I have never bought from them but I have bought a lot from B&H Photo/Video. Very happy with their prices, delivery, etc.
IF you are looking for used DLSRs, I recommend KEH in Atlanta. I have bought from and sold to lots of times. Again, reputable. They even paid me more than their quote on a 35mm camera after they received it because it was in better condition than they estimated.
I also have bought refurbs directly from Canon and was very happy with their prices and delivery.
I've been buying from B&H Photo for decades, I've never had a problem with them, they are probably the most reputable of the online A/V equipment stores.
Former user
wrote on 8/19/2016, 3:44 PM
One thing to watch out for, some of these stores have a reputation of not selling a whole kit. They will charge extra for the battery or lens, or something that is normally included. Also, some are known for calling you back and trying to upsell you and will be outright rude if you don't. I hung up on one once cause he wouldn't give me a price until I agreed to buy something.
B&H Photo is where I buy all of my gear. Very reputable. They are also a sponsor of the Creative COW so they support our video communities. They are also at every NAB show and are well respected in the industry.
Believe it or not, but I've had great luck with eBay! Just make sure the seller has a lot of sales under his belt and has an excellent reputation. You can score some remarkable deals on auctions by using a sniping program. Great fun, too.
I've also bought from B&H and Amazon, both great. Years ago there were outfits like 42nd that would sell you a non-warranted camera or would only sell a "kit" that was loaded with junk accessories (no-name tripods, filters, "lens cleaning kits"). I don't think 42nd ever did that, though.
How they have a 4 star rating out of 5 is beyond me. After reading and seeing how many people were fooled, how could they have a 4 star rating?
Here's how. This is posted under the 4 star rating.
(Based on 86 ratings out of 360 reviews)
Jerry K.
Former user
wrote on 8/20/2016, 8:32 AM
and at the top it says they pay a fee to participate in this rating. I would be leary of this site and read all of the disclaimers, but I have found similar bad reviews over the years for this company. The phone call afterwards is a common sales tactic for them.
Don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but years ago "Reseller Ratings" was a very popular website that ranked all the camera stores. 42nd Street gets a 9/10 on that site.
I don't know how hard they police the reviews; could be a lot of shills writing in to say how wonderful things are..
Like the others have said, B&H is one of the best places to buy from. They'll have the fairest price, which isn't artificially low because they're leaving stuff out. Also, the shipping charges are the best.
Not sure if you want to look to Canada but Henry's www.henrys.ca is a good outfit. They've been around forever and have a great used department as well. I have sold several of my old cameras to them. I have always found the video guys friendly and knowledgeable. Also, check out Vistek, another Canadian outfit. The downside is you may have to pay duty. The upside is your US dollar will go very far right now due to the exchange rate. Vistek has a larger pro selection compared to Henry's, but Henry's which has been mostly a photography shop has quickly caught up.