Where to buy your camera gear online…and where NOT to..
By Steve Huff
It’s bright and early here in Phoenix, AZ and I am up with my morning coffee and staring at my Imac ready to write! Seeing that the Holiday season is upon us and Black Friday is right around the corner, I decided to write up a little post about where to buy your camera gear and where not to! There are so many camera dealers out there and only a select few are trustworthy while there are TONS out there that want to rip you off in one way or another.
Here is my personal list of who is cool…and who is not so cool and who may be totally UNCOOL when it comes to buying camera gear online. Keep in mind, these are MY opinions from MY personal experiences. Yours may differ…
The Best Of The Best for Online Camera Purchase…IMO
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B&H Photo – The worlds largest camera/photo store – A+++ – Site Here
One online store that I have been buying from for 15 years is B&H Photo. B&H has NEVER EVER done me wrong even with tens of thousands of dollars spent and hundreds of orders. I have never had a late order, never had a defect or wrong item sent to me and never have been pushed to buy something else to get the deal. I have placed hundreds of orders with them and not once have I had an issue. That is not to say none of you haven’t, but from my experience B&H is the most respected online camera shop around.
B&H is tops in my book. Their web site is also very very good with real time stock status and great descriptions in an easy to navigate format. I have bought from them for what seems like forever and even toured their store last year. Great people, great service. I liked them so much I joined their affiliate program to help pay for running this site so if you follow my links anywhere on this site that leads you to B&H Photo, AND you purchase something I get a teeny amount of commission, that hopefully over time builds up enough to cover my web hosting and expenses of running and updating this site. So if you make a purchase using my links, you have supported this site. I Thank you! B&H = stress free shopping.
The only negative I have ever had with them is when you are new or using a new credit card. For security they sometimes like to verify that you are indeed the person whose card you are using. But, is that a negative? No, that is making sure no one is using a fraudulent or stolen card. A+++
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Amazon – The worlds largest online superstore! – A++ – Site Here
Amazon is tried and true. Just yesterday I purchased a Ricoh GXR plus 50mm module from them for Next Day Delivery. Already shipped and will be in my hands today. They did not sell the 28 module so I ordered that elsewhere (that turned into a disapointment..more below) and now regret that decision. Amazon is probably the largest online superstore of our time and they usually come through every single time for me. I have placed orders with them for everything from socks to gadgets and gizmos to books and music. Only ONE time did I have an issue, and it was not even a real issue. My package was delivered a day later than expected. Thats it.
Amazon is another store where if you follow a link from my site, I get a small commission and that helps me tremendously! So next time you buy ANYTHING from Amazon feel free to use my search bar on the right or you can even use this link and bookmark it for future use (cant bookmark the B&H Link and still support the site)! Can’t go wrong with Amazon and I stand by that as do most of you! A++
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Dale Photo – Smaller Florida Shop that Specializes in Leica – A+ – Site Here
I also enjoy Dale Photo. I have spoken with David Farkas a few times and ordered from their shop. I have bought a Leica 28 Summicron from them as well as a 50 Lux and a few other items. Never an issue, always friendly and always ships on time. You can check out their site here as they have loads of Leica gear with real time “in stock” status. I do not get commission from them but they are a site sponsor! Dale Photo says they are the worlds “premier” Leica dealer so who can argue with that? Not me. They are very well respected and loved by many. A+
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Ken Hansen – Independent, legendary, and always has cool used gear as well. Leica specialist! A++ – E-Mail Him Here
Ken Hansen has been the most amazing guy when it comes to Leica products. I have bought so much Leica from Ken over the past two years it is insane. He always gets stock and usually has items the bigger shops do not have. I remember when no one had the new 50 Noctilux, he had like 10 of them! He used to own a huge store in NYC but these days he works from his home selling Leica and he also has a pretty nice inventory of used gems.
If you want to see if he has what you are looking for, email him at khpny19@aol.com and tell him I sent you! I do not make commission but Ken has helped me tremendously in the past. In the early days of this site, he would send me lenses to try out just so I could review them. Great guy and I owe him a ton, so feel free to contact him if you need anything!
