What's cheaper in Hong Kong?

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CliveC

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My parents are going back to Hong Kong to visit some relatives and asked if I would like to have anything brought back. Thing is, I have the impression that aside from saving taxes, camera gear in Hong Kong is not as cheap as they once were. Vintage gear is actually more expensive?

Are there certain things that are cheaper there?

I could be in the market for a Billingham bag or a lens for my Canon DSLR or Fuji X. Don't know if my parents can pick out a decent Leica M3 though.
 
Check out 9days for an idea on pricing. http://www.9days.hk/shop/

I go to HK a few times a year and I have only bought one lens while there. The prices were just not that attractive. Electronics on the other hand are still cheaper, though not as much as they were ten years ago. Things seem to be evening out price wise.
 
Prices in HK are not what they once were. My experience was that I could do as well or better on eBay. Last time I was there I did buy some Nikon gear and it was OK but certainly no better than eBay prices. However this may not be the same for all gear types.

You should also be aware that there are a lot of scams in Hong Kong. You have to be very careful to know that you are buying from a reputable dealer - from memory I think some stores have a sticker on their window saying they are certified in some way by the tourism board. The most common trick is "bait and switch" and I had heard about this before traveling and was on guard but not everyone is so lucky. When I was there last (2 years ago) I met a young couple who fell for this scam while I was in a store doing some window shopping. (Needless to say I did not buy from this establishment). The trick is that they offer you something at a price that seems too good to believe. Well, of course it is too good to believe.

They may have a display model for you to look at (some will not even let you handle it or mount it on your camera) but should you ignore the warning signs decide to buy and time comes to pay, they tell you the actual goods for sale are in "their warehouse" or at a another nearby store. So while they "send someone to get the goods" for you, they settle up and take your money. Then after a longish wait the message comes through, oh, so sad, the model you want has just been sold. But we have something else to offer you in its place. They then offer you some cheap crap valued at about half what you paid. They already have your money. If you demand your money back you will not get it. If you call the police they will just say its a civil matter and is nothing to do with them. Your choice is to take what they give you - which you will not want because its at about 100% mark up on its real price or walk away and put it down to experience. A variant on this scam is to sell you the product then take it to the back room to package up. When you get back to your hotel, surprise surprise the purchased item is missing and some cheap unwanted crap is in its place.

The above scams are rife in the tourist areas of Tsim Sha Tsui (I think perhaps third to half the stores I went into in that area tried something of this sort). I would take it as a sign of a potential problem if they offered an item at a silly low price or if they prevaricated when I asked to see and handle the item. But you are much less likely to have this kind of issue with Leica gear as most of them seem OK if you steer clear of the tourist traps and go for the legit stores where locals buy. These are more likely to be in the back streets of Tsm Sha Tui or more likely in nearby Mongkok. There are several reputable Leica dealers and second hand camera dealers. I think you are right in that good second hand classic camera gear can be surprisingly pricey in some cases anyway.

It is my impression that you would do better to research carefully which stores to buy from before a trip to HK then to find out if possible (some will not reply to online queries on pricing) what prices they can do before going. Especially if you are reliant on someone else to do the buying for you. That way you can go in with a specific product, price and store in mind and know precisely what to expect. I will leave it to others to advise you on specific stores as my memory is a little rusty. However one source of info is Matt Granger on YouTube who has at least a couple of videos of buying in HK.

e.g.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II3iFgyG_I4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6jXyia-Pk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UlwTv4SeY4


Having said all of that I love HK. There is something about it that entices me. Although sadly right now there are demonstrations protesting Beijing plans re future HK elections.
 
Thanks. Most likely any purchases will be done through my relatives, who are local. Fascinating how they do those scams though. For me it's certainly a culture shock where in North America there is a huge sense of consumer protection.
 
Lenses are cheaper. Don't look at the online prices. You can always haggle a bit in person, even if it's Leica we are talking about. New Leica stuff can be acquired for ~10% cheaper than North America. Be mindful about transaction fees, though. Bring cash if you can.

Used equipment is a bit more expensive. The collector's market is robust and driving prices up. I would stick with new lenses, or used lenses that are in production.

