Nikon lens import from eBay seller in China

<p>What concerns should I have buying a Nikon lens from an eBay seller in China? I don't want the lens to get stuck in customs or have to pay a ridiculous fee to get it. It appears like 2-3% is the tariff rate I would have to pay. I got that from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. After talking to the customs folks it seems like there are a number of forms that need to be filled out. I have asked the seller for help with this but have not received a reply as yet. Has anyone bought eBay lenses from China? If so, any help with the procedure for safely getting this lens into the country would be appreciated. </p>

<p>Just don't do it.</p>

<p>It's not properly imported either, so if you need it fixed, I believe that Nikon USA will not touch it... even for money.</p>

<p>I would not purchase from China. I have purchased a few items from England but they are a favored trade nation and I don't have to worry about a customs SNAFU. Peace of mind and simple rule here. I don't buy import-gray market bodies either.</p>

<p>Don't do it. He will burn you.</p>

 

<p>Steve - listen to the guys. Nikon USA will not service this lens. You can't pay them to. I don't see how this in any way will in the long run save you any money. Only open a can of worms if you ask me.</p>

<p>I bought a Nikon battery from a seller in Hong Kong. It never arrived. I'll never buy anything from a seller on ebay from China. USA or Canada, OK. Japan OK. Anywhere else, forget it.</p>

<p>How much are you saving anyway? Shipping might be a hassle if he's not a scam artist. I have positive experiences from HK but China might be another notch on the skeptical scale. That said, there are legit sellers from China but there are many not so, it would be very difficult to tell especially on the internet.</p>

<p>BTW, I'm Chinese living in China...</p>

<p>Bring originally form China and growing up Chinese myself, I am somewhat skeptical about those mail-order deals. China is still a developing country where law and regulations are not as mature as it is in the Western world.</p>

<P>

The company I work for here in California has a branch office in Beijing; I have colleges visiting from China on a regular basis. Every time they come over, they want to shop at Costco; I usually take them over there since they don't have membership cards. They mainly buy vitamin pills and calcium supplement pills, etc. Once I asked them that I can't imagine that they cannot find vitamin pills in Beijing, and they told me that there is a lot of counterfeit drugs in China, sometimes with harmful ingredients. Therefore, they only trust vitamin pills from the US, especially for their children.

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<p>Steven seems to be from the US. Is there any particular reason that you cannot buy within the US?</p>

<p>I lived in the US for a couple of years and had a Chienese colleague working in my office. She advised against buying anything online from Chinese eBay vendors, as much as she advised againt buying anything from small mom and pop stores while in China. <br>

DO NOT DO IT.</p>

<p>I don't think Nikon has much price advantage in China, especially in ebay.</p>

<p>As a comparison, I would think the price in Hongkong is slightly better..</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone. I am convinced that this purchase is not a good idea. I am not saving money anyway as I was buying it because it was in mint condition. I will continue to be patient and I'm sure I'll find a 400mm f3.5 eventually.</p>

 

<p>But I bought my first lens from China (Nikon 28-200mm) on ebay and it was a cool deal. I paid about $350 for the lens and about $30 in customs or whatever. </p>

<p>In these kinds of deals, the seller usually just provides a receipt of purchase and it's up to you to handle the customs. Essentially you end up doing the work of the importer.<br>

Whether or not the idea of buying from there is good is hard to say.</p>

<p>I would not buy any high price or difficult to manufacture items from China online, but would consider those that are not. I would do my research and only buy from a vendor with good reviews. For example, I posted in an old thread my experience with generic batteries from Hong Kong. (BTW, still going strong after 10K clicks.) Hong Kong used to be considered a notch above China in terms of product quality. But nowadays, anyone in China can have a business address in Hong Kong.</p>