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The Online Shops That Are Outright Total Scams…
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Even today there are still shops online that will charge your card, take your cash and never send you the merchandise OR call you to say you have to buy other gear to get that price that they advertised. I am in shock that these shops are STILL ALLOWED to do business online! There have been many articles on various blogs and websites explaining what shops to avoid when buying expensive camera gear.
Even worse, some of these shops have gotten such bad reviews they changed their names and head over to e-bay to do their business. One tip that I know ALL OF YOU have heard hundreds of times is “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” and yes, this still holds true today. Don’t fall for those magazine ads that promise you a Leica M9 for $3500, or even online ads that claim you can get a Leica M9 for $5000. All scams!
I wont be listing all of the online shops here that are total rip-offs because I do not know them all, and personally, I never bought from any of them. I know they exists though as others have shouted their complaints online many times.
What to look out for..
Any store advertising really low prices. For example, if you see a Nikon D3x for $2999 you know it is a scam as this is a $6000 camera. No shop can sell for that low, and they do not. I have heard of buyers falling for this, buying and then getting a call saying that the $2999 was for the body only. No box, no battery, no charger, no manual, no strap, nothing! Then they say the only way they can sell the item is if you buy everything as a package and that comes out to $6000! On top of that they may send you a grey market camera without a USA warranty (if buying in the USA).
Just be on the lookout and if any of these shops are in Brooklyn, BEWARE! It seems they all congregate there for some reason. B&H Photo is in Manhattan and they are A+++ in my book. Hmmmm. Here is a list of cool links to other sites that talk about camera crooks online…some of them are quite interesting!
Brooklyn Camera Store Threatens an Activists Life!
Brooklyn Camera Stores – THE SCAM STOPS HERE!
Brooklyn Camera Store Generates Complaints Worldwide!
Problems with Online Camera Stores
So as you can see, Brooklyn camera shops seem to have the crappiest reviews and are the ones to really watch out for but that doesnt mean the scammers are ONLY in Brookly, nor does it mean there are not legit shops IN brooklyn. Just be smart..stick with the big boys like B&H and Amazon and you will never be ripped off. At least I haven’t. There are other shops that have stellar reps, but I have no experience with them. Adorama is one that is ranked just as highly as B&H though I find they do not have as much stock as B&H at times. I used to shop at onecall but have not in many many years. So keep those eyes peeled and be smart when shopping this holiday season!
Happy Holidays….I love the Holidays 🙂
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Avoid!! 42nd Street photo 378 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018. They bait and switch.Ship wrong equipment, broken equipment and blame you. Total scam artists.
DO NOT deal with KEH. I was a good customer with KEH for 15+ years. They refused to ship a camera order because my 20+ email address did not match (somewhere)???????
They have my email, home address, account info in there records.
What they did to me makes no sense.
Now I find myself in pinch forced to rent a camera
I just had a horrible experience with an online seller called PixiBytes. I bought a Cannon package for a really good price….REALLY good. Too good. It was supposed to be the T5i, but instead inside the T5i box was a T5! Also the standard lens that comes with it was missing. They did manage to send me the extra lens I wanted. I don’t understand how they are even still in business. I am not sure if it was a scam or just the WORST employees on earth. Probably a want to be scam that went awry. I knew I was taking a chance. LUCKILY I did this through JET.com and they sent me a return label and said they will refund me 100%. HOPEFULLY : ) Yep, if it sounds to good to be true..don’t do it. You are just wasting time and postponing getting your new camera.
Never, EVER use Fumfi.
They are dishonest thugs only out there to get you!
Thank you for this, Steve. I just followed your B&H link and order a Summlux 35 FLE and filter. I’m PRETTY EXCITED!!!
I want to buy a camera, Budget Rs. 30,000 to 35,000. Please suggest me for the best one with the model number.
PopFlash Photo – someone above said “perfect” – that has been my experience as well . . . .
leica, ricoh, olympus always worth checking . . .. . . . . . . not a “supermarket” but if you call
more than once you’ll start to know who you’re talking to – they’re the real deal
Brave article! Consider writing one about where to sell your goods, every bit as important as where to buy them.
