Canon 5D Mk III - How can their be a huge price difference between sites?

[CelticWolf1]

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : EOS 5D Mark III
$3,499.

AllTimeTVs - Everything You Need
$2,949

DAXMART - Thats smart!
$2,695.


How can the same camera body new without any lenses have that huge of a price difference from one site to another? I am dumbfounded.

 

[Overread]

Well first up Canon generally set a very high recommended retail price for their products. That price is often only really valid in the market itself when the item for sale (in this case a camera) is new to the market; nearly or at the end of its production cycle* and when the item suffers any global or national shortfall of sock.

Generally speaking if you want a good price of the product look at the big legitimate retailers. Adorama, B&H, Amazon. They'll give you a good idea of what the value of something is in the market. Add a bit more to that price if you go shopping on the highstreet (not always, but typically highstreet prices are higher).

Also remember that grey imports (items imported from outside of the Canon distribution system; still legal but often with no Canon warranty for your country - but a valid warranty in the cameras country of origin - some shops also offer store warranties) will be cheaper (Adorama sells some Grey imports, but always marks them clearly).

Outside of that be careful when using any website which shows a significant discount - many scam shops will show you big discounts, but will then bait and switch you. Phoning to confirm the order and then upselling the product to you by pointing out that the item doesn't come with any batteries or maybe comes with bad batteries and you "need" to pay more for good ones. If you jump through their hoops you will pay more and will end up paying as much if not more than the current market rate for the item; if you don't jump through their hoops chances are your order will either be put on indefinite hold or cancelled outright. Some will also just take your money and run.

Store Ratings & Reviews - ResellerRatings.com - Find Trusted Stores can be used to get feedback on retailers online; though always read the comments. A slew of good comments all given on the same day might well show that the scam shop has just signed in iteslf to give false comments. Any shop with "bait and switch" comments should be avoided (any retailer can have problems, but some, such as bait and switch, are not simply a regular dispute but active policy for the shop and thus a warning sign).


*this depends on the price and release of any upgraded/new version if there is none this can send the price high; otherwise the price might lower

 

[CelticWolf1]

Thanks Overread.
It felt like it was too good to be true. No one can sell a camera in a new condition for $1,000 less without some fine print written in invisible ink.

 

[TheBiles]

Rule of thumb: If it's too good to be true, it is.

 

[CelticWolf1]

I agree Biles...
How do you like your Mk III?

 

[mjhoward]

Rule of thumb: If it's too good to be true, it is.

...except Adorama, one of the most trusted and reliable camera retailers, was selling 5DMK3's on eBay for $2,750 for a short time. If you didn't know who Adorama was, that would have likely seemed to good to be true as well.

 

[CelticWolf1]

Good to know mjhoward. Thanks.

 

[CelticWolf1]

I found Adorama on youtube. I love their videos. Thanks.

 

[mjhoward]

No problem. If you're looking for reliable retailers for gear in the future, be sure to also check out B&H. B&H and Adorama usually have similar prices. For some reason, perhaps because of the D600, Adorama began selling the 5DMK3 on eBay a couple of weeks ago for much less than retail. I don't think they still are though.

 

[CelticWolf1]

Ok, I'll keep my eyes open.. Thanks again.

 

[TheBiles]

I agree Biles...
How do you like your Mk III?

It is magnificent. There is not a single negative thing that I can say about it. Fantastic at low-light and a beast autofocus, but I think my favorite feature might be the silent shooting mode. It has really been useful when shooting events and street photography. No one likes to hear "CLICK, CLICK, CLICK" when a huge camera is pointed at them, so it really allows you to remain out of the way.

 

[CelticWolf1]

Sounds great. I can't wait.

 

[Big Mike]

I'll second the recommendation for B&H and Adorama. Those are probably the biggest camera stores in North America, maybe the world. If you find a price lower than theirs...that should start to raise suspicion.

 

[CelticWolf1]

Thanks Big Mike. Good to know.

 

[thereyougo!]

Rule of thumb: If it's too good to be true, it is.

In the UK the phrase is: "If it seems too good to be true then it probably is",

The moral is, if it seems like a great bargain, do lots of research and if you feel undue pressure from sales agents to buy extra accessories use extreme caution, end the call (even if they tell you they only have the one left and aren't able to hold it) research the cost of the extra accessories and decide for sure that you really need them. If the sums still add up, by all means ring up but be strong when they try to upsell. Get company reviews. If you see NO negative reviews, they are likely to be very new so proceed with extreme caution as they may have been a scam company that has just renamed itself. No company escapes with no negative reviews as they are run by humans and humans make mistakes. People are hard coded to complain more than they compliment as disappointing as that is.