Buying a camera on Trade Me

Recently I made a decision to purchase a Canon 40 D. and as I had just sold a 10 D. on the trading site, “Trade Me” I decided to have a look there to see what was available.

I was very much aware that if a camera came in from overseas, Canon New Zealand will not handle the repairs and the camera would have to be sent back to the supplier, or perhaps Canon in Japan.

I was therefore quite careful on which camera I placed a bid on and chose one that showed

Location:Christchurch City, Canterbury
Pick-ups:Seller does not allow pick-ups
Shipping: $15.00 3-7 working days

But unfortunately this tells you nothing, it merely tells you that the person is in Christchurch but does not tell you where the camera is going to be supplied from.

I wrongly surmised that was the New Zealand new camera so you can imagine my surprise when the camera arrived from Hong Kong, with a false declaration and was invoiced as a Lens with a value of $UD320, was also declared as a gift.

To me this is false trading, places me in the situation where I am receiving goods with a false declaration, and the declaration is made with the purpose of avoiding any GST This is, in my view, shoddy trading.

I placed these comments in my feedback on the trade and the seller replied

Outrageous! These are unwarranted, unjustified and libelous remarks. We go out of our way to provide the best trade and get hammered for doing so! When goods are unavailable in stock we have then directly delivered to the benefit of our customers. No, we certainly do not condone undervaluing for whatever reason. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a cheap trick by a competitor!

He completely overlooked my comments that the goods were sent in from Hong Kong, which meant there was no warranty on them in New Zealand, there were sent in with a false declaration with the purpose of avoiding GST and in doing so broke the law and made me an accomplice.

Here is a copy of the invoice is that arrived with the parcel and the customs declaration, I have covered my address for personal reasons, but anyone questions this and would like to see the full invoice is available.