On the buy side, my favorite source is Dan Tamarkin of Tamarkin Camera. Knowledgable and responsive. He does what he says.
A recent disappointment: Camera West in California. Slow to refund on returns.
Agreed: b&h and Amazon are the masters of customer service.
I am not sure where the reference to Popflash went in the article, as I don’t see it. Either way, I purchased a limited edition M7, an MP and several other misc. accessories from them and I have been nothing but 100% satisfied with their professional approach and overall business. Thumbs up for Tony!
Ah Google cache reveals what I failed to see. Glad it all worked out. 🙂
P.S. Popflash still rocks!
Popflash was very responsive when I got a 28mm summicron with a few micro nicks on it. I am very picky. They replaced it right away.
Adorama has better prices than B&H
B&H is a great place to go when you are in NY and play with all the tripods, bags and cameras. They have most of the cameras out on display stands for you to try them out.
I’ve purchased equipment at many of the listed recommended sellers. Adorama is also very good at refunding your funds in a timely manner, so does B&H too for that matter, but their process is a step or two more involved. (Check out their return policy on both sites to judge the difference for yourself.) There’s another dealer not listed, who’s also a Leica dealer and who has been very generous and flexible, with a steady supply of great used and new products. He gives you a 14 period to try then buy (popflash offers only 7 days): he’s Sam Soshan at the classicconection.com. He did something out of the ordinary for me, and offered me a new 35 1.4 ver.II which he went out of his way to do when he didn’t have to do anything extra at all. I bought it on the spot. I found him to be really patient. flexible and accommodating, while you take your time to decide. (Restocking fee on new items) I always check out his site weekly/daily for good used mint items. Kudos also to Ken H., (who somehow got me a new 50 Lux when no one else could) and David Farkas, all around good guy to deal with.
HEre are a few places to by from me
1. Adorama (though the pictures of gear don’t always match what they are selling), otherwise outstanding, and they tend to stock more Leica gear than B&H at any given time
2. B&H: Outstanding
3. KEH.com: great used resource
4. Glazers Camera (Seattle Based): Sort of crappy online used section, but these guys rock, and are personal friends. Their actual stock of gear rivals B&H. Ask for Mark Vercammen…
5. Precision Camera (Austin Tx): Ask for Robert Jagistsch….awesome resource
6. Ken Hansen: The man, the myth, the legend. I have found him to be great for BIG purchases
7.Kenmore Camera: Up to date used section, sometimes have some nice gear (in Seattle, as well)
8. Tamarkin (in Connecticut): Great service. If you want a Fogg bag for your Leicas, this is the only place in the US to get it….
9. The forums (GetDPI, here at Steve Huff, Rangefinder Forum)…a gold mine, a treasure trove, but make sure to buy from a verifiable resource with a good buy-sell history…
I’ll add my two cents. Ken Hansen is awesome. Top notch. I like Adorama too. Speedy shipping, friendly staff, and they give no hassle on returns. BH is almost as good, but I had trouble with them once when they categorized an used bokeh king as better condition than it actually was. Amazon is good, but difficult to talk to customer service if you need to.
Steve,
I have a couple of fair questions. Do you rate these sellers solely based on your personal experience or based on the commission rate that you receive?
About Adorama: I have accidentally ordered a pentax mount lens ( duh) for my Nikon D3 through amazon ( Adorama was the vendor) I called them replaced the order with Nikon mount and moved on. Salesperson was right to the point corrected everything. Perfect customer service. I also buy
film from them since I have been shooting only medium format film and 35mm film since I have gotten rid of all of my digital equipment. I have never had any bad experience so far.
BH Photo: perfect experience so far never ever had issues, however, their price is usually if not always higher than Adorama for the items that I buy. Especially photographic film.
Amazon: perfect if not preferred online store for me since the shipping is for free and prices are comparable to those above. They were the loyal diaper supplier for my daughter until she was done with diapers ( free shipping and tax free) along with photographic equipment, college and grad school books etc.
Pop flash: well, perfect, I bought a Leica 28mm f2.8 lens from them. The sales person was extremely nice and in fact he was so nice to match the lowest dealer price ( their price was slightly more) and he even gave me a follow up call. I had contacted them via email first and placed the ordered on the phone.
