Last month I posted about how a friend ordered photography gear from DigitalRev.com and ended up paying just KD12 for customs. Shipping was free, they cover warranty in Kuwait and more importantly their prices are either similar or cheaper than Amazon. Since I posted about them I know of at least 3 other friends who ordered gear from DigitalRev as well as two other forum users and everyone reported the same thing, that DigitalRev is basically the best place online to order photography gear from.
There are a few advantages to ordering with DigitalRev over for example Amazon. First of all shipping to Kuwait is for free and they use DHL to ship the items so they arrived in just a few days. That’s quicker than the Amazon+Aramex combo. Plus you have to pay Aramex while they ship the stuff for free. Secondly on average people are paying just KD8 for customs which is pretty cool, I was expecting at least double that. The items are also wrapped as if DigitalRev are aware of the state of the postal service here because their packaging are drop proof. The items arrive in a box and inside that box the item is rolled in a ton of bubble wrap. So if the box is thrown around you don’t have to worry about anything getting damaged.
Not sure why I only recently found out about DigitalRev but I guess it’s better late than never. They’re selling the D800 for example for $150 more expensive than Amazon but with Amazon you pay tax which is $320. That means DigitalRev are selling the D800 for $170 cheaper and that includes DHL delivery to Kuwait. If that’s not a good deal I’m not sure what is!
Anyway you can check them out [Here]
Update: Ignore my last example since I can’t calculate to save my life!
25 replies on “DigitalRev for all my photography gear”
Pretty cool! as a newb in photography, I’m planning to buy my first DSLR cam from DigitalRev. Thanks for sharing these info Mark! 🙂
Hi Mark, I am confused. On Amazon, the price of the D800 is USD 2999 (though it is out of stock), while on DR it is USD 4159. Thats a difference of USD 1160! So how do you figure that it is cheaper to order from DR? Am I missing something?
You’re not, that’s how bad I am at calculating!!
The only reason I caught that is because I have been checking the price on both sites daily for about three weeks now 🙂 A difference of over a grand! Talk about price gouging!
I was actually surprised when the total came out like $150 since I know the camera is out of stock everywhere but figured maybe its now back in stock.
But the D800 is not a good example to use here because of the fact the camera is in very high demand and there is no stock anywhere.
Their reviews and comparison vids are pretty awesome too. Especially the one by the Chinese dude with the British accent Kai.
They have a pretty good deal on the GX1 too, 739$ for body + the new PZ lens.
I haven’t ordered online for local delivery in Kuwait before – how do you provide an address?
Do you provide you physical location address or the P O Box address?
If it is the physical address, I am guessing the courier company will either deliver it alongwith the customs duly invoice or will I need to go elsehwere to pay the customs duty and take delivery?
DHL is door to door so you give them your physical home or office address, not your Po box
Just provide your home physical address. They will take care of everything and deliver to your home, you just have to pay the customs.
perfect – thanks guys.
I got my first delivery in today – ordered a 50mm f/1.4G on May 9th and got delivery today ! excellent stuff.
I have seen they have awesome prices for 5DM3 and some high end Canon lenses. In the US you have to pay tax and shipping to Kuwait, so the prices do indeed come out very cheap for Kuwait.
BTW, has customer starting clearing Canon gear?
Mark, do you know of anyone who has ordered something expensive (say over a 1000 USD) from DigitalRev? If so, how much were the customs charges? I am thinking of ordering a D7000, but I want to get an idea of how much the customs charges would be.
Yeah $1600 and customs was 8kd
I bought the Nikon 24-70 lens from them. Even though the price is $1700, the customs declaration form (prepared by DigitalRev) only shows $500. Hence the low customs duty!!. Lol.
I hope the Customs guys don’t see this. If we want to keep this our dirty little secret, than Mark should delete this comment.
So in any case, 8 KD seems to be the standard for most shipments. I thought customs charged based on price? As I had mentioned in a post on the forum, the charge for my SB-700 flash was also 8KD, and it cost only $320!
It’s not exactly 8 KD. I paid 12 KD.
In your case 5% (customs duty) is around KD 4.5/-. It might have been rounded to 5 KD or some processing fees added.
I ordered my gear last month which included canon 550d and canon 50mm f1.8 My order arrived thru FedEx and I paid around KD 20.00 for customs..and all that you wrote about the packaging is true. The site is brilliant. Now I need to figure out if there’s a good local place to buy lens filters n hoods?!
How much was the total bill shown on your invoice?
There is! AlGhunaim Photography carries lens filters and hoods, and announces any new arrival of stock (since they always sell out fast) via their twitter and instagram accounts: @AlGhunaimPhoto.
Last I checked they were still waiting to get filters. I ended up ordering my B+W filters from Amazon.
https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/04/nikon-confirms-woes-with-d4-and-d800/
I never ordered anything online before, so if i ordered from DR whats the process of paying the customs and they delivering it to me?
You can order stuff with your Kuwait credit card and they’ll ship it to your physical address in Kuwait.
Here’s some more info;
https://wp.me/p19omq-1Up