Most people like to find bargains. There are a few strange guys who are happier when bragging about how they paid out huge sums of money for everything they own, but they are the exception. Americans, more than others are out to get the "best" price, and "best" always seems to mean "lowest". This tendency, along with some of the weakest consumer protection laws in the world has led to a situation where thieves and con men have moved in to fleece the gullible.

The independant camera stores have mostly vanished over the past couple of decades, driven out of business by the chain stores and department stores with a camera counter. These places only carry the high profit quick turnover items leaving the customer who wants anything that isn't absolutely dead common out in the cold. When you buy from these stores you are getting prices no lower than mail order and usually a lot higher, but without the service and knowledge you would expect from a actual camera store. Some of these chains claim to be real camera stores, and even have the word "Camera" prominent in the name and logo, but they are really one hour processors with a couple display cases full of the less expensive cameras and cheaply made house brand accessories. I remember going to the local chain camera store because I needed some slide film quickly. They didn't have any. Company policy was to sell only film they could process with their C-41 machine. The filters they sold were window glass and gel sandwiches with visible flaws, and when it came to tripods all they stocked were flimsy gadgets that could not possibly support a 35mm SLR and lens without sagging and/or vibrating.

Stores like this and the department store camera counters eventually sent me off to find a good mail order shop. Many other photographers have done the same, and are now turning to the web for orders. Unfortunately the rising popularity of mail/web order has created a nice comfy nook for the con artists.

The old rule states "If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't true" applies to cameras more than any other consumer goods. The game is played with bait and switch or goods that carry no U.S. warantee disguised as fully guaranteed goods, or with all the included accessories removed from the box to be sold separately, or with a huge shipping and handling charge (non-refundable of course) or a healthy great whopping restocking fee on all returns including the items that were not actually what the customer ordered, knowing that even if it is shipped back the store will have made a healthy profit and still have the items to sell to the next sucker. There are a lot of places out there using combinations of all the above scams. Many of them have been doing it for years, and will continue for as long as the public looks only at the advertised price instead of the reputation of the retailer.

My legal counsel tells me that if I list the names of the stores I know to be dishonest here I leave myself open to legal harassment, and never-ending lawsuits. Consequently I will not name the crooks, but will restrict myself to naming the stores where I do shop:

http://www.adoramacamera.com

For new goods and some used items. If a shop is advertising a price much lower than Adorama be very careful. You just may have found a bargain, but it's more likely you've found a good route to a bad headache.

http://www.keh.com

For used goods. They price fairly high, but the equipment is usually in better condition than their ratings claim. They don't have the depth of new goods, but when it comes to used KEH is more likely to have the item in stock, and frequently more than one to choose from.

http://www.porters.com

For weird stuff and occasional great deals on close-out items. Porters prices are more like those of the local chains but when you want a Vivitar flash that has been discontinued for several years, they could very well still have some in stock.

All have been fair and honest in pricing, returns policy, and prompt delivery with a quite reasonable shipping charge. They all can be phoned for when you need help in selecting equipment or have a problem with equipment they have sold to you. All have websites that work nicely.

There are other honest stores out there - I just don't happen to buy from them, and therefore would not feel comfortable recommending them. What I do recommend is that you look up any store you plan to buy from at the Photo.net Camera Store section.

http://www.photo.net/neighbor/one-subcategory?id=2

This is a catalog of horror stories from the many members of photo.net. It's organized poorly -- one loooooong page with the stores listed alphabetically -- but you can, with a bit of patience find most of the places that advertise in the various magazines here. If a store isn't listed at photo.net there is a possibility it is a new business, but be careful - there is a greater probability it's an old rip off artist with a new name on the ad, or a brand new website. There is one suite, in one Brooklyn warehouse, that is the home of at least four different 'shops' with monthly ads in the back of more than one camera magazine. Not one of these 'shops' has a good reputation.

The new web only dealers (who may or may not be the same old mail order rip-offs) are very high risk. They have been known to appear with great prices, a few "happy customers" who sing their praises in usenet or chat groups, and iron clad guarantees of "money back if you are not fully satisfied". After taking a few grand's worth of orders some of them vanish without delivering anything at all.

Many of these dealers show up on the price comparison websites and people get the impression they are legit and really do have low prices - neglecting the fact that most of the price comparison sites only compare prices of the businesses which have paid for the listing. These sites are not actually doing price comparisons at all, they are simply running advertisements.

Even those sites which do legitimate price comparisons don't actually take into account things like the MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) the camera distributors impose on their legitimate franchise dealers. Didn't know about that one did you? That's right, if the price on that Nikon or Canon is a lot lower than the Adorama price, there is a very good chance the advertiser is not a franchised dealer and the buyer's only recourse for a defective product is through the store. If they are lying about their franchises, are you willing to believe they are telling the truth when they say they stand behind every product they sell? It is also worth checking the price at a legitimate dealer - frequently they can go under the MAP price, but you have to request the price. With Adorama there are items with automated price quote requests linked to the web page. If you request a price you will receive it by email within minutes.

There is also the matter of Grey Market goods. These are products imported by someone other than the official distributor. Grey market cameras have been around for as long as I can remember and many dealers sell grey items right beside the official items. The only difference is the guarantee. The guarantee is with the store where you bought the item, and is only as good as that store's reputation would indicate. I'm quite willing to buy grey market from the dealers I recommend above. I don't ever buy grey cameras as they are pretty complex and I figure the company that made it is probably the best source for service, at least while it's under guarantee. However when it comes to accessories, lenses and film I buy grey whenever possible. I like to save a bit too.

