Ebay refurbished cameras

[Tikibird]

Hello, I am new here. I am from Australia and found your site on Google. You all seem to be very knowledgeable, so I was hoping you could help me out. I am interested in the Kodak DX7440. They are very expensive in Australia ($350 AUD=$262USD) but I found them much cheaper on Ebay. I followed a few auctions and have seen this camera go as low as $125, I guess you have to be there at the right time. I would also have to pay $44 shipping and insurance.

However all the bargains are refurbished. So I am wondering how safe and reliable is it to buy a refurbished camera? The Ebay listing says it has a 12 month manufacturer warranty. Would this be valid in Australia? Thanks for any help!

[nitr0uzv]

The term refurbished means that its reconditioned

There are levels of reburbishing

The highest is, people that just airnt happy with the product they return it the product gets cleaned and sold again

Another is the product is defective is returned and is sent to the manufacture for service and cleaning and sold again

these are some examples

The Retail price of that camera in the US according to Kodak is $249.95

Usually stores should sell for much lower so try to find sales

[Tikibird]

Thanks! I have since found out that the warranty isn't valid in Australia so that isn't an option any more.

Plus I went and fell in love with the DX7590! That 10x optical zoom is really impressive and I like the ability to attach an external flash.

[Rhys]

Just a quick addendum. Many e-bay sharks will get a secondhand camera and some secondhand packaging, polish the camera and battery then put the two together and say "it's refurbished" wheras inside, the camera contacts might be green and encrusted with verdigree from a bad battery.

[herc182]

if you like the 10x zoom on the DX7590 then have a look at the panasonic FZ5 and FZ20. they aer both stunning cameras (i own the latter).

[IlBianconero]

Yeah....on ebay there are a couple of users who have 100% positive feedback and high rating and all and they sell the FZ5 & accessories at about 550$...new,never opened.Does anyone know....ar they trustworthy??
It gets me confused that camera+memory+bag+tripod = 550$....any ideas?

[sots]

This type of thing seemed somewhat normal to me on ebay, but its Amazon that worries me-- Canon Digital Rebel XTs there go for as little as $450, and that isnt even unusual. I e-mailed some of them with questions--basically probing to get an idea of who was legit--and 2/3 of them wanted me to pay them via Western Union (Uhhh, NO. Don't EVER do that).

My best bet here is that, if and when they are not complete scams, they could be gray market cameras. Those are the ones that are priced lower to be sold out of the country. I'm pretty sure that it isnt exactly illegal to sell gray market merch (its a bit of a gray area, no pun intended) but there can be numerous problems with them, such as manuals, and sometimes even controls, that aren't in English, and Warranties (sp?) that are only effective in other countries.

Still, I very much need a good deal on a camera, so I might take the bait with someone who has exceedingly, exceedingly good feedback, and plenty of it, pay through Amazon (buyer protection?) and hope for the best... I'll definitely let you know how this one goes.