[sac-forum] Re: Digital Cameras. Warning: Off Topic

  • From: "William R Wood" <wrwood2@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 05:26:32 -0700

Stan,

I haven't bought anything except groceries in a real store in about 10
years.  The internet is very safe and has far better selection and prices.
Plus it is vastly faster and easier to shop online.  A few clicks and the
item is delivered to your door in a couple of days.  It is definitely not
better to pay more in a real store unless you want/need advice about the
product.  Even then I believe buying local is generally a mistake since most
retail store advice is incomplete and/or wrong and you can definitely get
better advice online.  Like anything else you have to be careful about
second rate online outfits and information but it is easy to tell the good
from the bad.

There is no danger buying online if you do 2 things: (1) use a credit card
to pay (you can charge back the debit to your card if you get a defective
product, or have some other problem, and the vendor will not make it right)
and (2) research the product and the online vendor before you buy.  Do not
go for the absolute lowest price unless you are a gambler or have
independent verification about the legitimacy of the low price dealer.
Research is easy - use one of the shopping services like Yahoo, Amazon,
Bizrate, Pricegrabber, Cnet, Epinions and others.  The online stores are
rated for service and reviewed extensively by other buyers.  There is no way
a bad vendor can hide these days because people who get stung will sing like
birds :o)

The best part about online buying in my opinion is the ready availability of
product information and easy comparisons.  Digital cameras are a great
example.  Do not choose a camera until you have visited
http://www.dpreview.com and several other camera review sites.  You will
find links to the other major review sites at dpreview.  DP also has links
to many reputable camera stores - online of course.

I just finished my own digital camera research project and can tell you that
the best vendors are:

http://www.canogacamera.com

http://www.17photo.com/

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

I got most of my photo stuff at Canoga Camera because they are in California
and UPS ground gets items to me in 2 days for the lowest shipping cost.  B&H
Photo is the biggest camera vendor in the country I believe but they are in
New York so UPS ground takes 3 maybe 4 days.  17Photo is also good but in
New York too, however, they had the best price on a lens I ordered.  As to
prices, all the major legitimate vendors are very close to each other if not
identical.  The 3 places I cited are very professional and trustworthy; if
there is a problem they will fix it.  Between these 3 places you can find
anything you want in stock and have it in 3-4 days at most, all at a price
significantly cheaper than at a local store and without sales tax and
without leaving your house :o)

Regards,

Bill Wood
Fountain Hills, AZ



> -----Original Message-----
> From: sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Stanley A.
> Gorodenski
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 9:30 PM
> To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [sac-forum] Digital Cameras. Warning: Off Topic
>
>
> This is off topic and so if you reply please direct it to me instead of
> the list. A digital camera I am interested in is about $150-$200 higher
> in retail stores than on the internet, although a few estores are just
> as high. What danger does one encounter buying something off the
> internet? Could estores be selling cameras that do not meet
> specifications by the manufacturer? The safest thing may be to pay the
> $150-$200 extra in a retail store, but considering how prices many times
> drop not long after a product comes out, maybe the estores are more on
> top prices. Could anyone enlighten me as to what is going on, and
> possibly provide the names of some reputable estores?
> Stan
>
>
>


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