Online Digital Camera Stores...Suggestions please?

[NSXGB]

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a reliable and reasonably priced 'state side' online store to buy a digital camera from please?

I'm looking for a Canon EOS 10D Digital SLR which over here in the UK retails at £1500, your side of the water the retail is $1500 (£830 to me + shipping etc).

I have found it for $1045 at www.priceit4less.com but have read a bit of negative feedback on another site about this company which makes me cautious.

I have someone in NY who will bring it home for me, so will be shipped within the US.

So if anyone has any recommendations for companies they have used, that don't hard sell accessories to beef the price up, I would be grateful of the info.


All the best,


Simon.

 

[Inexcess]

B&H www.bhphotovideo.com is the best. The source for all photo/video equipment. Their NY store is nothing short of amazing. I've ordered all my Canon gear via the web site without any problems over many years. I would not recommend any other NY photo retailer, most are pure scum. B&H sells US warranty and international warranty products, your choice on many items.

Other great places www.deltainternational.com for grey market products, fantastic service.

www.canogacamera.com on the west coast.

 

[jadkar]

Try J&R as well

You can also try J&R, they are in downtown Manhattan. The website is....
http://www.jandr.com

Whenever I shop for camera equipment I shop between both stores. It's great because sometimes J&R is cheaper and sometimes B&H is. The great thing about J&R is they sell all things electronic as well. They both have great websites.

I bought my 10D at J&R

 

[nkb]

Beach Camera in NJ is excellent (www.beachcamera.com). I bought my last digital camera there, and am planning on buying another one (my dog used the camera as a chew toy ), and a camcorder.

The prices are extremely competitive, and they have excellent ratings from multiple review websites.

Also, the advantage of this place over NY places is, you won't have to pay sales tax, since it's out of state.

 

[nkb]

I just checked bhphotovideo, and their prices (at least on the cameras I am planning on buying) are a bit higher.

Canon Powershot S410 $329 (Beach) $350 (BH)
Canon ZR90 $431 (Beach) $480 (BH)
and your camera:
Canon EOS 10D $1249 (Beach) not published (BH)

You need to email them to find out their sale price. Published is $1399.

However, you would also be saving whatever NY state tax is (somewhere in the 8.5% range?).

 

[THonda]

http://www.pricescan.com/items/item147270.asp


never dealt with any of these stores, but if you are buying on a credit card, you should have nothing to worry about. Not sure how the warranty would work in the UK thou? I am certain the first repair bill (if any) would exceed the cost savings buying from the US....

 

[nkb]

http://www.pricescan.com/items/item147270.asp


never dealt with any of these stores, but if you are buying on a credit card, you should have nothing to worry about. Not sure how the warranty would work in the UK thou? I am certain the first repair bill (if any) would exceed the cost savings buying from the US....

DO NOT BUY FROM BILIBI!!!

There are also a couple of other online sites that are just different names for the same place, like PriceIt4less and Priceler. I'm sure there are plenty more.

I was ready to buy from Bilibi, because their prices are outrageously good, but decided to do a web search for some reviews. Scared me straight.

Their basic scam is to entice you with their low prices, then do a hard sell on all their incredibly overpriced accessories. If you decline (not once, but many times), they will charge your card, and then claim that it is out of stock. Getting them to refund the money is very hard.

Here are some reviews online:
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2358.html
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Online_S...~1/sort_~date/sort_dir_~des/sec_~opinion_list

I sent an email to Pricescan, asking them how Bilibi could have such a high rating, they responded saying that they were about to remove them from their list (this was about a month ago). Either way, I'm sure they will just change their name again.

My advice: any incredible deal you find, do some research on the seller. There are a lot of scammers out there.

 

[THonda]

agreed, have to use common sense when buying online. However if you buy it on your credit card and the vendor turns out to be lame, you are protected through the credit card company.

 

[NSXGB]

....many thanks for the replies, I will check out those sites.
It is difficult to ignore the really cheap prices, but there is generally some catch. An international warranty is also on the shopping list.

thanks again,

Simon.

