(Updated November 2010)
…It’s that time of year again, folks! I only wish I could have gotten this blog post re-published before black friday, but halfway through “Cyber Monday” will have to do. Please feel free to leave a comment, share this blog post, etc. etc. My personal bit.ly link for this blog post is: http://bit.ly/cameratalk-scamalert in case you’d like to use that.

Since this post was last updated as recently as May, I don’t have much new to add. But, just off the top of my head, I googled “Nikon D7000″ and came up with a handful of online camera stores, and especially “price shopper” websites, claiming some ridiculously low prices. If you don’t care to read the post below, here’s the short version- Save yourself a lot of trouble, shop at a reputable dealer such as B&H, Adorama, or Amazon etc… (And if you use those links when you shop, it does indeed help me out a little, without charging you any extra.)

(UPDATED MAY 2010)

(updated Aug 2008)

Those of you who have been long-time subscribers to this blog will know that every now and then, I bring to the public’s attention the “brooklyn scam group”. It’s not a fun topic, but I feel that it’s very necessary. SO many people out there are buying digital cameras and equipment, many their very first digital camera ever, and they don’t realize how widespread online scamming is.

The largest group, out of brooklyn, (in the 718 area code and 112xx zip code, I believe) is sort of a fly-by-night group, churning out new websites every few months, basically doing the same scam business under a different name, until word gets out that they are a shady company. As soon as one online store front gets shut down, another one (or two) MORE pop up…

I first encountered them when I ALMOST purchased my first D70 from a company called “Digital Liquidators”… Since then, the list has grown:

Broadway Photo – bwayphoto.com, broadwayphoto.com
(They say they are under new management, but their tech support still shows at least one 718 area code number.

Digital Liquidators – digitalliquidators.com

A&M Photo World – amphotoworld.com

The Camera Pros – thecamerapros.com

USA Photo Nation – usaphotonation.com

J&K Cameras – (eBay storefront, shut down)

Genius Camera – geniuscamera.com

Express Camera – expresscamera.com

Best Price Camera – bestpricecamera.com

RainbowTronics – rainbowtronics.com

Royal Camera – royalcamera.com

Added Aug 2008:

Sonic Cameras – soniccameras.com

Added May 2010:

Total Pro Digital – www.totalprodigital.com

42nd St Photo – www.42photo.com

Primo Cameras – www.primocameras.com

US1 Cameras – www.us1photo.com

Thunder Cameras – www.thundercameras.com

Fumfie – www.fumfie.com

…And these are just the ones I can think up OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, or by a quick google search. There are MANY others! (And don’t hesitate to mention some more if you know of any, and I’ll add them to the list when I re-post this blog entry, every year or so…)

You may notice that a good number of these sites have been shut down, and most ALL of them when googled will generate results that are 90% complaints. Often the complaints out-rank the actual website itself! NOT good!!!

Broadway Photo, the place where I just saw the Nikon D300 for $1381, is the “ringleader” and they do business practically in broad daylight. Even though the very second link right underneath them on google reports that they are a scam group… HAH! (They’ve registered with google or something, to force their link up to the top…)

Basically, here’s the bottom line(s):

Legally, these companies are legit. (this one overlord company, that is…) I’m sure if you took them to court, they could figure out a way to appear within the law. After all, accidents do happen, and sometimes you “accidentally” get shipped and billed for a bunch of stuff you didn’t order, or charged $500 for shipping, or your order gets mysteriously canceled altogether. So, they’re quasi-legal. But they’ll still get you on the phone and try to sell you a bunch of junk, or charge you extra for things like the battery & charger that should come WITH the camera. And then they may accidentally charge your credit card for way too much, or claim that, oh, I dunno, read some of the sad stories yourself…

Yeah. Unscrupulous, shady, dishonest, shameless, evil, etc. etc.

So, what can you do? Well, it’s pretty simple…

Never, NEVER, NEVER buy a camera simply by googling the name of the camera and then clicking on the lowest price, that is just suicide. As I like to say- you’ll get more excitement out of lighting your money on fire.

Also, NEVER trust those “price shopper” sites to only shop legit stores. In fact on many price shopper sites, the ENTIRE first page of results will consist of scam companies. For example I just used “lowpricedigital.com” to search for the Nikon D300, and Broadway comes up even with a “customer satisfaction award”. The rest of the results, including the $999 D300 from “1wayphoto.com”, are all part of the scam group.

