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Your experience with online camera stores based in NY/NJ?

S

screw3d

Diamond Member
I am about to pull the trigger on a Pentax K100D (still figuring out my lens config) and looked at Amazon first because I have Prime membership.

I then shopped around places like buydig.com, adorama.com, abesofmaine.com, bhphoto.com and see that they are all about $80 cheaper shipped.

I've heard some horror stories in the past about some NY-based camera stores, but these seem pretty well reviewed on pricegrabber and resellerratings.

Have you bought anything from these places?
 
I would rather spend the extra $80 at amazon than worry about if the camera I would get would be grey-market or have to deal with some schmuck on the phone trying to upsell you stuff.
 
I've bought thousands of dollars worth of equipment from B&H. They are the NewEgg of the photography world. You can find stuff a little less expensive at some other places but then you'll get gouged on shipping and the return policies are slow and terrible. Adorama is pretty good, too. I have bought a few things from Abes of Maine, but make sure you figure their shipping charge in so that you are not comparing apples to oranges. Beach has been around for awhile, but they used to have a terrible reputation. Otherwise, runaway, runaway. There are some pretty bad otufits in NY/NJ.
-Brett
 
Originally posted by: BoomerD
I've done quite a bit of business with B&H, and they are top-notch...the others that mugs listed are reputable, but IIRC, they have a reputation for screwing with your order and pressuring you to buy "accessories"...
Check here for more ratings:
http://www.photo.net/neighbor/subcategory-index?id=2
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

photo.net is fast becoming my favorite photog info source. Informative posts and very easy on the eyes, compared to dpreview forums.

I have bought from ButterflyPhoto in my freshman year about 5 yrs ago and they were fine then (8-9 reseller ratings then). Their ratings have since taken a dive, which is why I'm asking for recommendations.

The K10D is looking pretty tempting now... 😱
 
Adorama Camera and B&H Photo/Video are awesome. 17th Street Photo is fine (I got my D50 from them). 47th Street Photo is NOT (called me asking for credit card number after purchase via Amazon.com).
 
Originally posted by: screw3d
I am about to pull the trigger on a Pentax K100D (still figuring out my lens config) and looked at Amazon first because I have Prime membership.

I then shopped around places like buydig.com, adorama.com, abesofmaine.com, bhphoto.com and see that they are all about $80 cheaper shipped.

I've heard some horror stories in the past about some NY-based camera stores, but these seem pretty well reviewed on pricegrabber and resellerratings.

Have you bought anything from these places?
Click to expand...

just bought one from BuyDig... can't pass up 380 after mir
 
B&H Photo is one of the best online places to buy a camera. They've been in business for many years and they have a B&M store in NYC that is huge from what I understand.

I've purchased many lenses and cameras from them over the years. You couldn't possibly do any better IMO.
 
I've used BuyDig in the past, the only complaint I had was they charged me $25 for standard FedEx shipping, and they shipped it so I personally had to be there to sign for it (they wouldn't leave it at the leasing office like all my other packages from FedEx).
 
Like many others here, I've had nothing but excellent service from B&H photo. They have reasonable prices and don't try to bend you over on shipping plus they don't try to sell you a bunch of crap you don't want after you order and then cancell your order if you don't buy the other stuff.
 
Thanks for the help...about to buy a Canon XTi, 17-55mm and 70-300mm from Beach Camera/Amazon.

I'm curious about all of the XXst Shops...Like 42st Photo, 47st Photo, etc?
 
Originally posted by: Jawo
Thanks for the help...about to buy a Canon XTi, 17-55mm and 70-300mm from Beach Camera/Amazon.

I'm curious about all of the XXst Shops...Like 42st Photo, 47st Photo, etc?
Click to expand...


47st was mentioned above as questionable, but check with www.resellerratings.com at all times. There are a lot of sharks out there. Remember Monarch was good for years then went downhill pretty fast.

Jim
 
Yeah, I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything from either Adorama or B&H.

Also, Adorama has a great online printing service.
 
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Avoid Butterfly Photo.. they are a nuisance.

They are worse than some of those salesmen on a car lot
Click to expand...

I've used them, knowing their bait & switch sales tactics up front. They will call you after the order is placed to "verify your address" or some crap. They will then attempt to upsell you on accessories and such. If you just order the camera, they will likely tell you they are out of stock on the item if you dont buy accessories either up front or on the sales call, since they sell the cameras alone with pretty much no margin. If you buy some accessories, you'll still get the sales call, but they'll fulfill the order. I wouldnt recommend them to anyone unless they know how they work, and are comfortable with that.
 
Dealt with 6ave.com (got a Panasonic PVGS500 about a year ago). Seemed ok and since the online division is in NJ, shipping to NYC was fast and tax free 🙂
 
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