(Money) Safe Camera Buying Guidelines

[slave_to_anime]

Don't know if ziggybecket or kuronosho or me or anyone else has put up a post on this already. I'm sure people other than us have posted about this before. But since I've seen at least 3-4 people I know get burned or nearly get burned by this, including recently, I figured I'd better post about this and drill it in.

WHEN BUYING CAMERA EQUIPMENT ONLINE, YOU NEED TO BE EXTRA CAREFUL.

Too many damn scammers out there. I'm serious on this one. You don't want to mess up this. This is generally a pretty sizable purchase for most of us. So, let me help. If you're thinking about buying a new digital camera soon, or even think you might buy a digital camera at some point down the road online, you NEED to know these if you want to stay safer online in making purchases.


The first piece of information is the most important. If you remember nothing else, remember this. Because as long as you remember this, the specifics of everything else can go by the wayside, because it'll keep you wary, hopefully.

The online retail and auction space for electronics, especially digital cameras, is full of a lot of scammers trying to part you from your money by advertising too good to be true deals. Ergo, caveat emptor (buyer beware).

For an expounded view, see below. Keep in mind, this is all about SAFELY PURCHASING YOUR EQUIPMENT. This has nothing to do with MAKING SURE YOU'RE MAKING A GOOD PURCHASE. That's a different set of rules altogether, and you need to consider those first (research the equipment you want to buy, try out the equipment at a good store, check reviews online such as at DPReview/Fred Miranda, etc.) before even considering these.

• Rule #1: If you absolutely do not know the retailer at all, do yourself a favor and look up their long term rating on Reseller Ratings or a similar site, fair price or not. While there will always be a negative bias on these sites (review sites tend to be dominated by the squeaky wheel), the fraudulent sites will tend to have an obvious rating that scream "KEEP AWAY".
• Rule #2: If it sounds too good to be true, assume that it is. Yes, on occasion, this will lead you astray. And sometimes, you'll miss out on what could be a really good deal. But frankly, when you're talking about a big ticket purchase, like a camera, if you're taking chances, you'd better make sure that you'd be okay with out and out losing that money.
• Rule #2a: Watch out for Grey Market cameras. For those of you in the USA, make sure when you're ordering cameras from any seller, reputable or not, that if you are pricing with consideration for the manufacturer's warranty, that you buy a camera that is for sale in the USA. Scammers like to sell import or so-called "Gray Market" cameras, since they can often be obtained cheaper in locations like Asia. These will not have any warranty by the US manufacturer. There should be plenty of hints if your camera is for US sale, including markings on the box and inclusion of warranty cards for the US. Even companies like B&H and Adorama will sell imported equipment. However, such items are usually SPECIALLY MARKED AS SUCH FROM THE REPUTABLE RETAILERS. If you order a camera that seems to be missing these things, you should try your best to initiate a return immediately and/or chargebacks as needed. This may or may not be possible depending on the situation.
• Rule #3: If you are buying a camera with a whole bunch of retailer-bundled extras, do research on the value of those add-ons, and keep a bias against buying them. Retailers don't make packages with "good values" to help you. They do it to help their bottom line. Most of the packages come with junk. And trust me, when I bought my first camera, I fell to this trick, too. Price the items out at the fair price you can get them, ask yourself if you actually would need/use these items, and account accordingly. Normally, an extra CF card and maybe a bag might be worth it in a package, but these items are really cheap to get if you shop at the right places anyway (read: Fry's, Woot, eBay, or even just bought separately in your order). If there are extra lenses, make sure you're buying either the OEM brand lenses, and/or otherwise know the lenses you're getting well. Most of these kits not only pick cheapass lenses to pack in with the camera, but they like packing in off-brand cheapass lenses.