Crooklyn…yes…Crooklyn: stay away by all means.
Comment: You are a well respected photographer and many people follow this website and we also support you via your links as much as possible. I think when you make such an entry maybe you should kindly think twice and write accordingly since one bad or slightly sour experience should not
put a dealer on hot spot. Probably, no one gives a crap about my excellent experience, great customer service with pop flash as I do not have impact on people as you have. Also, I am really surprised to see that you have no experience with Adorama. I would recommend them without any reservation.
just my 2 cents.
note: I am not affiliated not compensated nor commissioned by any of those dealers named or mentioned above.
Serdar…
As stated a few times in the article above, these are rated on MY SHOPPING EXPERIENCES. I have been buying from B&H for 15 years. Perfect. Never bought from Adorama but their rep is just as good. Amazon, everyone buys from Amazon. Popflash? I posted about my experience and that was that. I also stated several times above that they also have a stellar rep. As for buying from Adorama, I never need to as I get what I need from B&H without fail. I’d buy from Adorama if I needed to but so far have not. Thanks for the comment.
Steve
I have bought many times from B&H and their service and performance has always been absolutely top grade. I have bought a substantial amount recently from Ken Hansen and can only reinforce what Steve has said, he is an absolute gentleman, honest to a fault, a professional and an absolute pleasure to deal with. I would highly recommend Ken for all specific Leica needs and B&H for anything and everything else. Nuff said !!
Great article Steve!
My buying experience with B&H has always been good, but getting them on the phone for questions or customer service isn’t always so pleasant to be honest. They just have an attitude. They are the biggest and “the best” and they kind-of know it.
Amazon is amazing. I’ve bought some expensive items from them because their return policy can be second-to-none if there’s a problem. Years ago I bought a Canon 20D from them that had focus issues. They sent me a new one before the old one was even packed up to go back. They respond quick and seem to give good customer service.
Ken Hansen is AWESOME… you turned me on to him, and he’s great!
One thing I would add is that if you can buy local, do it. I know not everyone lives in an area where they can go into a real camera store and talk to real photographers, but it’s always worth it, especially if you live near a good one. I really love the guys over at Berger Brothers in Amityville, NY… they have a lot of stuff in stock and love to talk gear and photography. They also offers classes and group outings. They are usually fairly competitive with other online retailers (they have an online presence too), but even if they come in $20 more expensive, I usually find it worth paying (if they don’t meet the price – which they often do) just because you get real, in-person customer service and the ability to hold the camera or lens before you buy. Biggest downside is that I can’t say they sell a lot of Leica gear 🙂
I agree with you Amy! For me, I try to support my local camera stores first, which is hard sometimes cuz they take forever to get things in, and for lenses like the noctilux, they basically want me to prepay for it with no timeframe as to when it will be in. They have to realize that they are a business, and part of the cost of doing business is buying inventory with your own money, then selling it. You can’t use your customers money to finance the order!!!
After local stores (edmonton), I look to alberta stores, then canadian stores, then finally BH/Amazon.
I’m always willing to pay more for customer service and to support local businesses as I have a local business myself! We are all buying Leica stuff, none of us are too broke to pay an extra 20-100 dollars for a lens. Especially one we can walk out of the store with!!
Great commentary Steve. I have purchased from BHphoto for 10 years and my only complaint out of over a dozen orders, was the turnaround time between them receiving a back ordered item and the week it took them to ship. Also have shopped many times at Adorama, always a good experience; however, I think they skimp on the package padding. Have ordered twice from Onecall – via amazon and never had a problem.. – And an apology. I clicked form your blog to buy a Sony 70-200 2.8 G, had to run out and when I came back went straight to Amazon… Sorry… I’ll remember next time.
ONLINE TIP: Use next day air! If you place a several thousand dollar order, eat the extra so the merchandise spends less time -read less risk- in transit..
Happy Thanksgiving,
Joe
Don’t forget KEH! Great shop for medium and large format gear.
There shipping verges on the ridiculous though….. I prefer BnH and Adorama.
