buying cameras online. Risk?

I live in sydney, I now know the camera I want, from the help of a sales person at a store, the price he gave me seemed reasonable. But when I get home and search online, there are many prices from online purchasing a lot cheaper, but the prices ranged from very cheap to a tad more expensive than rrp.

What are the dangers of buying online? they seemed upfront and honest about there cameras and offer warranty.

When I rang the store and spoke to the sales person, he said if they seem to cheap then be skeptable. He said the cameras are most likely imported and don't go through the legit australian distributors and usually not worth the risk. The pricing online that I quoted he said were cheaper than the company's ex-tax price even.
ringing around retail stores the price I got was pretty much the cheapest.

Is it worth the piece and mind of buying it through a legit retail store, or worth buying it online, and lots of them seem to have shop fronts also.

I searched also for forums, stories, burnt, etc... on google to find some info on why not buy online, what should I do?

The site http://www.resellerratings.com/ is a useful asset in helping you decide where it's safe to shop online.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

as there are countless scam sites on the web only too eager to take your money. Henry works for B&H, by far the very best of the good, honest online dealers out there. I've dealt with them for years, have never, ever had a problem with their online ordering or with their staff.

charlesh said:

as there are countless scam sites on the web only too eager to take
your money. Henry works for B&H, by far the very best of the good,
honest online dealers out there. I've dealt with them for years, have
never, ever had a problem with their online ordering or with their
staff.
--

Click to expand...

--
Conrad 'Bye Bye' Birdie
'Aspire to inspire before you expire'.

If you find a camera you like, go to the appropriate user forum, ask some of the users there if they have bought from store X. Trust me, you'll get more answers than you'll ever need.

--
Coming to you from the beautiful Ozark Mountain Country
where if you're too busy to go fishin', then you're too busy!

Never an issue with B&H.

Always helpful, very objective, no-nonsense advice and fast service. Recommended.

--
Best regards,

Bruno Lobo.



http://www.pbase.com/brunobl

I work at a brick and mortar camera store. Like Henry (B&H) I'm going to tell you why you should buy from me:

1. You get to deal with a real person face-to-face, not on the other end of a phone line or a internet site. I'm not going to sell you a lemon, because I know you'll be back. The internet store doesn't have to worry about that.

2. You get to handle and look at the camera BEFORE you buy it. How a camera FEELS is an important part of how it WORKS.

3. You help support your local economy. Locally owned shops employ local people. You help them put food on their tables. You can feel good about that. It's worth something. If you frequent a store a few times, you get to know the people who work there. They might even tip you off to sales, promos or new products that are not public yet. An internet site won't do that.

4. You can go back an ask them for help/advice, etc. I help people with their cameras all the time, from "what does this button do?" questions to "can you show me how to clean my CMOS sensor?" to "Is this broken or am I just doing something wrong?"

5. There ARE scams out there. I have personally seen cameras that were sold by New York shops as US models that were confirmed by NIKON to be imports (grey market) which Nikon USA will not repair, EVEN FOR A FEE! If a deal looks too good to be true, it is. Not all sites are bad, but there are some.

6. Independent camera stores are closing at an alarming rate. If people continue to buy from internet and big box stores, there won't be any independents left. If everybody relies on somebody else to support us, nobody ends up doing it and everybody loses out.

I realize that not everybody has a camera store near by. You are excused. To the others, please consider us. We are a dying breed, but a valuable one. It may cost a little more to shop at a local store, but it's worth it. The manufacturers give big discounts to the high-volume stores that small ones don't get. That's not fair, but they do it anyway. Sometimes it may cost a little more to do the right thing.

Support your local store, and we'll support you back!

Generally you are better off dealing with a reputable store as I do but, for those living in the UK or Ireland, Park Cameras offer a brilliant on-line shop and really do fight your case with the manufacturer when you have a problem. I recommend them unreservedly.
--
NLD
http://www.ndukes.net

GeorgeD200 said:

I'm not going to sell you a
lemon, because I know you'll be back. The internet store doesn't
have to worry about that.

Click to expand...

An ethical store won't sell you a lemon whether you shop in person, by phone or online. A store lacking ethics will do what they'll do whether or not it's to your face.

In fact, you sometimes have more leverage making a chargeback with the bank that issued your credit card if the purchase was a card-absent (phone or web) transaction than you do for a card-present (in-store) transaction.

And, any "internet store," which wants to be in business next week and next month and next year wants you back just as much as any retailer.

GeorgeD200 said:

Support your local store, and we'll support you back!

Click to expand...

Support your ethical trustworthy store and tomorrow, you'll have an ethical trustworthy store in which to shop.

Now, having said all this. I am PERSONALLY 100% in favor of shopping locally whenever possible. I live near three indy hardware stores and will drive to them all before pointing the Honda at the nearest Home Depot.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

There are reputable vendors, and there are shysters.

Two I have had excellent dealings with are B&H and Cameta (on ebay). I believe both ship to Oz.

Be especially cautious of a price that's substantially lower than B&H lists. There is probably something wrong with the deal. Either it's an outright scam, or they'll want to sell you a $200 2 gig CF card (and be mysteriously out of stock on the camera if you don't buy that high priced card), or a host of other problems - used equipment instead of new, no warranty, things like that.

Be very wary of the deals that seem "to good to be true". They usually are. I had to find that out the hard way....unfortunatly I am stuck with a "gray-market" camera (Canon KissX import - which is the equivalent to an XTi). So, now I own a camera that has no US warranty. Although the camera does a great job, I am out of luck if something happens to the camera that should be under warranty.