• Rule #3a (suggested by furtech): If a camera store gives you a call back to "confirm your order", they are very likely to try to make a hard press on selling unneeded accessories. Do not cave, and take this as a big red flag! This also combines a lot with rule #2. In general, if a company is making a hard press on you for accessories, you should consider cancelling the order immediately! If the store is reputable (see rule #1 above), and they are still pressing accessories, refuse them. If they say they won't ship without making the purchases, again, cancel the order. The places that are most favored will pretty much never call to confirm and hard sell accessories; they will generally only suggest accessories at order time.
• Rule #4: If you have a credit card available to make a purchase online (not debit card - I mean a real credit card), use it. In fact, for online purchases, this should be your default choice of payment type. It's also the one situation where having a credit card makes a lot more sense than a debit card by far. Hell, it's one of precisely 4 reasons I keep a credit card, behind "for big ticket purchases where I'd rather keep money in savings until I need it, for car rentals because of complimentary CDW protection, and for emergencies where I need to draw a high amount of purchasing power immediately without planning". That's because you have some real powers when paying with a credit card: dispute charges without real money being unavailable, $50 liability limit if your credit card number is somehow stolen, and potentially additional warranty coverage depending on your card provider.
• Rule #4A: Exception: those really heavily in debt who can't be trusted to use credit cards responsibly. Then again, you folks should generally be avoiding buying things online anyway unless you don't have an alternative. And digital cameras rarely tend to be a "necessary" purchase anyway except in certain situations.
• Rule #5: The "eBay/Craigslist" rule - Be very very extra careful. For digital cameras, or frankly anything, on Craigslist, do business in person (account for a safe place to do so), and inspect your wares before making a purchase. For eBay, it's generally a bad enough situation that I'd generally recommend not buying on there at all for new equipment, and only really begrudgingly for used equipment. If you must buy on there, make sure you're protected by reading carefully all of Paypal's policies on requirements for their safety program, and follow them to the letter.
• Rule #6: If you accidentally ignore the above rules, DON'T PANIC. You're generally somewhat more screwed if you ignore rule #5 going through that, but that's still not generally worst case. If you've accidentally ordered from a scammer, call and cancel your order immediately. Sometimes they will be hard to reach. Often, however, the scam is to try to force you to buy a bunch of extra crap you don't need before they'll authorize a shipment (see Rule #3a). Take advantage, and refuse the hell out of things and cancel. If they don't cancel the charge, make sure you dispute the charge with your credit card company or bank. If through eBay and paid through Paypal, dispute through Paypal. Craigslist... that one might be tougher, but find ways to invalidate your payment. And in general, refuse shipment if they try to deliver the item anyway. It's a pain, but this is what needs to generally be done.

List of generally recommended places to check first online, in order of recommendation:

B&H Photo/Video - Well trusted, and for generally good reason. Pros shopping online will usually hit here first. If you're one of the lucky bastards who live close enough to the West Side of Manhattan to visit their superstore, know that I hate you with a vengeance.

Adorama Camera - Not quite as well trusted as B&H, but more than sufficiently trusted to be worth shopping at. Normally does a bit better on used equipment inventory, though that's not saying much.

Amazon, believe it or not. Their marketplace has a lot of sellers, and Amazon has a reasonably good protection policy. However, don't be surprised if the best price you get via Amazon is from one of the two companies above.

Major online electronic retailers, especially ones with good return policies. NewEgg comes to mind first. There are tons of others. Again, check Reseller Ratings

Beyond that, check brick and mortar locations, though keep in mind that you'll probably be paying more. In the Greater LA Area, if I'm in need of equipment, I'll normally check Bel Air Camera out in Westwood, or if I'm desperate/lazy, Samy's Camera (they tend to be pricey). There's also Canoga Camera up in the Valley. Silvios for the Nikon users down in the South Bay (still need to hit up there to check about used Nikon flashes, to be honest). And several others around town. Also consider the big electronics chains (Fry's or Best Buy or the ilk). If you're going to end up paying for to buy at a brick-and-mortar, take advantage by asking to inspect and try out the equipment you're planning to buy. For third party lenses, this is extremely useful since bad copies do exist.

Yeah, that was long. But I think it's necessary to make sure that you guys all know. I don't want to see more friends bit by this one. I'll link up this post in my LJ profile and alter it as needed.