Love BnH. I buy from them even though I live in Canada, they simply have everything, including lots of things that smaller Canadian stores dont carry. Shipping to Canada is also very competitive, even against Canadian stores… go figure.
Side note, if your Canadian (maybe other countries too) and use film, order from BnH
Ill compare the biggest US company with second biggest Canadian photo company
example, (shipping costs are too my door in Ottawa)
10 rolls of Portra 160vc 35mm at vistek with shipping = $135
same rolls of Portra BnH with shipping and customs = $74.38
figure a bit of currency difference and your saving a whopping 55 bucks, and the US shipping only takes a day or two more.
Much love BnH.
OK so by now we know who the main players are. BTW Ritz camera just reopened in my town after their bankruptcy. They had the Sony Nex 3 kit at the same price as everyone else. They were so very nice. They let me take the kit outside by myself for almost a half hour because I was concerned how the LCD would perform in the bright Florida sun (It worked great) Anyway I bought from them.
Steve, I enjoy your site and really appreciate your insights. But, I wanted to add my experience with Pop Flash Photo. It has been fantastic. I have purchased many leica bodies, M7, MP, M8, M8.2, M9 and many, many lenses, including the 21, 24, 35 and 50 Summilux lenses and a Noctilux. I list these items only to demonstrate that I have dealt with Tony many times. He has always been responsive, informative and fully stood behind all our transactions. His pricing has always been fair and matched or beat the bigger dealers. Even when I received my M9, there was a problem with the lens reader and it required service. Since there were no other M9’s available last January for exchange, I wanted the camera immediately serviced. Tony reached out to Leica USA directly on my behalf and arranged for an immediate repair in a few days. Pop Flash has been consistently great!! Thanks for allowing my reply!! All the best, Rob
Like I said, this was MY EXPERIENCE with him. I know many others have had great experiences with them, but not me. Id never shop there again, and obviously due to Tony holding some sort of grudge he wouldn’t let me anyway. From what I hear, his grudge against me goes deeper than an email argument..but I wont get into that.
Wow! I am very surprised to see this!
I actually had a very poor experience with a business recommended in this article and upon the advise of a photography friend, I tried Popflash. Over the last few years, purchased my 24mm Elmarit-M ASPH, 35mm Summicron-M ASPH and 50mm Summilux-M ASPH from Popflash along with various accessories. I found Tony and Alex to be very respectful and helpful.
Nando
B&H are a great resource when you know the local (in my case Australian) retailer will look blank and spend 3 months finding out they can’t get the simple item you requested. Shipping of even small items is really expensive, but, hilariously, they regularly send a big heavy catalogue to me in little old Adelaide. Badger Graphics can’t be beat for large format, though they also sell some MF and 135-size
LOL…this is a fun post, not sure we will not all end up in jail for difamation but hey! Anyways, bought from PF, they shipped in Europe instead of Canada, but they resolved the whole thing quickly and got me the superb sumicron 35 to my door. They offered to send another lense instead (which I declined, I was not that much in a rush and I had a bit of history behind the used lens I bought). I was happy to have someone to talk to. The local Leica dealer here knows him well and does not seem to have too much of an issue with them. The money I saved on the Cron gave me the chance to buy a Zeiss and a Voigtlander (from the local guy). Speaking of the local guy, Camtec in Montreal does a very good job, Jean is very knowledgeable about the products but if you come in to educate yourself from scratch, you might feel fuzzy vibes….lol…They have good used stuff and he does not just buy whatever you throw at him. Great shop. Any shop is an internet shop nowaday right so if you happen to be in Montreal and need spare parts or anything I have no problem recomending them. I also bought from Dale and Kurland with no issue to report. So far my internet experience has always been positive.
Jean is the best, he’s taken so much $ from me though 🙁
Hey TDK
Yes, shipping is a little high – but it’s fast.
Other plus is that they pay for return shipping if you’re unhappy, although I’ve never had to use this. You just have to work out whether fiscally you’re in front compared to the Aus rip off merchants.
Personally I’ve had nightmare experiences with both Aus retailers and manufacturers based here like Nikon.
So I now take the majority of my business to B&H.
