Buying electronics in Kuala Lumpur- is it safe?

            The biggest challenge of this year was to buy my new camera. While I spend three months in Malaysia, and most of that time in Kuala Lumpur, it was only logical to purchase a DSLR there.

I was going for Canon, but basically my story applies to most of the other brands too.
If you happen to live in Asia the best place to buy any new electronic device would certainly be Kuala Lumpur.
Service versus price, KL is just worth it. However, if you are coming from abroad for only a few weeks holidays, then forget wasting your time by shopping cameras. The camera I was buying came even cheaper at The Argos (UK). Not to mention the unbeatable prices of the stores in the US.

So anyway, let's say you are stuck in KL and for some reason have to purchase a camera here- as I had to. Do not forget the golden rule ! Shop around. First go to few stores and compare the goods you want. If you are not certain what exactly you want, even more reasons to go only 'looking'. Then do your research on the Internet.

The trouble in this part of the world is that you can come across fakes and refurbished items more often then could ever happen in Europe or the US.

In KL you do have few options where to look for the eletronics, such as the Digital Mall, but the best one is definitely the famous Plaza Low Yat. For someone who is the first-timer in Asia, this can be indeed a scary experience. People will shout at you from everywhere, offering you their goods. Some will be standing in front of their shops, some will have only a table cramped with laptopsofall kinds. All the sellers will claim that they are authorized sellers of this or that brand. Google it up. For example, Canon has got only one authorized shop in Low Yat (and on their website even the address is wrong… the official address will point you to the Canon repair centre, whereas the actual shop is around twenty meters further.)

Don't freak out yet! Once you find the authorized stores,  look out for their deals. There is something going on usually every week , some discount on this or that camera, or a package you can purchase for better money.
And saying this, I met a seller from HQ Canon who came to Low Yat to check on the shops sales, or whatever. And I almost fell from the chair when he told me that even the unauthorized sellers there have genuine cameras which come directly from Canon.

So how come these unauthorized stores have cheaper stock?

Imagine that the authorized Canon shop is selling a new model 1100D. In a couple of months time this will not be such a new model anymore, especially because it has been replaces by 1200D and 1300D. Hence officially, they are not to sell the old model anymore. But, they still have that old stock of 1100D.
 So what do they do now? They can resell the 1100D to unauthorized shops, at a lower price (and because they are selling it by quantity, the price can be lower than what you find on Canon website…) so that's one way of how you can find a perfectly good, in warranty camera inside an unofficial shop, offered to you even cheaper than in the Canon shop next door.
Second way how these guys get a lower priced electronics is by getting the stock intended for a different market. So let's say that Canon manufactures the exactly same camera in large quantities, for example a thousand pieces. Do you really think that every single piece is going to behave the same way? That they are going to be equality high quality? No. The best quality is marked A, and that is shipped to the US and Europe. Lower quality, marked B or C, will be shipped to Asia. This is true about any electronic device, whether we are talking about TVs, or flashlights.. However, as a final customer, you are never going to find out with quality are you purchasing.
Therefore theoretically in Low Yat one of the unauthorized dealer can have a C quality, but then you  can never be too sure the authorized one will have a B or nevermind the A quality.

And saying this, the guy from HQ Canon also mentioned that he knows that even though the other sellers often have the genuine, in warranty cameras, they also hide many frauds under the counters and you can never know which is which. While I was doing my shopping, at least at one point I came across a camera which most definitely was not genuine Canon product, and second time I find a refurbished camera (or at least it was used for a prolonged time in the past).

How to recognize a genuine camera?

That's a tough question, especially if you are buying in Kuala Lumpur.

But with the cameras, you can check few things:

1. How many times has the shutter been used (you have to use your own SD card, click a pic, then take the card home and use any of the online program for determining the shutter clicks.) Bear in mind, that not every camera has the option of counting the shutter clicks, and secondly, that even in the shop people are trying the new cameras. Then of course, the camera might jhave 50 clicks, 150, or even much more. It's up to you to determine whether you think that particular camerais newor old.
2. Serial number: there is a way of finding the age of the camera by it's serial number. But then again, the camera might have sat in the shelf of the shop for a year, and another year in the warehouse.. who knows…

Very useful site explaining the serial numbers in more detail: Canon lenses aging



Good luck and happy shopping!