are cheap online retailers too good to be true?

[lovesdumbo]

I'm thinking of buying a Nikon D90. I was leaning toward buying a different lens than the kit lens. B&H doesn't have the body only in stock. The body is $999 at Ritz but only $619 at shopdigitaldirect.com; $649 at 1wayphoto.com; $679 at lensesnmore.com

can any of these low price dealers be trusted?

[Golf4food]

I'm thinking of buying a Nikon D90. I was leaning toward buying a different lens than the kit lens. B&H doesn't have the body only in stock. The body is $999 at Ritz but only $619 at shopdigitaldirect.com; $649 at 1wayphoto.com; $679 at lensesnmore.com

can any of these low price dealers be trusted?


No.

If a price is too good to be true, 99.99999999% of the time it is. Look them up on Google or any of the merchant rating websites - most all of them are scammers.

Unless there is a legitimate rebate - which all merchants should list - any price that is significantly lower than a big name retailer is probably a scam.

If B&H doesn't have it in stock, try Beachcamera, etc. I've never had a bad result with any of the vendors listed on Google with four stars or higher for a rating.

[fhirleighinn]

http://www.resellerratings.com/
it should say it all. Stick to BH, Ritz and the like.

[Chikabowa]

Someone already posted re-seller ratings... but really... it needs to be said that if a deal on camera equipment looks too good to be true (especially when it comes to newer models) it probably is. Camera equipment holds it's value pretty well and any 'discount' you get at these other shops is usually a scam.

The most common is to 'sell' you the camera over the internet. Then a couple of days later you get a phone call from a high-pressure sales person saying "Well, you'll need a battery charger. And a camera manual. And a lens. And a filter. And..." You get the hint. A lot of the stuff they say you 'need' - like the charger or manual - are already included if it's from an actual Nikon/Canon dealer. These little 'extras' end up costing you more than if you had just purchased from a reputable dealer and if you don't bite on their scam, then they 'cancel' your entire order.

Additionally, a lot of these cameras are referbs or imports. While there isn't anything necessarily wrong with an import, you need to know that you are buying one, because the warranties aren't always valid.

[MarkBarbieri]

I would never buy from scammers like that. Give your money to a local crook. It's important to support your local thieves and not just patronize the ones on the Internet.

[dburg30]

Yes, as stated they are too good to be true.. If you see a price that's much less then the priced you see if everywhere else, you need to do some deep searching to see what's wrong..