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<p>After reading these threads, I came across other helpful links:<br /> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://sportsphotoguy.com/nikon-d300-battery-compatibility/" target="_blank">http://sportsphotoguy.com/nikon-d300-battery-compatibility/</a><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://thoughts-on-film.blogspot.com/2008/04/review-phottix-battery-for-nikon-en.html" target="_blank">http://thoughts-on-film.blogspot.com/2008/04/review-phottix-battery-for-nikon-en.html</a><br>

I ordered two D300 compatible Phottix batteries for $24 including US shipping from eBay seller etefore. Received them within a week. After charging, my D200's menu shows all the battery info, including 100% charge. So far they both work fine.<br>

The batteries have no Nikon reference on them, only Phottix. There is no hologram. I only want batteries of good value. Genuine Nikon parts, Nikon logo and hologram mean nothing to me.</p>

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<p>I have heard that China is capable of counterfeiting *anything*. While plenty of counterfeiting is going on, it is difficult for me to imagine something like a D300s can be done. Here's my take on counterfeiting in yet another thread about batteries:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>While I'm no expert on counterfeiting, I do know for a fact that many counterfeits come directly from the factories manufacturing the genuine parts. It does not take much to "acquire" the items right off the assembly lines (and perhaps only those rejected for "defects"), and slightly alter the labelling before selling them on the streets. Many counterfeit clothing/handbags are done this way. It would not surprise me that Joseph's eBay batteries came from such a source. The seller's response could therefore be genuine, and certainly heads and shoulders above the other eBay cheaters.<br>

<br /> It would be much more difficult and costly to reverse engineer and set up your own factories, not to mention the risk involved. Consider the batteries' cost and volume. It is difficult for me to imagine a counterfeiter taking this harder approach and ending up with any meaningful profit margin. The ROI would make no sense. If we are talking about $100 bills, that's a different story.</p>

</blockquote>

<blockquote>

<p>I have heard that China is capable of counterfeiting *anything*.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Nah, if you can make a D300, a 35mm/f1.8, or a car, you might as well start your own company, make such products and compete on the market at a lower price. You'll also need an extensive manufacturing facility to make those more complicated products, and counterfeiting is still illegal. If you are cracked down, your loss is substential.</p>

<p>Counterfeiting typically involves items that are easier to manufacture or duplicate, such as books, video, software, games, clothing, hangbags ... and for photography batteries, memory cards (you can just put a label for a 16G Sandisk card on a 2G no-name card and sell it as 16G). Those are also items that are harder to tell whether it is counterfeit.</p>

<p>Concerning the OP's issue, the 400mm/f3.5 AI-S should not be that hard to find. When you are dealing with eBay sellers, you have risks regardelss of whether the seller is in the US or in China or anywhere else: They may mis-represent the condition of the product, etc. But when the seller is half the world away under a totally different jurisdiction, you'll have a much hard time getting it resolved.</p>

<p>There are scams everywhere, unfortunately. In this forum we talk about scam shops in New York all the time. But that is also where some of the best mail-order firms are located.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Nah, if you can make a D300, a 35mm/f1.8, or a car, you might as well start your own company, make such products and compete on the market at a lower price.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I don't know how "original" China's booming auto industry is today. But they started out (still?) with "copy catting" the likes of VW and Volvo. I think that's because auto parts are readily available from multiple oem sources the world over. It is also relatively easy to reverse engineer and duplicate many, if not all, parts. That leaves assembly and rebranding the final steps. Not so with D300 or 35mm/f1.8.</p>

<p>OTOH, a recent TV program (60 Minutes?) reported that China has in possession blue prints of entire US manufacturing sites' processes, and assemblies, etc. So a made in China D300 that behaves like one (but lacking in quality) may not be that far of a stretch.</p>

<p>There's china (which I avoid), then there's hong kong. I've bought my 300/4 AF-S (and other accessories) from Digital Rev, no issues whatsoever. Well... communication was slow but the gear got to me as promised on time in budget. Can't complain.</p>

<p>Regards,<br>

Alvin</p>