Where do you purchase your equipment?

[Mike Teezie]

B & H

Same for me.

 

[OutThere]

http://www.bhphoto.com

Unquestionably reliable, great service, fair prices. EVERY item I buy is from there. For both photo and video.

Same. I get everything from there.

Also, if you're ever in new york city check out the real store. It's an awesome place and the people are great.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

I am in the burbs from the Twin Cities in Minnesota so I get all my Nikon equipment at West Photo in Minneapolis. A lot of pros go there and they have a lot of rental equipment too.

One thing about buying online, if you are in the U.S. make sure it comes with a U.S. warranty and not an International warranty. If it's Int'l you'll have a more complicated warranty experience.

 

[Clix Pix]

Also, if you're ever in new york city check out the real store. It's an awesome place and the people are great.

That sounds like fun! Sometime in August I'll be going up to NYC with a friend; our primary purpose is to visit the new 5th Ave Apple store, but maybe I can persuade her to also hop over to B&H.... I'd love to see it, having heard so much about it through the years on various forums.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

A little market research perhaps on my part.

- Why do those of you that buy from B&H or other online resellers, buy from them?

- How are your local dealers not able to meet your needs or desires?

- Is it the "sales tax issue"?

- Is it the depth of product? If it is the depth of product offerings, just how long would you be willing for your local dealer to deliver the same product?

- For those that have bought from B&H and the likes, how easy was it to get a replacement receipt for warranty repairs - when you could not find yours?

- If you had a rebate issue was B&H or other online reseller willing to help?

- Did B&H or other online reseller offer to handle the warranty repair at no extra charge for you?

- For those that may have purchased online, and had to handle any repairs on their own - just how much time did you spend on follow-up?

I ask from an aspect of pride that my major metropolitan area store provides in before and after service support.

I also know that I have answered PM's from members here asking for pricing. My shop did its best in giving a fair offer. Some were nice enough to give me at least a heads up of what I consider to be a "lowball" offer. Some didn't bother to respond back at all. Sometimes we are equal or better than others on the net. Other times we do get beat.

I hope that having a name for you to call and desire to add support before and after the sale means something. An MR member here just found out how important that person can be. They didn't buy the camera from us, but I answered their questions in a phone call to my shop, during my work hours - so that I had the tools and resources available to help answer their questions.

 

[Jon'sLightBulbs]

Angelinos should check out Samys Camera. The Pasadena store has a huge inventory, and I'm sure the LA store on Fairfax has the same. As for online, I've had a faultless experience with Ritz. I ordered a Canon 10-22mm with 0 problems.

Just remember - and our buddy Chip here will agree - that it's pretty rotten to ask to see product at a local shop just to get a feel for it before ordering from an online retailer.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Just remember - and our buddy Chip here will agree - that it's pretty rotten to ask to see product at a local shop just to get a feel for it before ordering from an online retailer.

Thanks for the kind words....

You are right though. I would like to think that at any one our now eight stores in the DC/Baltimore area (we just added Coopers Camera Mart [two stores} to the Penn Camera family) can offer the touch and feel experience and after purchase support.

I can only "talk" in general terms. It is a matter of respect. No matter what profession you work in - you would not like it if "customers" came in to just "pick your brain" - in order to get the best deal/price/advice - what ever profession you may have.

I would never ask a real estate agent for advice on the market or a home that I might want to purchase, unless I was willing to deal honestly with them.

When looking at the likes of cameras, stereos, and other "commodity" electronics - it gets harder IMO. I prefer those locally that I can turn to for warranty support and after sales support.

 

[law guy]

A little market research perhaps on my part.

- Why do those of you that buy from B&H or other online resellers, buy from them?

- How are your local dealers not able to meet your needs or desires?

- Is it the "sales tax issue"?

- Is it the depth of product? If it is the depth of product offerings, just how long would you be willing for your local dealer to deliver the same product?

- For those that have bought from B&H and the likes, how easy was it to get a replacement receipt for warranty repairs - when you could not find yours?

- If you had a rebate issue was B&H or other online reseller willing to help?

- Did B&H or other online reseller offer to handle the warranty repair at no extra charge for you?

- For those that may have purchased online, and had to handle any repairs on their own - just how much time did you spend on follow-up?

I ask from an aspect of pride that my major metropolitan area store provides in before and after service support.

I also know that I have answered PM's from members here asking for pricing. My shop did its best in giving a fair offer. Some were nice enough to give me at least a heads up of what I consider to be a "lowball" offer. Some didn't bother to respond back at all. Sometimes we are equal or better than others on the net. Other times we do get beat.

I hope that having a name for you to call and desire to add support before and after the sale means something. An MR member here just found out how important that person can be. They didn't buy the camera from us, but I answered their questions in a phone call to my shop, during my work hours - so that I had the tools and resources available to help answer their questions.

