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A Word About Buying Photography Gear Online

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A Word About Buying Photography Gear Online


Image by Troy Holden
For the past several months, my lower back has been producing sharp pains for hours at a time. It generally flares up after a long day of shooting, as my DSLR camera bag (with 3 lenses an an external flash) weighs about 18 lbs. Because of this, I've found myself carrying my camera bag a lot less in my day to day routine. It bothers me to no end, and I can't even try to put a number on the amount of shots I've missed because I didn't have a camera on me at the time.

This past Sunday, I decided to buy a Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera. I had researched this particular model for a few hours and after reading rave review after rave review, I felt comfortable making the purchase. What sold me about this model was its compact size, packed with powerful features, and the option of interchangeable lenses.

My next step was deciding where to buy it from. My first choice, B&H (awesome online retailer) was out of stock, as was Calumet (another awesome online retailer). So, I started searching on Amazon. I found a model with the lens I wanted, read the reviews (97% positive) and added it to my shopping cart. As I made my way through checkout, I paid careful attention to the shipping window as it was important to have it arrive by this Friday, the 23rd. I was a bit skeptical of purchasing through a 3rd party affiliate as I've had problems with some vendors in the past. I reread the customer reviews and the majority were positive with a heavy emphasis on how fast the products were shipped. Moments later, I completed checkout and made my purchase.

The next morning I got an email from the vendor, and after looking up the UPS tracking noticed that it would not arrive until Sunday the 26th. Hmmm. I emailed the vendor and asked what the reason for the delay was. No response. The next morning, I sent another email inquiring about the difference in shipping dates between checkout and delivery confirmation. Again, no response. A little ticked off, I called Amazon customer service and talked with Kathleen, explaining my frustration. Kathleen quickly realized I was upset and indicated that this was not the first, second, third, etc. complaint Amazon had received about this vendor. She advised me to purchase the same model from Amazon directly and contact the vendor yet again and to let them know I wanted to cancel my order. (Kathleen was awesome, Amazon customer service is lucky to have her on their team). I sent another email to the vendor and let them know I wanted to cancel my order, as the delivery window was misleading and I felt like I had been mislead.

A few hours later the vendor responded with the following:

We apologize if you misunderstood the these shipping terms set by Amazon. If you have any concerns feel free to hit [sic] us an email anytime.

I responded saying I felt that the confusion was actually on their end, but nevertheless, I simply wished to cancel my order and forget about it after being issued a full refund.

Moments later I received a second response:

Cancellations requested after your order has shipped will require your refusal of delivery acceptance when the shipping carrier delivers. We will process your refund after your shipment has been returned to us. A nominal .00 charge will be deducted from the refund. Shipping charges will also not be credited in this case. Likewise, shipments which have had 3 delivery attempts without success and have been returned to us by the shipping carrier will also have the above charge deducted. Cancellations which are accepted when delivered are subject to a 20% restocking fee.

At this point I realized I was being swindled and was out 3. I wrote them back and explained that this response was unsatisfactory and asked them to give me a call so we could work this out. As of this posting I have not received a response from the vendor via phone or email.

Tomorrow, I look forward to receiving the second camera ordered directly from Amazon, and have no doubt it will arrive on time. I plan on working with Kathleen to try and reverse the various restocking and S&H charges, and am somewhat confident I will recoup some of my money. But it won't come without headache, and will likely take several weeks until I see any of the monies from the first camera deposited back into my checking account.

I'll update this post as the situation evolves, but in the meantime my advice is to be wary of a deal that seems to good to be true, because in the end it often is.

I've blogged about it here.