Then, if you are seriously bent on saving money on your electronics purchase, here’s how to identify a scam group:

Well first of all, use resellerratings.com. They’re a legit review site for online stores. Click “store ratings” and search for the company you’re thinking of buying from. If there are a ton of negative reviews, case closed. If there are ZERO reviews, or just one or two, then that means the company is SO new they haven’t been around long enough to get reviewed. Not a good sign, in my opinion, and I’d walk away right then.

[EDIT: Lately I've seen these scam companies make MASSIVE efforts to spam resellerratings with fake reviews. So many fake reviews that they even make the 1-star reviews hard to find. Just another reason to WALK AWAY, and buy from a reputable dealer...]

Secondly, if you place an order online and they immediately ask you to “call and confirm your order”, that is red flag #1!!! They will invariably attempt to sell you on a bunch of exorbitantly priced extras, in fact they’ll even try and convince you that your camera doesn’t come with a battery or charger, and that you need to buy those things separately! Red flag #2.

Thirdly is the “overpriced extras” I mentioned – you don’t need to place an order to see the overpriced junk they try and push. Just type in “CF card” into any of these websites search engines, and you’ll see a bunch of generic, un-labeled memory cards pop up that cost 5-10 TIMES what they ought to, even from the most reliable brands. Red flag #3. [EDIT: Recently I have noticed a different trend: Some of these resellers don't even list accessories at ALL. Probably to hid their overpriced bait-and-switch joke of a business model. I guarantee you that if you bought something from them, they'd call you up and try to sell you the overpriced stuff just the same...]

Fourth, if they put up some silly customer testimonials on their page, I just roll my eyes. “there are a lot of scam groups out there, but *I* trust this store…” Yeah right! A legit outfit shouldn’t have to rely on cheesy customer testimonials to get business!

Oh, and also, if they have a BUNCH of “seals” on their front page that say they are hacker safe, and credit-card safe / registered / verified etc, then that also CAN be a bad sign. They’re over-compensating for something. Also, I’ve noticed that all the scam sites have a generic, “tech support” face on their website somewhere. Probably to instill trust in buyers by *looking* nice and cozy.

Here’s my advice:

Buy your camera from Adorama, B&H, or Amazon. That’s the simple answer. When I search for “Adorama” in my email receipts folder, twenty different invoices come up, and I remember each of those purchases being perfectly smooth… I’ve spent thousands there, and thousands at B&H and Amazon as well.. Each purchase has gone smoothly and arrived on time. Really, the discussion should end right there, with that statistic…

You MIGHT be able to save a FEW dollars from some of the other legit online stores. Or of course there’s always your local walk-in stores… I’ve bought from Sigma4less.com a couple times, and they’re very friendly, helpful people, if you need a lens or something that Adorama doesn’t have in stock…

A list of stores that I trust, have shopped at before, and highly recommend:

Adorama – www.adorama.com

B&H – www.bhphotovideo.com

Amazon – Amazon

A list of stores that also look legit, but I can’t speak for them personally:

Roberts Imaging – www.robertsimaging.com

Abe’s of Maine – www.abesofmaine.com

J&R Music & Computer –

BuyDig –

Crutchfield –

OneCall –

…But, tried-and-true, just don’t google the name of the camera and click the lowest number. Oh and by the way, KEH.com is a great safe place to buy used gear. Some items, like camera straps and batteries, I buy in store because I need them immediately. I also buy my memory cards in-store sometimes, because you can always trust them to carry legit stuff. Ebay and Amazon for example, since they allow 3rd-party sellers, may have FAKE Sandisk cards. STAY AWAY from either of those stores when buying memory cards…

Now a rule of thumb: If you’re finding prices that are more than 5% lower than “the big three”, then it’s too good to be true, 99% of the time. You gotta ask yourself a question: “Do I feel lucky?”

The next question you should ask, if you’re JUST saving 5% from a semi-legit retailer- is 5% REALLY worth the risk of becoming yet another “customer dissatisfaction” statistic?

I dunno about you, but I’ll take peace of mind, thank you very much…

Take care,
=Matt=

PS: Support my addiction to giving free advice – Donate via Paypal, or by shopping at B&H.

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