Ways to try gear.

pcrc11 wrote:

pforsell wrote:

pcrc11 wrote:

riveredger wrote:

pcrc11 wrote:

scrup wrote:

buy from Amazon and return if its not what you expect.

No shame in doing it. Amazon will sell it through their warehouse as open box item. Someone will get a deal, you get to try a lens risk free.

So who eats the loss?? Not only is the retailer out the diminished value of the item but also out the shipping cost both ways. I know, who cares, it is Amazon, surely the biggest retailer in the world can absorb a few dollars without a hurt to their bottom line. However this type of behavior has also crept into all the other online selling platforms where you most likely are dealing with a small individual seller and not a faceless corporation.

This is the cost of doing business in today's world. Note that these companies are not paying for stores and all of the associsted costs.

Shoplifting was considered the "cost of doing business" when you had a brick and mortar store in "yesterdays world". A scumbag is a scumbag no matter how you want to justify it.

Going from testing an item into stealing it seems a bit of a stretch to me.

I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it first. I wouldn't buy a lens without test driving it first. I wouldn't buy a camera without test driving it first.

Because the mail order houses have killed off the brick and mortar stores which used to carry demo samples, the only way to test an item is to get it from the mail order house. And they voluntarily offer free test driving. Those stores that don't won't get my business.

I cannot see the "shoplifting" part in this business transaction between two consenting adults. It is the modern version of the age-old demo-sample try-before-you-buy business model.

The OP was not asking about a test drive. He wants to purchase, use it and return it for a refund and be out no money on his end. That is not a test drive.

Your "test drive" a car analogy is so far from this it is laughable. Go ask your local car dealer if you can purchase a car on Friday, drive it for the weekend and then bring it back on Monday for a full refund.

Many car dealers do offer weekend long test drives , you just have to insure the car ; some even supply the fuel .