OTish camera stores - crazy price difference

jamcas wrote on 3/28/2004, 10:24 PM

I was searching the web for a price on a TRV-950 camera.

Here in Australia the price is

$4999 RRP - Sony ($3750)

$4500 best price I could get from a few retailers ($3300 USD)

now on ebay there is a camera store offering them for around $1700 USD

YES ALMOST HALF THE AUSTRALIAN PRICE !!!

it gets better ?

searched on google for TRV-950 and I get 2 sponsored links
offering the TRV-950 for $979US and $1079US
http://www.royalcamera.com
http://www.ExpressCameras.com

YES LESS THAN A THIRD !!! OF THE AUSTRALIAN PRICE

well it sounds too good to be true (and maybe it is)

anyway the questions I have are

what is the street price in USA ?

has anyone dealt with
http://www.royalcamera.com
http://www.ExpressCameras.com

do you recommend any online stores ?

Can you buy PAL equipment in USA ?

Anyone recommend some good europeans sites that sell teh TRV950 at a competitive price ?

The difference between the Australian and USA models (besides power) is PAL vs NTSC

Do you think shhooting in NTSC and rendering PAL DVDs is that gog to create a qaulity issue ?

Regards
Jc

Comments

RBartlett wrote on 3/28/2004, 10:43 PM

unbeatable.co.uk is indicative of what a box shifter (ie non-dealer) will give. Often there is a daaler behind the company but you are getting the "lite" version of their sales channel. Many won't export because of their credit provider.

I wouldn't make PAL DVDs from NTSC footage, but I might consider NTSC DVDs which generally provide playback on the players worldwide. The TV sets don't always support the player if it doesn't have a PAL/NTSC override.

In the UK the price point is usually $1 = £1 when you compare street or web prices. We are told it is the import duty, tax and distribution costs. Fuel bg a times the cost in the US. Again the tax, not the cost of raw crude.

Folks in the US who do "film" work often import the PAL models. Perhaps through the manufacturer channels, I'm not sure. I would only recommend buying from North America if it was a high def, 60p model.

Mind you, you could probably get a nice second hand Snell & Wilcox Alchemist Ph.C from a failing VHS duplicator to give you a pro transfer of NTSC to PAL, with that price difference.

Check the Aus import duty and tax on such a big purchase. It might pay for you to take a trip to the US and just send the packaging back by surface mail. Did I say that!?

Lastly, with those potential profit margins, maybe you should be selling camcorders for a living?

busterkeaton wrote on 3/28/2004, 10:44 PM

http://bhphotovideo.com/ is a very well-regarded store.

riredale wrote on 3/28/2004, 11:09 PM

I think the name of the review outfit is www.resellerratings.com. As I recall from previous threads, Royal is a Royal ripoff. You call them, and they have it in stock. You say you want to buy one, and they offer $1k+ of mostly worthless "accessories." You say, "No thanks, just the camera" and---surprise!--the camera just happens to be out of stock. Call back next week.

Don't waste your time.

I bought my VX2000 (very slightly used) for $1,750 last fall through eBay. I'd do it again.

Review of Royal Camera

craftech wrote on 3/29/2004, 4:36 AM

Lets not leave out Express Cameras:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1805.html

A basic rule of thumb for you to follow being from another country is:

Don't buy a camera from any vendor located in New York City (except maybe B&H Photo Video). There are a FEW other honest ones, but they don't turn up on EBay or with low price search engines.
Resellerratings is a good source of information regarding vendor nightmares

A posted a lengthy one about this awhile ago:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=246271&Page=0

John

johnmeyer wrote on 3/29/2004, 7:09 AM

B&H Photo is the gold standard for price and everything else. Their prices are low, but fair, and usually represent the lower end of what a reputable dealer can price a product and still make a profit.

In this country (USA), you can often get products at far less, but they usually turn out to be imports that do not have a "USA warranty." This means they have no warranty at all. The dealer usually substitutes their own "in-store" warranty, and you can guess what the value of that might be.

Sometimes the lower prices are for returns, or open box merchandise (despite claims to the contrary). As for eBay, you can often find items from sellers with really low feedback numbers. I have often wondered whether they are fencing hot merchandise, but I have never read any such stories. Once certainly wonders how they end up with such expensive goods, yet have no experience selling.

I'd stick with a known quantity for something like a camcorder.

Cheesehole wrote on 3/29/2004, 11:23 PM

buydig sold me a pair of Canon Optura 300's at a pretty unbeatable price. Locally they were $1400 + sales tax - B&H had them for $1200 - BuyDig had them for $800. Since I was buying a pair, I ended up saving an incredible amount of money - even with next day priority air shipping.

I originally bought them from B&H but they didn't ship my order because they do a security verification thing and somehow it didn't work. So I cancelled the order with B&H and went with BuyDig even though I knew the price was too good to be true. I needed the cameras immediately and I wasn't about to swallow the Ritz camera price which they wouldn't negotiate on.

Conclusion? Mixed. one camera had obviously been fiddled with. The shipping battery cover was missing and one of the box flaps was outside the box. But they are in perfect condition and they came the next morning as promised. And did I mention the price was really really good? So Buydig is a little scary but they came through.

And even though B&H pissed me off and their prices are not fantastic, they really are obsessive about security and that's generally a good thing. I'd feel safe shopping with B&H and that is pretty valuable.

RexA wrote on 3/30/2004, 12:20 AM

Ok, another vote that Buydig may not be all that bad.

I bought a Panasonic camcorder from them last year. I think I chose them because it was ending its life and not too many vendors still stocked it. Telephone negotiation -- no serious sales pressure. Price was good. Delivery was fast.

Not sure where I would be if the camera had problems, but that didn't happen and all went well. Got everything I expected.

So, I'm a happy camper on this one.

aspenv wrote on 3/30/2004, 2:13 AM

I would not recommend buydig...they sell grey market and used cameras..horrible customer service...10% restocking fee...

Randy Brown wrote on 3/30/2004, 5:38 AM

I strongly suggest you listen to Riredale as there are a bunch of companies out there that pull that crap. I would check out Bizrate.com. There was a company called Wolf Designs on E-bay that was very legit when I bought my 2 Canon XL1s. At the time (about a year ago for each) I won both for a little over $2500 each (at the time they were going for around $4500 from B&H). The only catch was that it took 6-8 weeks for delivery as they were a "pre-order item". Somehow this woman was oredring them through J&R Music in bulk to get her discount. Anyway, I'm very happy with the purchase...it may be worth it to try to look her up.
Randy

craftech wrote on 3/30/2004, 5:53 AM

Buydig.com .....AKA Beach Camera.......AKA Beach Trading aka worldwide direct..............Company.........Owner Solomon Mosseri.
Abesofmaine.com (Actually in Brooklyn, NY) aka familphotoandvideo.com Owner Abe Mosseri

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=M7tNO.p_0TqT&csz=greenbrook%2C+nj&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

Zoom out for a look at their proximity to NYC.

John

filmy wrote on 3/30/2004, 5:57 AM

I recomend BuyDig as well. Never any problems on my end. I have sent people over to them and they have never had any problems either. As long as you know what you want the sales people more or less leave you alone, it isn't one of those "Buy the package or we ignore you" type of places. I am not sure how they would be in shipping overseas however.