Hong Kong is a great place for RF stuff - I always buy more than I intend to, and half the lenses I own come from the city...
 
It depends, I've found some very good prices for second hand and grey market. I've only looked at the second hand stuff, but I've yet to see any especially good deals on Leica gear. I'd check out Sunrise Professional Photo Finishing in Sham Shui Po, they have ebay level prices but let you put a roll through the camera and develop while you wait to test before you buy, I love that place. Good prices on Japanese gear and I've seen well priced Hasselblads and Rollei stuff, but second hand Leica prices are usually quite high for some reason. That said, you may get lucky.

I've got my doubts about you finding a better deal on a Billingham than online, but fuji gear can be had very cheap, probably Canon also. I picked up a new 35mm 1.4 for 290 USD, but you have to hustle hard. For me Sim City in Mong Kok is the first and the last place I go to for digital gear. They also have film stuff but it's usually overpriced (unless it's new CV lenses, those are fair) and a pretty big selection of bags.
 
A further place I enjoy browsing and sometimes buying in is Sim City in Shantung Street Mongkok, just off Nathan Road. It is a 3-4 story complex of independent small businesses all focused on computer and or camera gear. It is especially good for photo accessories and such but there are a couple of stores selling new and used cameras and lenses. You can spend a lot of time (and probably not all that much money) there. Heaps of fun and mostly you will get a square deal.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x340400c7aedfe637:0xe7a89ef1d1f21df0!2m5!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i100!3m1!7e1!4shttps://plus.google.com/117415312697054937567/photos?hl%3Den%26socfid%3Dweb:lu:kp:placepageimage%26socpid%3D1!5ssimcity+mongkok+-+Google+Search&sa=X&ei=Dy0pVLevNILn8gXrtYLoCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CJgBEKIqMAs

As per my other post below there are several other stores nearby in Mongkok and in Sham Shui Po selling camera gear. Check the vids by Matt Granger in that other post. These are all the kinds of places that locals buy in and hence can usually be trusted as they know where the bargains are to be found and who is and is not dodgy to deal with. The other place that could be OK to try is Digital Rev who have a Youtube channel with the famous and quirky Kai who does many of their online testing vids. Their online prices I seem to recall were only average but they had the advantage of being a known quantity and seemed trustworthy. They are located up above Mongkok (I forget the address but its easy to find online).
 
Vintage stuffs should properly try ebay. It would be close to impossible to find cheap lenses from vintage camera shops. For new gears, you can ask for further discount from the list price now.

For small accessories, if you want to bring them back, you can try Apli Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. But the cheapest, try to find on www.taobao.com.
 
A bag eh? Well, Photo Scientific at 6 Stanley Street is closing at the end of the year and has discounts on bags - they do Billingham and Domke. No idea what they've got, but maybe worth making contact...
 
CliveC said:
Unfortunately I'm not the one going back. I would've loved photographing the demonstration.
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which is what i been doing lol, actually i was surprised at the amount of film cameras that people are using at the demonstrations. i seen many photographers with classic Nikon F2 or F3s (cant really tell the difference) and in front of the wanchai police station there was a guy shooting with either a M3 or MP. interesting cause it was at night time.
 
peterm1 said:
A further place I enjoy browsing and sometimes buying in is Sim City in Shantung Street Mongkok, just off Nathan Road. It is a 3-4 story complex of independent small businesses all focused on computer and or camera gear.
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Bisakok said:
A bag eh? Well, Photo Scientific at 6 Stanley Street is closing at the end of the year and has discounts on bags - they do Billingham and Domke. No idea what they've got, but maybe worth making contact...
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i second this info above, but also recommend Tin cheung cameras. they are pretty good on sales and deals on bags. there was a recent sale on camera bags at their location at the K11 mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Sim city mall at Shantung street has a dealer in Thinktank camera bags. It is one of two other dealers off the top of my head that sells THINKTANK in HK. (other one being tin Cheung) their top floors offer second hall lenses and a good choice can be found there (although not as collector worthy as the ones in TST)
 
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