 

[Acura NsX Pilot]

Beach Camera in NJ is excellent (www.beachcamera.com). I bought my last digital camera there, and am planning on buying another one (my dog used the camera as a chew toy ), and a camcorder.

The prices are extremely competitive, and they have excellent ratings from multiple review websites.

Also, the advantage of this place over NY places is, you won't have to pay sales tax, since it's out of state.

I also purchased my Canon 10D there without any problems and got a camcorder there as well......great service and prices and no tax

 

[KGP]

What's the difference in a USA versus over-seas warranty on a 10D? I assume that the reason a company like Royal Camera advertises the 10D at $850 (incl shipping) is because it's not a US warranty (they don't specifically say). So what's the gig with the warranty thing?

 

[Inexcess]

USA warranty means that Canon USA will fix the camera under warranty. If it has the international warranty they won't. Most grey market sellers offer warranty service in the US by third parties (Mack) that also sell extended warranties. Warranties on this type of equipment are just like insurance, you probably won't need it but.....

I've bought both US and Grey and I've never ever needed service on my Canon cameras and lenses or Sigma EX lenses. There was lots of early hoopla from the pixel peepers on the 10D's "focus issue" that seemed to have went the way of the dinosaur's. A great camera. I sold ever film camera I had and have never looked back.

Royal camera is scum of the earth by the way.

 

[KGP]

I've bought both US and Grey and I've never ever needed service on my Canon cameras ...

So if you had a grey market Canon 10D and it ended up needing repair or servicing, how would one get it?

Royal camera is scum of the earth by the way.

Do you (or anyone else) perceive risk in dealing with someone like Royal if a credit card was used to make the purchase? Aside from the greay market issue, what might come about from the purchase of a 10D body? Does someone run a risk of getting used or damaged goods or something? Trying to figure out where the "scum of the earth" thing comes into play.

I can live with an answer like "just buy it from B&H," but I need to justify it in my mind I guess.

 

[Inexcess]

The repair issue is who pays for it. If you have a Canon USA warranty canon will pay for it, If you are in the US and get an international canon warranty canon USA will not pay for the repairs but they will repair it for money.

In either case you can buy a third party warranty like Mack and it will be repaired by a third party. That's assuming it's a reputable warranty provider.

Scum of the earth means one or more of the following:

It's on back order (forever)
It's used and we didn't tell you
It's not available without accessories ($$$)
You'll get your refund next century.
Don't try to find us in person because we don't actually exist as a storefront.

If any of the above is worth a few dollars then try it.

BTW getting a camera like the 10D should not be based on the cost of the camera body. It's actually the least expensive item if you really want to use the camera to it's potential. Otherwise don't buy it, any of the 6MP point and shoot, non SLR's are much more cost effective. The whole point of an SLR is to buy and use lots of costly lenses! When I got my 10D I paid $1300 for the body and in 6 months spent $6000 on lenses, printers, software, etc. I finally bought a professional level tripod and head that cost more than the camera. So the cost of moving to this level is that all the other items needed to use the capabilties of the camera are much more important and more expensive.

You can't get the good stuff at discounts. The camera body is the least expensive component of an SLR system.

 

[KGP]

Scum of the earth means one or more of the following:

It's on back order (forever)
It's used and we didn't tell you
It's not available without accessories ($$$)
You'll get your refund next century.
Don't try to find us in person because we don't actually exist as a storefront.

If any of the above is worth a few dollars then try it.

Thanks, that answered my question. Not worth messing with them!

BTW getting a camera like the 10D should not be based on the cost of the camera body. It's actually the least expensive item...

Right. That much I know. I actually had quite a few college classes in photography as electives, but that was way before the digital revolution. I was simply looking at the possibility of saving a few bucks on the body, but you answered that issue. I'm ordering from B&H. At least today, they look to have the best prices of the reputable dealers mentioned by some of the members.

Thanks guys!

