crap. I just tried buying online from “ABEs of MAINE”. They sold me the C-5050 for about 565USD. S&H was 111USD!! bunch of bs.
I had to call them a few times to get the order. But now I am afraid of the bait and switch. They also would not answer my questions by email about the price, the warranty, or the accessories. They did “offer” to tell me over the phone. Very suspicious. I will try calling one more time, or else I will cancel the order and go with B&H. They have slightly higher about 100USD more, but for a piece of mind, it will be worth it.
Thanks for the other suggestions. I have heard of Adorama, but not the other ones. Will look into it.
[quote]
From reading the digital camera forums, I get the impression that many stores in NY use the “bait and switch” method. If you order it, they will either 1)Refuse to ship international[/quote]
wow, just yesterday I tried calling all these merchants (all out of Brooklyn, NY for some reason), and they all gave me a run-around, would not ship worldwide (one said only with AMEX), or simply hung up when I said I needed it shipped to Taiwan.
I have ordered a cheap Holga from them before. They seemed rather nice, at least at the time when I called. I can help you call them if you don’t mind giving me your order # and all that (not the CC #, please… ). I can see how doing international calls can be a pain in the butt.
Now about those Brooklyn places, be careful. Some of them sell “international warranty” cameras, not American warranty as you’d expect. But if you don’t mind that, that’s ok too. They are basically the same cameras anyway.
Did you have problems with the order from ABES? I do not mind a international warranty as I would not be in the US for a few years anyways. Does the intl one work here? What the heck is an intl warranty anyways?
I am just worried that they will send my a skeleton kit without the usual manufacturer included accessories like the batteries and charger, or the 32MB xD card.
Should I go cancel and just order from B&H?
Update: Great, now the credit card co. says the transaction has gone through. Funny thing. I checked online 10 mins ago. the transaction was NOT there. I call them 5 minutes ago, and they tell me the transaction has gone through. So now I am online again, and there it is!! It’s like they just put it there and could not be bothered to stop the charges or something. Of course they tell me I can always dispute the payment, but it seems like they are not on my side against the merchant from a previous dealing I had. Keep my fingers crossed. Will update you and give you a final thumbs up or down on my experience when I get the camera (if I do, quite difficult to explain to the merchant to stick in the 3 digit District Code. “what sir, you don’t have a postal code? How can you not have a postal code [indignant tone].” “I don’t know, they just don’t.” Ended up lying by telling them the number is the Number of the Street, and then my “real” number is the number of the building or some BS.)
This ABE place was more of an odd ball. I probably would never order something expensive from them . That Holga I got only cost $10. It’s an extremely unreliable Russian made plastic camera. I bought it specifically for those qualities to produce “artistic” 120mm film shots.
International warranty just means that if the camera breaks, they’d have to send it to Malaysia or something to get it fixed, as opposed to getting it done in the US. In that case, I guess you are better off getting one with International warranty!
"…the problem I had with Abes of Maine had to do with false advertising and disrespectful treatment.
I tried to order a lens for my girlfriends camera that they had clearly marked at $199.95. When I called I was told that they didn’t carry the lens anymore. I then called back and asked for the same lens without mentioning the $199.95 price in their ad. They then said that they had the lens, but they wanted $399.95 for it. So I called back a third time and asked for the $199.95 lens. Once again they lied and told me they didn’t have any. On the last call I asked for the lens without mentioning the ad.
Thet told me that they had plenty of the lenses. I said I would like to order one for the advertised price of $199.95. The rude arrogant salesjerk told me that they weren’t going to sell me the lens for that price. He told me that they didn’t have to honor their ads and hung up on me.
That’s when I was foolish enough to believe that PopularPhotography cared more about its readers than about the all mighty dollar. I still haven’t heard a peep from them. And probably never will.
That’s the last they’ll see of my business."
And:
“it started many years ago at a time when manufacturers would package cases and batteries with the slr cameras before t here was such a thing as point and shoot 35mm then 47th st would strip the box and sell the camera at a lower price and sell the case and/or batteries (the small button lr44’s)seperately that was one method they used that allowed them to sell the camera for cheaper remember not everyone wanted a case or strap anyways especially since many people already had those … but then in stepped in these other dealers and took it to a new level at least the price 47th st had you knew they woiuld sell it to you but then these guys like abes of maine and cambridge took it to a super low level …and then the manufacturers stopped including the cases and batteries ans nikon even stopped including a strap with their slr’s so therefore they were able to offer the cameras at an even lower price … however these con artist dealers still figured a way out of giving consumers the proper info and into conning them into purchasing not needed accesories at bloated prices”
I just realized that you may end up paying more than you think…depending on what customs does to your shipment. Since I never had anything of great value shipped internationally, I have no clue about what really happens. However, I’m guessing that if they’re stupid enough to label the shipment as “digital camera” you could get a hefty tax slapped on you…
I feel more and more despondent now especially after reading the DPreviews. I think only 2 out of about 11 that I read were positive.
