Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (
More info?)
coralgecko@gmail.com wrote:
> Where on-line or off-line can the best bargains for Digital Cameras
be
> bought. So far I've only found the best bargains on e-bay. Are
there
> better on-line places to find a bargain? I am willing to travel too,
> as I'm looking for a relatively expensive camera and the savings I
> could make may pay for a holiday! I'm mostly interested in Nikon but
> other manufacturers are fine too.
I haven't seen any real bargains on Ebay recently - most of the decent
equipment auctioned is being sold by companies, for a bit more than
they have to sell it on the internet. A lot of excessive shipping and
"handling" (whatever the heck that is) charges, too. I have sold a bit
of computer stuff a year ago, and I was amazed at how much people
though it was worth..... I set a "buy now" price but on several items
buyers gleefully bid right past it.
If you're willing to shop in the U.S. there's good prices to be had at
several internet retailers, as long as you're willing to put up with
(and gently but firmly resist) a lot of hard sell. For example
Butterfly Photo (www.butterflyphoto.com) will always phone and sell a
bunch of overpriced accessories - mostly poor quality accessory lenses
and flash cards - but they'll also (eventually) respect a polite "no,
thanks, I already have one" and will actually sell you the item. I
don't know whether you'll be able to get them to ship to you or for
that matter to a relative or friend, though - most of these places
insist (for obvious reasons) on shipping to the address on the credit
card.
Do a bit of research at www.resellerratings.com - they're not perfect,
because it's still possible for companies to put in "shill" reviews,
but it's usually apparent from the pattern - a few "wonderful,
excellent, I want my firstborn to marry them" reviews mixed in with
lots of "they're all going to hell, Satan runs the company" type stuff.
Good Luck!
ECM