Hi Steve,
I am not sure if you have checked recent feedback ratings of the person selling The ULTIMATE Leica M9 Dream Kit you have recommended. Does not give much confidence to bid on (now) 24k gear…
The seller is making good few revisions during the listing period. Well, good luck to all bidders.
What an idiot. That’s all I can say. Obviously having never done business with them I won’t now.
I will add something else though. I don’t care for bh. I try not to buy from them. Their lawsuits for eoe, and their general shit attitude in person to me five times in three years told me to avoid them. Of course the minute I bring this up I get tagged as an anti Semite (default argument for anyone not liking negative comments about bh). Not the case, I just choose not to support those who ignore women’s rights and prey multiple times on cheap immigrant labor. That said I did buy my x1 from them and transactionally they were very helpful.
Thanks for the update and information. I might be in the market for Ricoh’s 28mm module. It seems Popflash is not going to get my business, since I don’t need a kit (I bought the GXR with A12 50mm from them in February).
I will definitely vouch for B&H. Over the years I’ve purchased a fair bit of stuff from them – the very first time I used them I bought an import Nikon SB900 flash – all good but they forgot to include the instructions! No dramas, I contacted them the next day and the EXPRESS couriered [virtually overnight AND I live in Australia) the manual! I was astonished and very, very happy.
I’ve used them ever since. I did deviate once, recently – with another retailer which Steve mentions above – and got expensively burned. Lesson learnt. B&H forever.
Cheers
Adam
Hey Adam, I’m wanting to buy a epson scanner from B&H but it seems like shipping to Australia is more than the price of the scanner itself, it’s over a hundred bucks?!?
Hey Steve,
Very good article with tons of good points. A few years back a few of my friends and I bought a camera from the Brooklyn Scam as a wedding gift. They took the money and ran. Nothing was delivered and my friend did not use his Amex and was screwed out of $1000.
I also once bought an M6 outside of Ebay and I lost half of my $1500 on the transaction. Bank of America was housing a known scam artist and claimed they could not reach him on his phone. For God sake he’s a scam artist, of course he cant be reached! In the end Chase gave me back half of the money. Lesson learned, always Amex and paypal.
As for Photo Village, I have developed a great relationship with Will and Rich over the years. They bend over backwards to do stuff for me. I find that asking nicely goes a long way.
That being said Adorama and BH have been seamless over the years. The thing I cant stand about them, especially BH, is their sales teams are hit and miss. One out of every ten times someone at the counter actually takes the time to answer my questions and I have gotten answers to things, particularly about my Hasselblad, that are just wrong. But at least they have good return policies.
Spot on regarding the Brooklyn guys. My learning experience was after sorting google shop after price and picking one of the cheapest a few years ago. It all seemed ok, but then it began, I needed to call them to confirm my payment details. Then I talked to a very friendly guy suggesting some filters, a sunshade, and faster shipping for same price. I liked the prices and agreed. Few days later the goods arrived, and it was much more expensive, not all agreed over the phone was delivered, the things delivered was crap (except for the lens). I spent over an hour with the now very aggressive representative (“do you think we should not be allowed to earn money?” was his main argument). I actually managed to get him to refund me some $50 or $150, but before that he said only option was to send it back and incur 30% restocking fee…
Next time I made the mistake to buy cheaper gear I knew what to wait for. Last time I even tried, I hung up when seller claimed the cheaper option was not in stock, and was a special version of the D300, with plastic casing…
Hi everyone,
I just got back from a month in Japan, and while it’s not really an online store, I wanted to share with everyone the wonder that is Yodobashi Camera. If you’re ever in Tokyo, I highly recommend visiting their Akihabara location. B&H is physically larger and more extensive, but nothing beats Yodobashi for pure sensory overload.
The most amazing thing is that they have basically at least one of EVERYTHING out for you to play with.
For example, I’m eyeing the Pentax K-5 and either the 70 or 77 prime. They have a display bench with the body out, security tethered, for you to play with. Next to the body, there are at least 6 or 7 lenses, also tethered. You’re free to play, test, swap lenses, etc. This is true for almost every brand (except Leica, which would be insane)
Thanks for all the tips. What do you think about Willoughby’s and 17th Street? Never ordered from them but you occasionally see them on Amazon. Also, what do you think about items shipped directly from Amazon.com when they’re cheaper than its other sellers? It’s shown as NEW but… Is it safe?