But now my Credit Card company is not helping by cancelling the transaction. I have to deal with their Billing Dispute Dept. and try and deal with Abes. (just sent them a cancellation form cuz they ignored my requests for a detailed invoice of my purchase and my questions regarding the exact items to be shipped and the warranty. Looks to be more fun and hassle in the coming weeks.
(To top it off I was trying to apply for a Air Miles card with ABM-AMRO and China Airlines. The guy on the phone was quite adamant about getting a guarantor cuz I am a “waiguoren” yah right! Who the hell can do that for me here? But my friend said just go ahead with the application and it should work.)
BTW, what range of tax would be slapped on by Customs here for products totaling 700USD? Is there a way around it if we are not bendiren, and are waiguoren. (cf. above)
jackburton, if I were you, I’d definitely just get the camera in Taiwan in one of those stores one guy mentioned (the camera district?). I got one of my “serous” lenses from there before. The price range there are fair. But do go with a Taiwanese friend. Maybe even pretend that he/she is buying the camera?
Wait… what am I saying?? Sorry, I don’t mean to say that those stores “may” cheat on you. But taking that extra step does help to prevent any thoughts of that nature (well, not that they won’t cheat on their own people… but you get the gist).
Let me know how it goes. Oh, it sucks about Abes of Maine. I’d write Popular Photo and file a formal complaint. They have to care about their readers to some extent, don’t they?
[quote=“scchu”]If you buy eletronics in Taiwan, you need to be a bit careful for the cheap ones with original Japanese labels on the buttons and menus (not that you’d get one like that). Some of them are black market products (or what we call Shue Huo
To top the thread off, I think you should get the camera in Taiwan. The hassle, time wasted and risk of camera getting lost (arrives broken), warranty issues and risk of being slammed a heavy customs fee (which is highly likely), it’s just not worth it. And besides, aren’t cameras usually newer in Asia anyway? I have been frustrated with how antiquated “everyday” technologies are in the U.S. (computers, cell phones, cameras… etc). Something major brands call new in the U.S. is usually a month, if not a year, old back in Asia, espcially cell phones and cameras.
Here’s an update. After contacting the credit card company, they tell me that Abe’s CANCELLED my order last night right after I spoke to them and they had told me they would send it out. Weird. Either that or they do read my emails (I told them my purchase was conditional upon a written confirmation of my purchase which I never got).
So I guess I will look around Taipei for prices in the meantime. I can use B&H for backup later if necessary. Ironically, even with their higher advertised prices (649 cf. 565 USD for camera), afther S&H (B&H was 43USD cf. 113USD for Abe’s!), the price actually came out the same.
In fact mailing with B&H (for camera, 512MB CF, and S&H) is equal to the price of the camera alone in the expensive chain stores like FNAC here. Of course this excludes customs which from Bluface’s post, looks to be about 10%, all things being equal.
Thanks for the advice.
PS I gave a some of you [incl. blueface for being so helpful in this post and fun to argue with in another] Imparts (that guanxi points). not sure how it really works though
Different manufacturers have different pricing strategies for different countries. Sony, for example is inexpensive in Taiwan compared with many other countries.
I calculated it is 14% more for Olympus products in Taiwan due to localization which does not make it worthwhile to mail order from the US. You should pay between $25,000 and $26,000 for this product in Taiwan and also ask for about $500 worth of small accessories. You can find many stores around Han-Kow Street and Po-Ai Road between the Taipei MRT station and Hsimen MRT station.
Don’t buy anything you did not already research. The stores there make their money off of impulse buying. You may pay a good price for the camera, but then pay 2 times the price for a cheap carrying bag for example.
If you go the mail-order-from-US route, I would suggest checking out the mailorder company on resellerratings.com/
I use that in conjunction with pricewatch.com/ to find decent prices at decent mailorder stores.
