additional things.

This is how website shops work I hope.

Please google "custom duty"

[TooLateForAName]

size13 said:

AJI said:

rottie102 said:

You do realise that the custom duty will be probably more than £100??

The quoted price is the final price that should be paid on a website order.
When you 'add to cart' and the final price is shown with VAT and delivery added etc. then they have no further course to demand extra monies for additional things.

This is how website shops work I hope.

Unfortunately not. It won't be the company demanding more money, it'll be hmrc I think

This.

It will be subject to import duty. This company has a terrible reputation. If you want to save money try Kerso (although I think his Canon prices are better than his Nikon prices?) and check out http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/

[AJI]

Thanks for the replies.

This sure has opened my eyes a little!

[Kermit power]

Take a look here --> http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/prod658.html

Pretty much all UK dealers with UK physical premises as well as the web.