Let's talk about the B&H example.

Let's start with catalog shopping - nothing new, Montgomery Wards, Sears Roebuck and Co, J.C. Pennys all flurished selling everything from fire arms to Levis jeans to farm equipment and even full houses at one point in the earlier 20th century - I looked at a Sears bungelow in Alexandria VA once when we were buying our first house. Rural America of course benefitted tremendously from catalog shopping. More targetted catalogs really exploded in the 80s and 90s - LL Bean, J. Crew, the never ending copies of the Pottery Barn catalog.

B&H was a catalog business as well - a brick and mortar store that mailed out the giant source book. Photographers from all over the country could get equipment that was hard to find, or buy in quanties they could not buy in easily locally (I used to buy boxes of good film from B&H in the pre-internet days).

With this shopping, folks got used to the notion of ordering and reputable businesses were those that would present what they advertised and had no hassel return polices, so one didn't have to worry if they didn't like the LL Bean jacket color.

The internet is simply an electronic catalog. The issue is the same as it was with the paper catalog shopping - who has a good reputation, good customer service, easy returns. With more than one option available, prices have become more important as well.

So Penn Camera is a fine shop - and just like B&H, it is a brick and mortar store that has an on-line shopping option. For out-of-town sales, there is no reason for me to use Penn because B&H has a 15 yr history with me of great service and excellent prices. For example if I wanted to buy a 24-70 f2.8L Canon lens, B&H has it for $1099 pre-rebate under the psmay code and Penn has it for $1229 pre-rebate. All other things being equal - here both out-of-area purchases, $130 is significant.

Now, vs. a local area store - the customer service / selection / buying benefits of a B&H are much better than my local store. I'm sure there are wonderful local shops that inspire loyalty from the local area photographers - I think Penn is obviously one of those in DC and B&H is one of those in NYC. My local shop has no return policy. You can get a store credit. The customer service is non-existant.

I don't understand the warranty support issue - if I have an issue, I'll do the on-line Canon form and send it directly to the NE repair facility in New Jersey. If I bought a camera from my local store (which I did with my 30D) and there is an issue, I'll fill out the on-line Canon form and send it directly to Canon as well. One thing that I can do with shops like B&H that I couldn't with my local store, if the issue arises within 14 days, I can simply return it.

This is the same with a Mac - I suppose I could buy one at my local CompUSA, but I am fine buying it from the Apple Store on-line. If there is an issue, I'll call them, they'll give me a repair number and directions on where to send it.

Now, as to trying things out at a brick and mortar store and then ordering on-line. I can see where that would annoy folks. The competition is of course to be so much better that people won't be tempted to do that. Some brick and mortar stores will say - we can't compete with on-line shops under the theory that those have no overhead. If your talking about Roberts Imaging or B&H or One Call, etc. Those all are large physical stores with lots of employees.

Let's take the One Call example. One Call originally just sold applicanes for decades in Spokane, WA. The name of the shop then was Deranaleus (which I'm sure I've misspelled). In the 90's they added the internet business with the one-call name and transformed themselves by setting out to be competitive with the best of the electronics sites. They've built a good reputation and so when they are able to underbid someone else on prices - they'll get the business - which in turn creates volume sales, which helps make discounting sustainable. So there is a new paradigm where a store recognizes that things are going to be even more competitive than with just the catalogs given the ability to look at several selections at once and find the best price. They adjusted and have flourished. Every now and then I'll find a butcher shop or a bakery that went internal to a super market to adjust that changed paradigm. I suppose shifts in commerce models are as old as commerce ... it would be nice to have the milk delivered every other morning.

On customer service, let's take the B&H example. I wanted to try two different lenses. B&H - no problem, order them both, keep them in mint condition with all the packaging. Simply return the one you don't want. Great, said I.

Now, would I rather not have the internet and have the local record shop and the local clothing store, etc. In a way, yes - I would like that. I think the interpersonal communcation / social interaction is good for America and I think some of the recent press write-ups of studies on American society bear that out (American's used to state they had 3 close friends on average in the mid-1980s, the new study finds 25% say they have no close confidants, and the average is down across the other 75% as well; social interaction skills are suffering because of kids being more comfortable on an internet forum / chat space like tihs than going out and interacting with kids they don't know; a story I heard on NPR this morning that American's are losing interest in the natural world and are spending significantly more time in-doors than just a few years ago). So, I have a side to me that thinks all of this is not necessarily for the good.

Where does that leave me - simply in the paradigm that I started this with. B&H is a reputable seller that is better at what they do than many other stores and the move from a paper catalog to an electronic one (although you can still request a copy of the source book - which is quite fun to flip through) is not significant to me in any way.