One thing to watch out for: a lot of these stores will get an employee (or two, or three, or ten) to post some favorable ratings on RR. Look for companies with lots of feedback, read the written reviews in addition to just looking at the scores, and weight the newest reviews higher than the older ones since companies sometimes improve (but more often become lax and lousy). Also, even though on their scale (1-7) a 4.0 is average, don’t deal with any company that rates even that low (partly to correct for employee shills).
You might also consider getting a friend to bring it over for you if you know someone who is going home for a visit – the shipping would be a lot cheaper and the merchants wouldn’t be as suspicious of you. Mailorder companies don’t want to get burned by people who are using stolen credit-card numbers, and although Taiwan isn’t a hotbed like Russia/Ukraine, that’s probably why they’re wary of shipping to a non-US address.
I buy most of my digital stuff in the States, simply because I want a good price and the places that can give me a good price in Taiwan are usually pretty dodggy. I just don’t trust Taiwanese on this front. Too many times have I been given someone else’s “return” that is hard to return the next day when it is scratched or otherwise messed up.
Otherwise, I will shop at large retail outfits in Taiwan and pay the premium for a legitimate recepit.
Now, the problem with buying from the States is that the warranties are usually not valid outside the States. I recently bought a Canon S40 in the States and it broke out here. This means that I had to ship it at my cost to Chicago to get it fixed. This is true with most electronics bought in the States.
But some warranites are cool, like with my Apple PowerBook. It is an international warranty, meaning that no matter where I am DHL on the behalf of Apple will pick it up at my location at their cost.
well, here’s an update on the never-ending drama. after abesofmaine finally (almost 1 month) credited my account, i decided to go with bhphoto. wham, bam my camera got here in 4 days. just like blueface said. but now it’s been held by customs for 2 days! apparently they dont know the difference between a camera and a video camera. the difference is the former is 5% VAT and the latter is 7%.
this tax is rather small actually (which pisses me off since lots of merchants like to tell me about why they are justified in having high prices by lamenting about the outrageous custom duties…bullshit… unless of course they get slapped with another tax)
so apparently customs has to verify if the duty estimated by FedEx is appropriate. Dunno what that means, but I hope it doesnt involve opening the box and fiddling around with MY shit. (like the damned Canadian customs one time rifling through my backpack after I told him to be careful. “there are fragile things in there.” looks at me hard “What are you hiding?” *&^%$)
So ETA 24 hours until I get my digicam. of course I am supposed to be at home so i can receive the package AND pay the duty to FEDEX. They would like to charge me 10USD more for delivering to my office. bitches.
more tomorrow! btw, even with the 5% vat, the 47USD shipping, the amt I paid still was way more than many stores here. basically was able to get a decent CF card and the digital cam plus 5%vat plus S&H for the local price of the digicam.
update:
no problems, got the package after paying the customs 5% VAT to Fedex (their taiwan service is so-so, never called me back when they said they would)
well the camera seems to be fine, no problems yet. as someone mentioned, I did get a US only warranty, so hopefully nothing breaks cuz i have to send it to NJ.
all in all BHPHOTO is highly recommended, no fuss, fast delivery, no switch and bait problems. Their website was clearly laid out, the online invoice and online tracking order was problem-free and informative. I think IMHO, this is better way to go than thru merchants here. Less hassle I think unless you personally know a merchant well here.
Well, my month long saga has finally ended. Thanks for all the suggestions!
Final Thoughts:
Bought- Olympus C-5050 unit with 512MB Lexar CF card.
Delivery: Fed Express Priority, 4 days to Taiwan, 47USD
Customs: 5% VAT
Evaluation: Excellent service from BHphoto (although look out for their specials, in 3 weeks the price of this unit was as low as 649 and as high as 689. Their “regular” price is 799)
Price: Still beats Taiwan Prices* (I now cannot believe the taiwan merchant BS about how much customs forces them to hike up prices at least not that much… )
*In this case, “ALI” told me the she found prices in Guanghua in the 25k to 26k range which is about 710USD. the camera plus S&H came about to the same. My savings come from the CF card which is more expensive here, but since I shipped it with the camera, there was no extra S&H charge, hence the savings. So the camera alone, I would not have saved money, all things being equal.
and the merchants wouldn’t be as suspicious of you. Mailorder companies don’t want to get burned by people who are using stolen credit-card numbers, and although Taiwan isn’t a hotbed like Russia/Ukraine, that’s probably why they’re wary of shipping to a non-US address.