B&H's prices (changing)

[KarenAylwood]

Is it normal for prices to go up and down on B&H? I swear when I got my 18-200 it fluctuated by about $50 back and forth over two months.

Now I'm looking at buying the Canon 24-105 f/4L lens. I could have sworn when I looked it up a few months ago it was $1180. I was going to rent it to make sure I really wanted it, but a friend got one for Christmas and let me borrow his. Now I'm hooked and want to buy it *sometime* this year.

I just looked and it's $1059 with free shipping. It doesn't say a sale, but this is $120 less than before (and the same or lower than new ones on ebay). Is this normal? If it's a short term price drop maybe I'll just buy it now and promise myself nothing else for the year... but if it would stay like this I could wait until next month or later.

Anyone have any experience w/ B&H's prices? I've bought from them many times but haven't "stalked" a product quite like I have with this one!

 

[GrillMouster]

It's not uncommon for prices to fluctuate like that with all sorts of online retailers. There are online services that track prices changes for product. I used to use it all the time back when Amazon had its price guarantee (if their price dropped within xx days of your purchase they'd refund the difference). This saved me so much money. Even now, I put things in my Amazon shopping cart without completing the transaction. Days later when I return to the site and check out the cart again there's often a banner at the top of the screen saying that the price changed since I added that item to my cart.

 

[henryp]

Is it normal for prices to go up and down on B&H? I swear when I got my 18-200 it fluctuated by about $50 back and forth over two months.

Prices fluctuate due to a host of market conditions over which we usually have little or no influence. Supply and demand top the list of course, but there are others. Sometimes a price reflects the manufacturer's MAP (minimum advertised price) amount and is the lowest price we can display. Sometimes a manufacturer's rebate to you, the end user, changes our advertised or selling price. Sometimes manufacturers and US distributors support prices by offering something akin to a rebate to one or more retailers.

In the old days, particularly for clothes and other soft goods, the rule of thumb was the full retail price was whatever the retailer paid for the item times two. That's no longer true and it was never true for electronics. Nowadays instant communications and computers allowing us to respond more speedily to changing market conditions keep prices in a constant state of flux. We're not crazy about this, but that's the way it is and we have to live with it. At B&H we do make every sffort to offer the lowest REAL prices at all times.

 

[KarenAylwood]

Wow. "The Man" himself answered my question! Thanks B&H and GrillMouster! That was pretty much what I was thinking- supply and demand. I've actually done that myself- put stuff in my amazon cart and waited a while. Although for me the price usually ends up going UP rather than down! The lens on B&H is lower than what I had seen before, and it's similar to what Ebay prices are at so I went ahead and ordered it. I know I run the risk of it going down more, but I didn't want to risk it going up.

I'm very excited. It arrives on Wednesday! Thanks for your help.

 

[dmccarty]

I was talking to a coworker about B&H, the old newsgroup days, and Henry P.

A week later who shows up but Henry.

Later,
Dan