Nervous about making online purchase....

[vgodfrey]

I've been researching the web to find the best price from the most reputable internet company to purchase the Konica Minolta DiMage A2, but very nervous about it. Can anyone give me some advice? Does anyone have any experience with purchasing a camera from Zoommania or Willoughby's? AND How important is it that the company says its an "authorized dealer"? Thanks

[Robert]

I can well understand your concern about buying online. There are far more " less than reputable" online dealers that one can imagine. Your best bet would be to checkout the listing at resellerratings.com and look at the ratings for those online dealers that your considering buying from. One thing you'll notice is that the online dealers offering the killer low prices are invaribly the ones with the lowest ratings. I don't know which dealers carry the camera you are interested in but I can recommend a few online dealers with impeccable reputations. However you won't find that their prices are all that spectacular. Newegg.com, bhphotovideo.com and normancamerea.com in my opinion top the list of reputable online dealers.

[Rhys]

Originally Posted by Robert

I can well understand your concern about buying online. There are far more " less than reputable" online dealers that one can imagine. Your best bet would be to checkout the listing at resellerratings.com and look at the ratings for those online dealers that your considering buying from. One thing you'll notice is that the online dealers offering the killer low prices are invaribly the ones with the lowest ratings. I don't know which dealers carry the camera you are interested in but I can recommend a few online dealers with impeccable reputations. However you won't find that their prices are all that spectacular. Newegg.com, bhphotovideo.com and normancamerea.com in my opinion top the list of reputable online dealers.

I can't say much about specific webshops but I can tell you that the only places online that I buy from are traditional mail-order companies that advertise in magazines etc. I would never deal with anybody whose address is not promenantly displayed and tallies with their domain record and whose address and company name appears in registered company records. In Britain this would be Kompass and Companies House.

[jkbales]

Some online sellers with extremely bad ratings - some show that zero percent would buy from them again also advertise in reputable magazines. Royal Camera and Digital Liguidators have ads in Popular Photography, but you'll find their prices higher than online, if they even post them. The magazine has a code of ethics the seller must adhere to and - apparently - you get all the original accessories, but maybe not a USA warranty. If you mention the magazine to them. Maybe.

But you already know what some of these guys are like, so why would you ever buy from them? Better to reward an honest seller than wonder if an online scam artist was taking advantage of you. Resellerratings.com is customer driven, so when these internet bandits tick off a buyer they really suffer. Personally, I wonder why New York Consumer Protection and the Brooklyn District Attorney don't close these guys down.

John

[Rhys]

Originally Posted by jkbales

Some online sellers with extremely bad ratings - some show that zero percent would buy from them again also advertise in reputable magazines. Royal Camera and Digital Liguidators have ads in Popular Photography, but you'll find their prices higher than online, if they even post them. The magazine has a code of ethics the seller must adhere to and - apparently - you get all the original accessories, but maybe not a USA warranty. If you mention the magazine to them. Maybe.

But you already know what some of these guys are like, so why would you ever buy from them? Better to reward an honest seller than wonder if an online scam artist was taking advantage of you. Resellerratings.com is customer driven, so when these internet bandits tick off a buyer they really suffer. Personally, I wonder why New York Consumer Protection and the Brooklyn District Attorney don't close these guys down.

John

Ok. I see problems with all ratings systems in that most are dead easy to rig.

Personally, I read the ratings from savastore.co.uk (could be .com) and they were all negative. I looked at who owned the site. I recognised the company and had no hesitation in buying from them. I put a positive comment after my purchase and it never appeared.

It's easy to put negative (or positive) comments that are completely unwarranted. The main rule is caviat pre-emptor. The second thing is to realise that there are a heck of a lot of crooks using the web as it's utterly faceless.