Following the advice of some members here regarding purchasing lenses for DSLR's online, I proceeded to purchase a lens from eglobal.
Interestingly enough, when the packaged arrived it had stickers indicating it was shipped under the Kogan name, albeit from Hong Kong.
Does any one know how they are affiliated? Does Kogan resell basically eglobal products under their name or whatnot?
Yes they are. eGlobalDigitalCameras' rep here on OzBargain is just a ghost account of DWI, ahd both logged in from Hong Kong…
As of Kogan, maybe it's just the dropshipper they use?
DWI is the sister company of eGlobal. It says it on their FAQ.
Bought a digital camera from Eglobal which has died 2 months later. They obviously have a .com.au adress but say I have to send it back to them at my cost to HongKong. Can you even have a .com.au if you are based in hongKong? When I got my .com.au I had to give an ABN and all sorts of things.
Anyone know where I could complain about this? Seems a bit rude!
There are actually quite a lot of .com.au companies featured on OzBargain that are just shell companies of overseas based grey importers. It is stated very clearly on their About Us page:
eGlobaL is a Hong Kong based online store aims to provide excellent value to Australian customers in digital cameras and accessories by sourcing globally.
The company in its WHOIS info, TRUDARK Pty Ltd ABN: 58 003 759 662, is not even registered for GST despite being active since 2000 — definitely looks like just a shell company.
There are quite a few other shell companies of other enterprises in Hong Kong, China or India with .com.au domain.
a question
not being a huge smart arse but since you're buying stuff straight from HOng KOng do you really need to be registered for GST since you won't actually be paying it?
Sorry don't really get what you are asking. My point was that the company registered the domain, "Trudark Pty Ltd" is not registered for GST so my guess is that it's just a shell company not involving in transactions.
While you might source from Hong Kong, i.e. your business is not paying GST, you are still taking money from Australians when you sell to them. If the annual turn over from Australian transactions is more than $75k (which I guess is easily achieved from an online camera shop), you would still need to register for GST.
That means Trudark Pty Ltd probably does not have more than 75k annual turn over (not likely from the combination of eGlobalDigitalCameras, eGlobalBeauty, DWI Digital Cameras, etc). That means Trudark is just a shell company and you are paying someone else — possibly a different business in Hong Kong.
sounds like drop shipping