I have to be honest after my experience with buying from Kogan last year I was pretty soured on buying from them as the hodge podge shipping and strange purchasing requirements didn’t endear them to me. It wasn’t bad enough that I actively told people to not buy from them, indeed I said as much in my post about it, but for some strange reason that post seem to strike a chord with a lot of people who had similar issues. Whilst I’ve always been a terrible judge as to whether or not a particular post will resonate with a larger audience having that one be so popular didn’t help Kogan’s reputation in my mind.
Then they went and started stocking GoPros.
So I’ve been a GoPro user for about 2 years or so, getting my first one (a HD Hero2) as a birthday present in the lead up to my first Tough Mudder event. They’re a great little unit being able to take a massive battering and keep on trucking without issue. I used mine for all sorts of things from snorkeling in Bali to taking time lapses of my backyard and I was quite impressed with the results every time I used it. Of course when the new version came out I was instantly captivated by its specifications, not least of which was the addition of WiFi which would open up quite a few new use cases for an intrepid user like myself. However the price of getting one in Australia, either by paying the outrageous shipping cost from GoPro themselves or the markup in retail stores, meant that it was put in the “nice to have” basket along with a multitude of other things I always have my eye on.
Kogan however were selling them for an incredibly reasonable price, some $150 below the RRP when I saw it, enough so that that with the few additional accessories I wanted the total price was actually cheaper than just the unit itself with shipping included. Now I’m not usually one to be suckered into a deal, especially from a place that had burned me in the past, but I figured that it was worth it given how much use I had gotten out of the previous unit and how long this one would remain current. So out came the credit card and I sent Kogan a chunk of change in exchange for the promise of a new GoPro and I anxiously awaited the multiple packaging spree that was about to occur.
Except, strangely, they sent me a single tracking notice with all the items on it. Score one point for Kogan.
Indeed not only did they actually ship everything as one unit despite their site stating that it would probably take 2~3 weeks for my order to arrive I received it bang on a week after I placed my order. This is in stark contrast to my previous transaction with them that required me to verify my identity through a landline phone and arrived piecemeal over the course of a 2 week span. The GoPro also came with all English manuals that weren’t reprints like my Canon manuals were, a small thing that has gone a long way to improving Kogan’s image in my books.
So there you have it, a year on since my last purchase from Kogan and I’m glad to say they’ve drastically improved their whole experience. Whilst I have no idea if anyone from Kogan ended up reading my previous piece it does seem like they’ve taken the feedback to heart and fixed up the issues that their customers were complaining about. If my last post on this had you wondering whether or not you should buy from them then hopefully this one shows you that you can, at least if you’re ordering a GoPro.
I was searching about logan to discover if it is a reliable online store and end up here in your website.
I saw your previous experience and that new one.
I want to buy a Nikon DSLR camera, do you think kogan is the best place to purchase it?
Would you recommend me a different and more reliable online store with cheaper prices than a local store? Thank you
Kogan is pretty reliable in terms of shipping, I just found my initial experience a little lacklustre when they sent the various bits and pieces several weeks apart. Buying the GoPro was a much better experience and I even got the USA model (although I don’t think they make regional versions yet).
So the only caveat I’d warn you of would be the fact that you’ll likely get a regional model (likely Chinese) with a photocopied brick manual. Apart from that it will be identical and if my experience holds true everything will go pretty smoothly.
The only other place I could recommend would be DigitalRev on eBay, have ordered a few things from them in the past and have always been satisfied.
Dear David, Great to read your review. Need your exert suggestion here. I am a prospective buyer from India and am looking to buy a blackberry Z30 which costs here around 711 AUD$ .pretty heavily priced isn’t it. That’s why I was looking for it in ebay global when i found it in approx 509$ in Kogan australia. I think that AUD..Now I am at confusion whether to go for it or not as i worried over the ingenuity of the product, the ease of warranty claims,returns, etc.It is evident that they have everything answered in their site but all I am seeking here is an original situation here. Hope you could understand.
Many regards,
Ayan.