"Hokay Pops", you say. "That's all well and good, but I'm a pretty shrewd guy myself, and can usually handle those car dealers who try to charge me a grand for a set of whitewalls. I'm pretty sure I can handle these guys."

You cannot handle them. The reason you can get that car down to a reasonable price is because the car dealer is basically honest. These shops are NOT honest - not basically, not partially, not at all. They are scams and they will do their best to screw you. That includes lying about absolutely everything -- In stock, of course it's in stock. US guarantee, of course it's got a US guarantee. Any lie to make the sale. They depend on the fact that most people do not want trouble and will accept being overcharged, getting lesser goods than they ordered, or paying for accessories that were supposed to come with the camera. Remember the deal is never in writing with a signature from an authorized dealer - so unlike that car salesman, there is no paper you can take to a court. Your only defense is the credit card company. They will usually take your side in any dispute with a store, but remember Visa and Mastercard are in the business of making commissions off sales - they continue to do business with these places no matter how many complaints they receive from their customers. They are after profit, and only go to bat for you if it looks like they might lose your business. If they were really your friend they would stop doing business with these rip off shops - right?

If you are determined to try to deal with places you don't trust, here are a few tricks to watch for. Should a salesman, either local or on the telephone tried to pull these, it's time to look for another dealer.

1)"The advertised price is for the cheaper, Malaysian made version - you want the good Japanese version." While some camera companies have plants in several Asian countries there are few if any items manufactured in both a "cheap" and a "Good" version. The companies go to great pains to distinguish the higher priced items from the consumer goods and never have exactly the same item made in two versions.

2)"That camera has a plastic body that will fall apart. You need the heavy duty metal body." Modern polycarbonates are actually stronger than metals because they are more flexible, and absorb many of the shocks that will dent a metal body and damage the linkages underneath.

3)"That company is going out of business but this other brand will still be around next month." Maybe the company is going out of business, but if it's one of the big four - Canon, Minolta, Pentax, and Nikon, the guy is lying through his teeth. Minolta has been bought by Konica, but if they plan to drop the Minolta brand they have wasted many millions of dollars. Konica cameras are the more likely line to be phased out.

4)"The advertised price was for the older model. The new one is higher priced." This is a grey area as some stores do mark down closeout goods -- but verify the statement, and be sure to ask why they don't have any of the old ones they are advertising, and why they did not mention that it was a closeout in the ad. If the answer sounds like a lame excuse, it probably is a lame excuse. The most likely cause has nothing to do with what company is going under, but what importer gives the higher commission.

5)"This third party lens (or worse yet House Brand lens) is every bit as good as the one made by the camera company but at half the price." There is a reason it is half the price and it has to do with quality. There are good third party lenses, there might even be good house brand lenses -- find out about them from the usenets, not from a salesman who has a financial stake in moving the items he has in stock. The commission on house brand and third party gear most likely has a tacked on "spiff" at that store.

6)"This is the model all the pros use." Really? So war corespondents and wedding photographers, pet portrait shooters and senior picture photographers, catalog and fashion shooters and everyone else who makes a living with a camera chooses this one model? Wow, what a versatile camera! But why is it I never see anyone out making those big bucks with one of them?

7)"You'll need a strap. I've got some beauties here with the brand name of your new camera embroidered right on them." Which means the strap was supposed to come with the camera, but they removed it from the box and are now out to sell it to you. Do you really want to pay extra for the forth rate strap that was supposed to be free? How about the battery? The lens cap?. Know what is supposed to be in the box or you will find yourself paying for it twice.

8)"You don't want that lens. It's got very bad chromatic abberations and they are all garbage. You want this lens instead." So why did they advertise the garbage lens instead of the good one? Ask for a definition of chromatic abberations. Ask what each of the lenses score on MTF tests. You don't have to know what an MTF test is. After all the salesman doesn't know either.

9)"This third party lens is really the same thing as the camera makers lens. This company makes them both, and the camera maker puts it's own label on it." There actually are a few lenses made by third party companies and re-badged for the camera manufacturer. However, they tend to be the bottom of the line lenses, and not worth buying in the first place. A re-badged lens looks exactly like the original save for the brand name. You can see this if you compare Vivitar lenses to Phoenix lenses, both of which come off the same assembly line and neither of which is worth using. Ask to see both the camera manufacturer's version and the third party version of the lens the salesman claims are the same. If they don't match exactly, he's lying. If he has only the third party lens to show, perhaps he doesn't have the vaguest idea who makes any of these lenses. Ask for a catalog, then compare it with a picture of the camera makers lens on the Adorama website.

There are many other lies they will try on you, but as you can see most are based on one simple need: The salesman needs to sell you the items that will make him (or her - lets be fair) the maximum amount of money, or will make the most for the shop. There is no sure profit in selling any item that must be ordered special, consequently anything not in stock is never as good as something that is in stock.

I strongly urge you to be very careful dealing with these places. Start with a small purchase, like a filter and some film, before you go committing the budget on them. If it's a website, and you cannot find any actual street address -- don't buy from them. They might simply be harvesting credit card information. If the salesman refuses to sell you what you want - hang up. Even if you "convince" him you will not accept a substitute he might send you something you did not order anyway, and once it arrives it's up to you to get the charge removed, and pay the return shipping. The "handling" charge and the "restocking fee" are simply never refundable -- Natch.

If after all this, you still feel like calling one of the dodgey shops, you have been warned. Go right ahead, and have fun, but do not expect sympathy later.

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