I purchased this camera from http://www.broadwayphoto.com . Sounds like a legit website......yeah right. I should have known when they called to "verify" my credit card number. They then proceded to tell me that I had to buy the "retail package" (battery, charger, software, neckstrap, etc). Unknown to me at the time - but all of this should be included in the original box if it is brand new and from the manufacturer.

I have had great luck and am happy with all purchases from B&H Photo, Amazon.com, Adorama.com to name a few.

All I can say is do your homework - I wish I had asked around before making my purchase! I hope my bad experience helps you when buying your camera!

Good luck!

I've purchased a few photography items online, both from B&H and other stores.
I live in Israel so sometimes I asked a friend to carry the item with him\her.

Mostly found the good deals through amazon, and while not always going for the cheapest option- you can get good offers from more mainstream shops.

what's important in my opinion- make sure the shop has a lot of positive ratings, and that its an actual shop with customer support behind it.

--
Learning something new every day

You may be interested to know that Park Cameras are closing their two stores in Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath during August and moving into bigger premises in Burgess Hill with many more facilities to offer than before.

The store and the online business will be handled from the one site, Im lucky enough to live just half an hour away from the store and have shopped there for almost 30 years, in fact I was there today making a purchase, competetive prices and top quality service, I highly recommend them too.

The ONLY connection I have with them is as a long term satisfied customer.

Pete

Interesting info., Pete. Thanks for that.
--
NLD
http://www.ndukes.net

If you buy from overseas, will there be an import tax? That might bring the price to what Oz stores charge.

I have bought all of my equipment by Internet, and have had good experiences. Go to http://www.resellerratings.com and check them out.

I buy 90 percent from BH and Adorama.

http://ubereye.deviantart.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubereye/

farmerswife said:

Be very wary of the deals that seem "to good to be true". They
usually are. I had to find that out the hard way....unfortunatly I
am stuck with a "gray-market" camera (Canon KissX import - which is
the equivalent to an XTi). So, now I own a camera that has no US
warranty. Although the camera does a great job, I am out of luck if
something happens to the camera that should be under warranty.

I purchased this camera from http://www.broadwayphoto.com . Sounds like a
legit website......yeah right. I should have known when they called
to "verify" my credit card number. They then proceded to tell me
that I had to buy the "retail package" (battery, charger, software,
neckstrap, etc). Unknown to me at the time - but all of this should
be included in the original box if it is brand new and from the
manufacturer.

Click to expand...

Broadwayphoto are shysters. At least with Canon you can tell which are the grey market by the model name. I sent a Nikon D200 that had been bought from broadwayphoto in to Nikon USA for a warranty repair. According to the owner, broadwayphoto sold it as USA warranty. Nikon refused to service it at all, even for a fee, stating that it was non-USA product. I had a very unhappy customer on my hands. Luckily he was unhappy with broadwayphoto, not me.

Fact is, if someone is selling far cheaper than everyone else, there's a reason they can do this, and it usually a reason you won't like.

There are some bait and switch operations out there. Dirt cheap camera, but they want to sell you a $200 2 gig CF card with it. And if you don't buy that horridly overpriced item, the camera is mysteriously 'out of stock'.

Others may sell you a rebuilt/repaired camera instead of a new one.

Or it may be a 'gray market' camera, imported outside of normal channels, which means it will have no warranty. Might even have an owner's manual in another language.

For online buying, I stick with established retailers. In the US, this is B&H, Cameta, Adorama and a couple of others. Don't know who is good in Oz, but if you're making a serious investment in a camera, invest a bit more and safeguard the purchase by sticking with the local retailer.

excabby43 said:

You may be interested to know that Park Cameras are closing their two
stores in Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath during August and moving
into bigger premises in Burgess Hill with many more facilities to
offer than before.....

Click to expand...

This is very nice and all, but... the OP lives IN AUSTRALIA.

:^}

henryp said:

Support your ethical trustworthy store and tomorrow, you'll have an
ethical trustworthy store in which to shop.

Now, having said all this. I am PERSONALLY 100% in favor of shopping
locally whenever possible. I live near three indy hardware stores and
will drive to them all before pointing the Honda at the nearest
Home Depot.

--
Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

Click to expand...

Thanks for your kind words, Henry. How do you reconcile your feelings about shoping locally while working for such an online giant? I can't even imagine how many independent camera stores B&H has put out of business. I'm sure you'll say that business is business and it's the small stores OWN fault for being crushed by B&H. Truth be told the camera manufacturers are to blame too, for giving B&H large quantity price discounts that smaller stores don't get. This allows B & H to undercut almost everyone else in the business. Not exactly a level playing field is it?

GeorgeD200 said:

Thanks for your kind words, Henry. How do you reconcile your
feelings about shoping locally while working for such an online
giant?

Click to expand...

I've never been to New York City, but it's my understanding that B&H has one of the largest, most well-stocked brick and mortar camera stores you'll ever see.

GeorgeD200 said:

Truth be told the camera manufacturers are to blame too, for
giving B&H large quantity price discounts that smaller stores don't
get. This allows B & H to undercut almost everyone else in the
business. Not exactly a level playing field is it?

Click to expand...

Do you really think that Best Buy and Circuit City DON'T have the same purchasing leverage as B&H? That Ritz Camera, with stores in lots of malls, does not have any volume with which to negotiate good deals?

And yet these places consistently trail B&H and other honest "mail-order" stores -- not just on price, but also on selection (including Internet mail-order selection).