Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hey guys,
I was contemplating buying a SLR camera from ebay soon. Does anyone know if this is possible here in the UAE.

The company is American and will be shipped from there. The value of the camera will be around $1000-$1500 USD.

Can someone shed some light or experience on this. How secure is shipping merchandise to Dubai and will be any custom's/tax charges (and how I might have to pay them) ?

Thanks in advance. Happy New Year!

dresden wrote:Hey guys,
I was contemplating buying a SLR camera from ebay soon. Does anyone know if this is possible here in the UAE.

The company is American and will be shipped from there. The value of the camera will be around $1000-$1500 USD.

Can someone shed some light or experience on this. How secure is shipping merchandise to Dubai and will be any custom's/tax charges (and how I might have to pay them) ?

Thanks in advance. Happy New Year!

before I go ahead and advice you... first, order only from Ebay PowerSellers, make sure they ship to Dubai (with Insurance)....

Second, try not to ship to UAE's P.O.Box and use a door-to-door courier service as it may take 1 month to 2 months for your stuff to arrive and in many cases you may NOT get it and you end up claiming a refund. while a door-to-door delivery will take about 1week to 2weeks only. obviously you may end up paying about $100 to $150 for shipping door-to-door but I wont risk paying a $1500+ just to save $100

Personally, I bought my DSLR from USA too last year, and I am ordering my new Nikon D90 and some lenses later this month. I will save about AED 2000 by ordering online... however, I don't advice you to order your DSLR from Ebay.com and I prefer to order from Amazon.com or Adorama.com for flexible warranty services.

customs will be charged for about 5% of the actual invoice price. you will pay it upon collecting your shipment.

what camera are you ordering?

Hi quatroporte,

I have bought stuff off Ebay before when I was in Canada, so its no biggie. I was just concerned about the custom's charges. I will ship it to myself @ my office or to my friends apt in Dubai.

You mention that in many cases I will NOT recieve it? Is the mail really that bad (or corrupt)?

I'm looking to get a Nikon D90 as well! The shops here are selling them for 6500 dhs with the Kit Lens. They are going for about $1,200 USD from a powerseller.

I don't want the hassle of going through claiming a refund. It is a Pain in the ass (trust me) -- and you can still lose.

Cheers!

indeed the sellers are far greedy to offer the camera for 6500 while it is only about AED 4000 in the US or Canada!!! I don't understand why they sell them so high in a tax free country!!!!!

I am ordering a Nikon D90 body + Sigma 18-200mm + SB900 flash unit from Amazon.com and they all will cost me about AED 6000... if I am planing to purchase the same from Dubai I will end up paying AED 9000+

back to the point, I don't know if the "Emirates post" are bad or corrupt... the shipping to P.O.Box just takes so much time... and in many cases the items never make it... the latest one is an iPhone for my cousin which it never made it... thankfully we dealt with a good trusty seller and we claimed refunds but it took more than 2 months for the whole mess to clear. the only times I rely on my P.O.Box for shipping is only when I order books and I am not in hurry for.

if you are a frequent online shopper then I advice you to setup a virtual US mailbox from Aramex.com it is called ShopnShip... it works by ordering your stuff online and shipping them to your virtual mailto your door step for a price.

I have been using this service for the past 3 years and it is reliable and trust worthy.

By the way: Amazon is now selling the D90 with kit lens for only $1,099.88

^ Good advice quatroporte.

I'll being doing a little more research before buying. I might be heading to canada on visit in the near future. I might just buy it there and save myself all the shipping hassle.

I've been keeping a look out for the D90 for a little while. If they announce a new model this year; the prices will drop significantly.

dresden wrote:^ Good advice quatroporte.

I'll being doing a little more research before buying. I might be heading to canada on visit in the near future. I might just buy it there and save myself all the shipping hassle.

I've been keeping a look out for the D90 for a little while. If they announce a new model this year; the prices will drop significantly.

Nikon is unlikely to release a new model of the D90 as it got released few months ago.

this year we are expecting new releases from Canon

Cool! Thanks for the info.

What do you like to shoot? Landscape? People? Automotive?

cheers.

I am into People portraits... and that why all my gear is aiming on that area of photography.

of course I do a bit of everything I show case my photographs on my blog...

how about you? did you use DSLR's before or this is your first buy?

get an http://www.aramex.com/ account
you get a POBOX in the USA and the UK farily cheap

I have purhcased afew guitars and a fair bit of other Music gear from Ebay USA and had no problems.

you get an email when your package hits your PObox and within a week maybe 2,.. you have the item here in the UAE

Hey Quatroporte,
I'm looking more into shooting Landscape scenery and automotive, but also a bit of everything else really.

Send me a pm with your blog, I'd love to check it out.

I have borrowed and used a couple SLR's before (Nikon D300 and D60) so I know the basics. I'm trying to get my hands on a good book and get into a good SLR which I can use from amateur -> intermediate. Which is why I settled on the D90 after much research. I don't want to spend too much just yet, or else I'd get a D300.

-----------------------
Pete, thanks for the tip. Did you order anything of higher value from abroad? (i.e. $500+) If so, was it reasonable or worth it to pay the shipping + customs charges and have it sent here to dubai?

dresden wrote:-----------------------
Pete, thanks for the tip. Did you order anything of higher value from abroad? (i.e. $500+) If so, was it reasonable or worth it to pay the shipping + customs charges and have it sent here to dubai?

yeah afew guitars,. all well into the thousands ( US dollars )
I didn't pay custom charges ..well i don't think i did ???

Exsample a Gibson les paul ( $1200 US on ebay + 500 Dirham for Aramax charges ) alot cheaper then the 8000 Dirham some are asking for a good guitar over here

aramax change between 200 - 500 dirham to get a guitar sent here
( the weight is the biggest deciding factor on the aramax price )

I Imagen for a camera, it would be under 150 Dirum ( But again depends on the package weight )

so far I've ordered over 20 or 30 items with Aramax and had no problems....SO far .. should i have said that ??

As there's none in Dubai, I bought underwater camera worth $700 through eBay which I checked that it has a real store in Utah, US. Due to urgency, I opted for UPS door-to-door delivery that costs $100 more than mail post (which I'd avoid at all time due to bad experience in the past with Emirates Post) and it arrived within only 4 days. I ended up paying $700 (goods) + $150 (shipping) + 5% of $700 (customs).

And by the way, Sony Alpha A700 is worth every cent! Built-in stabilizer rocks!
Make sure you get some best Minolta lenses (all used) which plenty of them in eBay. That will save you hundreds/thousands of Dollars than buying new lenses comparable of Nikon's VR or Canon's IS

id say customs charges you 10% for the shipment. i bought some bumper and lights for my car which costed 500USD and i was charged 150DHS for them.

Hi, can somebody be so kind to help me through in registering to have a virtual PO Box with Aramex in UK and US? I'm planning to buy Nikon D90 in the US or UK as it is obviously cheaper there than here.

Thanks for the info on the SnS service from Aramex. Never really knew about that.

Cheers