 

[nkb]

I just ordered a Canon S410 from Beach Camera today (already shipped), and a Canon ZR90 camcorder from BuyDig.com (also shipped already).

I've never tried BuyDig before, but the ratings seemed good across the board.

Weird part is, I think BuyDig and Beach may be the same place, or have some sort of cooperation. Email confirmations and shipping notices were very similar in wording, and both items shipped from the same town in NJ, almost at exactly the same time.

The only reason I went with BuyDig is they were a little cheaper on the camcorder than Beach.

I will let people know how my BuyDig experience goes. I already had a good experience with Beach, so I am assuming it will be fine.

 

[nkb]

One variation of the scams that are pulled by the shady online shops makes reporting them to the credit card company a little tougher.

They send you stuff that is either a) used (as Inexcess mentioned), or b) take the accessories like battery and such out, and claim that they are not included in the price of the camera/camcorder/etc.

I'm guessing since you actually receive something from a company, the credit card company might not be as willing to withhold payment and dispute it, as it would with a vendor that doesn't send anything.

Another scam vendor I noticed today was USA Photo Nation (based on reading reviews). My guess is that it's the same vendor each time, just changing names until enough negative feedback slows down business.

If you are thinking about buying from a "too-good-to-true" type place, I recommend checking www.resellerratings.com for a review.

 

[KGP]

I'm guessing since you actually receive something from a company, the credit card company might not be as willing to withhold payment and dispute it...

Not really. The credit card issuing bank represents you, and has no interest in seeing the dispute overturned. There is a dispute resolution process that must be followed by the issuing bank and acquiring bank (merchants cc provider), but the process greatly favors the consumer, especially if you can provide any descrepancy with what you were led to believe you would recieve. For example, Canon's website says a battery comes with a camera, where the shady company witholds it, is probably evidence enough to fortify your dispute.

Additionally, every merchant fully understands that it costs them in more ways than one to receive disputed transactions. Each dispute, whether overturned or not, costs the merchant money. Should the merchant recieve enough disputed transactions (~1% or greater), they are then at risk of losing their merchant account by being palced on the VISA/MC TMF list. Once on it, it is next to impossible to acquire a new merchant account using any of the names (business and personal) associated with the TMF'd account. Not good for an interent seller! At that point their only option is to utilize a third party biller, which costs them far more in discount fees than their competition is paying. For transactions with a company like a camera equipment merchant, I would immeadiatly question purchasing from them if they are using a third party biller (they must disclose).

I did some reading on some camera forums today, and what I found totaly backs up what Inexcess said; The low prices out there are from the "scum of the earth" type merchants.

 

[supra2nv]

I may be able to get you the 10D if you are interested.

Jack

 

[KGP]

I may be able to get you the 10D if you are interested.

Just a tad late, Jack. But thanks for the offer!

 

[coolnsx]

Jack, I might be interested, can you PM the info? Thanks, Gil

 

[nkb]

I'm curious then as to how some of these companies continue their shady business. Even if they change names constantly, I would think the CC companies would catch on. But, the company that was known as Bilibi, and Priceler, and PriceIt4Less, and a slew of others, seems to pop up over and over.

The other thing to consider when taking a chance with one of these companies, because you will let the CC company take care of it, is the hassle. I've never had to dispute anything, but I can't imagine it being worth the trouble.

 

[Inexcess]

Finally found it again LOL!

I was hoping to find this site earlier in the thread, but better late than never

Here's Royal Camera

http://www.donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0009.htm

Inspires all kinds of confidence....

Way ahead of these guys however

http://www.donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0022.htm

(Focus camera)

Look at this fly by night outfit...

http://www.donwiss.com/pictures/ManhattanStores/h0002.htm

This web site just kill me....

http://www.donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/

http://www.donwiss.com/pictures/ManhattanStores/

 

[jlindy]

www.etronics.com

used them before and was very happy.

 

[nbovelle]

Try Butterflyphoto.com
I have used them several times with great results.

Nate in DC