Hi there Ayan. You’d definitely be getting the real deal from Kogan however it’d likely be the Chinese/International version of the product rather than one for your area. This isn’t a huge deal usually, just that the manual will likely be unusable and the charger requiring a socket adaptor.
As for warranty claims it’ll be a bit trickier than if you sourced it locally as you’d have to ship it back to them in order to make the claim. I’ve never had to do that for any of my products from them however. Previous experiences with other online only retailers has shown that this is usually a mildly inconvenient process but I’ve never had issues getting replacements/repairs under warranty.
Hope this helps!
Thanks David for your comments, That was really helpful. Of course,it will be easier for me to source the local service center to help me ( in case anything goes wrong) rather than send it to them.But what was I thinking was, I personnaly don’t like the Chinese made Blackberry’s. They even are available from other international locations like Thailand. Any idea whether I can give my choice of make while making this purchase.
Ayan.
I honestly didn’t know that Blackberry had multiple manufacturing locations, I figured they were all in China like most major handset providers. Checking up on it I see what you mean but I am not aware of any place that would note the handset’s place of manufacture as an option when you’re buying it.
The only other places I could think of that could potentialy have non-Chinese manufactured handsets would be other European sites like Clove (https://www.handtec.co.uk/) and Handtec (https://www.handtec.co.uk/). It would probably be best to enquire with them directly to see what the place of manufacture for their handset is.
Kogan’s shipping and delivery depends solely on 3 different aspects:
1. If its their own branded item, it will always be in stock in Australia and generally would ship really fast.
2. If its a Branded item they will not only ship it from HK but they will usually drop-ship it (ie it will not be their warehouse dispatching the item, & for several items it would be dispatched from several different warehouses/wholesalers)
3. Price of the parcel, to get around $1000 import limitation they might send items separately.
Interesting, I haven’t bought any Kogan branded stuff before so I had just assumed that they’d be shipping that from their Hong Kong headquarters as well. Good to know!
I most certainly had that experience when I first ordered from Kogan. 3 different items shipped from 3 different locations that all arrived on 3 separate dates. It wasn’t a great experience, especially when the time difference between the first and last item arriving was about 2 weeks.
Heh that’s a neat little trick to avoid import tax, guess we shouldn’t be surprised that they’d do that.
Do not ever buy from Kogan.com specially phones, they are the most unreliable on-line shopping store I have experienced any where!!!!
Care to elaborate Ian? I had a pretty poor experience with their shipping when I first ordered from Kogan but they were a lot better the second time around. I had hoped that had spread to the rest of the company although it seems that there are still pockets of issues popping up.
Hi David! I’m from Brazil and I’d like to buy a Gopro 5 Session from Kogan. Is there a possibility that Kogan sells false products or replics from China? I also would like to buy a micro SDXC. Does Kogan is reliable to complete this purchases? Thankyou!
Hi Luiz! Great to have you here 🙂
In my experience Kogan always stocks the real deal however for some products you might get the Chinese or other regional variant of the product. Most of the time this isn’t a big deal and with the GoPros I don’t believe there’s any differences at all (I think the manual was even in English).
I also bought a micro SD card from then when I got my GoPro all those years ago and it’s still going strong. Go for one of the name brand ones and I think you’ll be fine 😀
I’ll never buy anything from Kogan again…its been one big saga 5 months ago I ordered a duvet cover they sent the wrong one so returned it ..geus what they sent the same as first one…So I went to there help line they gave me a reference number and said they would get back to me…Still haven’t heard a thing from them….So today went back to help line quoted ref number and told them if I don’t get what I ordered I’ll be in contact with consumer affairs…my patients has run out
Mike Tew, Its funny how you are illiterate and dealing with communications issues.
“patients”, no commas, no full stops. You’re a mess…
its no wonder that you are having trouble with Kogan. Perhaps if you weren’t so emotional and such a blamer Kogan could’ve done something for you.
Also, i’ve purchased over 20 items from Kogan of the past few years. They’ve never let me down.
Thinking of getting the note 9 from there now cause it’s $180 cheaper than the retail price here.