Olympus reconditioned sale (20% off)

For the past couple of days I've been vacillating on buying an Olympus AIR A01 for $209 including tax. Today, in the final hours of the sale, I went for it, in spite of the mixed reviews. If I end up liking it, I might sell my GF7 to offset the purchase.

Alex Ethridge wrote:

Lew wrote:

Alex Ethridge wrote:

No, not less but I found the 7-14mm 2.8 Pro for $1024 about three months ago ...

I found the 40-150mm 2.8 Pro from the same dealer for $1069 with the current-at-the-time price from a US dealer being $1499, a savings of $430.

FYI, using Greentoe.com in December 2015 I bought the 7-14 for $1069 and 40-150 for $1189 -- these came from authorized US dealers with US warranties. What today's prices may be I do not know, they'll vary based on what the dealers are willing to do and what incentives exist from Olympus they can use.

I'm not saying your choice was incorrect. You still saved nearly $150 on the two lenses. My only point is that substantial savings can sometimes be found with US dealers via alternate channels.

I congratulate you on your choice; but, the problem I have with lesser-known, on-line, US dealers is there is no solidly-reliable way to evaluate their reputations. I'm sure there are good ones; but, it is just too easy for so-called consumer review sites to be packed with fake entries. The news of that finally became so common that no one pays attention any more.

There's not a lot to go wrong with a domestic purchase made with my Amex card. I get what I ordered in the stated time or it's made right.  Easy enough to validate whether an Olympus dealer is authorized, and the item either has the warranty card or it doesn't.

Anyway, I value my own personal history with a vendor more than what I read on the internet. I'd previously used Greentoe on a number of other purchases and every experience has been great. Choosing them when I was ready to buy those lenses was a no-brainer.

At least with e-bay, you can be certain that every feedback is backed by a real purchase and a real buyer.

True, but also remember that feedback can only be left within the first 60 days. Anyone having a problem outside that window has no way to indicate that via the feedback mechanism.  That doesn't invalidate your point, I mention it only for information purposes.

Rssrsvp wrote:

There is still a M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 (Black) left for $399 but in my opinion it isn't that great a deal as you can purchase a brand new M. Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 II for $499.

Yeah, they had both the I and the II yesterday for $399 for some reason, but the II went out of stock sometime during the day.  $320 vs $499 for the II isn't too bad, but as you say that's no bargain for the I.

43Shooter wrote:

I would think that a refurbished lens runs a higher risk of having been returned due to being on the poorer end of sample variance. Buying new lenses, from overseas or anywhere else, eliminates that risk. Obviously you may still get a bad copy but the chances are reduced.

Just a theory but it seems to make sense.

Reasonable theory.  Hasn't been my experience, but it's certainly possible.

Fortunately Olympus has a 30 day return period on any of these purchases, so you just risk the cost of return shipping to them.