Willoughby’s tries to scalp you when items are in short supplies elsewhere. You can see that this is a fact on Amazon’s where they are the seller of the item.
17th St. is ok most of the time.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.
Steve, keep up the great work you do on this site. It sure is refreshing to see REAL WORLD reviews and articles by other photographers.
Willoughbys is a joke. They are notorious for selling new Leica gear above the MSRP. Being a Leica dealer should not mean that you should nurture price gouging because something is not available anywhere else. I dont know how Leica has dealt with this in the past, but they were doing it with M9’s as of 6 months ago.
If you need something for Leica try Calumet, Fotocare, Kurland Photo, Tamarkin (in Connecticut, they closed their NYC shop) or Photo Village. With the exception of Tamarkin they are all in NYC. All those shops are great and I have never had any issue with them or their return policies.
I bought my 50 lux from 17th street photo, they shipped it quickly, but they really sucked at responding to my emails!
also they charged me $175USD to ship it to canada……wtf! But what am I to do? highly sought after lens, they had one in stock!!!
Just a few points: Adorama has always been good to me, never a problem, Sorry about PopFlash as I have had only good service from them. Plus Photo Village in NYC is a small and reputable Leica and Voigtlander shop, that does a good job.
Yep, Adorama is good. I have also heard OK things about Photo Village but did have one neg experience with them about 6 years ago. Nothing major and I would buy from them again if they had something I needed.
I too would like to put in a good word for Adorama. Both in the shop in NY and over the phone (or via their web site), I’ve always received good advice and great service.
+3 for Adorama..
why 3..? well, I toss between them and BHPhoto, those 3 times Adorama offered free shipping while BHPhoto charge additional, no idea why..
each time I didn’t hesitate to buy from Adorama and each time was a pleasure..
shipping was quoted 2-3 days (NYC to MD), but each and everytime it came the next day to my doorstep..! i order past 12pm EST almost everytime, and items (inks, photopapers, lens) comes in via UPS mid morning or noon the next day..
needless to say I would DEFINITELY buy from Adorama again..!
yeah i’d say that Adorama has never let me down either. well i don’t buy tons of stuff but it’s always been just B&H or Adorama. sometimes i do find prices on Adorama more attractive than those on B&H.
The fact that you removed your comment about PopFlash says a lot. Like you, I had one or two good experiences with them followed by a negative experience. After the bad experience, I never called them again.
Stan Tamarkin and Camera West get my votes for honest Leica dealers.
Tom
The problem with Amazon.com is that they intersperse the infamous “Brooklyn camera dealers” with their own products, if you aren’t careful you’re going to end up getting just as taken ordering through Amazon as you would any of the other nefarious sites creeping around the web. Sunset electronics, who is selling thousands of items through Amazon, is actually fumfie.com as well as many others. Looks like people for making complaints to Amazon for the better part of a year and a half, yet sunset is still selling strong.
I so wish I had known this before I bought a camera through Amazon. Company is based in Brooklyn. Amazon Negotiated a return for me with the seller, I followed all instructions mailing it back, but company told Amazon they did not receive the package and that I gave them incorrect tracking information. So now the seller, Amazon and usps all refuse to reimburse me. USPS stating the package was delivered and Amazon and the seller saying it was not. Now I’m out $830 with nothing to show for it. This has been ongoing for 6 weeks.
Which is why I never buy from Amazon unless it is PRIME, shipped by Amazon. This will guarantee you NEVER EVER have an issue at amazon. Use prime only, you will be 100% safe and refunds happen before they even get the goods back. Buying from 3rd parties on Amazon is like paying someone paypal money when you do not know them. Read reviews of the seller. If you have tracking showing it was delivered though, all yuo have to do is dispute with your card company or bank, they will refund you within a few days. Anytime I like here to Amazon, it is ONLY for items shipped and sold by Amazon themselves.