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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Is the lowest price the best deal?

There are all kinds of deals to be had on camera equipment, but you have to know what you're looking at. Common sense should dictate that if most outlets are charging the same approximate price for a camera kit and one is charging significantly less something isn't quite right. Lets pick a perfect example- There is a site called getondigital.com that is my recent favorite.

I fielded a phone call today, the caller having a "Nikon question". This question came from a woman who claimed to have paid $4000.00 for a Nikon D7000 kit that came with 2 Sigma lenses (She was incapable of telling me which ones) along with some other things she was unable to describe to me. I looked at the site and saw what I suspected- Scam. Nothing more, nothing less. She figured it out too late and they wanted to charge her a $500.00 restocking fee.

Nice.

Just in case you forgot- its getondigital.com

One of my favorite examples on that site is the Nikon D3s with two lenses "and more" for $4659.00. Heres the funny part- The lenses are the Nikon 18-55 VR and 55-200 VR units which are.......wait for it........DX lenses! What does that mean? They are specifically engineered for use only with the Nikon crop frame sensor range of cameras, currently the D3000 through the D300. Also included is a "TTL Macro Ringlight Flash", a "Digital Case" (What ever thats supposed to be)

The other red flag? The posted selling price is below the actual cost of all that merchandise. There just isnt that kind of profit margin in this stuff, people.

Another red flag- Nowhere does it state they are authorized dealers of any brand they carry. The say: "Full US warranty on all the products we sell". The question is whose warranty?

Down at the bottom of the page there si a listing of "Top Selling Products For This Item". My favorites are the "Three Year Protection Plan" for $499.99, the "Vertical Camera battery Grip" for $139.99 (Its a D3s- It has it built in.) and the "AC Charger Cord" for $129.99.

Who is it again? getondigital.com

Over the past 4 years that I've worked on the retail side of the camera business, I've seen all kinds of scams. This one is quite possibly the most blatant.

I'd advise anybody you know to stay away from these guys and those like them.