Olympus gear understocked everywhere?

[Garbz]

Hey question for any Olympus fans out there. Is it just general practice to understock Olympus gear even in massive photo stores?

My girlfriend has been refreshing B&H's website 4 times a day for the last week waiting for the Zukio 50mm f/2 macro to come into stock. Yesterday it finally came into stock and we bought it straight away. Look back on the page to check something and it's listed as out of stock.

So this lens has been out of stock for 4 weeks and it seems like they only ordered in one. Wtf!

Can't wait to play with it though

 

[EPPhoto]

Um...Olympus isn't...popular these days. Could have something to do with it!

Sent from Erics iPhone! (2) Nikon D300 50mm 1.4, 17-55 2.8, 70-200 2.8VRII, 24-70 2.8, 85mm 1.4, (2) SB900

 

[Don Kondra]

Eric,

Olympus is just as popular as it has always been but it doesn't sell in large enough volumes to be in stock at most retail outlets.

Garbz,

IIRC a used 50mm recently sold for $325 on fourthirdsphoto.com

And who knows how the resent tsunami is effecting production/delivery.

Cheers, Don

 

[usayit]

I just searched "olympus lens" on BH and most of the items in both 43 and m43 are listed in stock. Seems its just the particular item your girl was looking for.

 

[Garbz]

Hmmm could be. Was funny all the same. My girlfriend has been wanting this lens for about a year and it was always in stock for no more than a couple of days. I don't think it moves quite as slowly as people think. Just laughed that they only got one given it is perpetually out of stock

 

[Derrel]

Dealer margins have been steadily shrinking over the past few years, with the camera and lens makers forcing their dealers to accept less and less and less-favorable terms. This according to Thom Hogan's writings on the camera industry and the retail photo equipment sales business. For those who have never been privvy to manufacturer-to-dealer price lists, the SMALL dealer mark-up on almost all lenses would probably cause shock. Because of the less favorable terms most dealers are getting from the camera makers, it's not as affordable for them to keep larger amounts of stock on hand--it is simply too much of a cash drain. Olympus is somewhere in the 7 to 11 percent of d-slr market share currently, if my memory serves me correctly, and so...you're not going to see a mega-dealer like B&H keeping large quantities of lens inventory in-stock at all times.

 

[usayit]

Hmmm could be. Was funny all the same. My girlfriend has been wanting this lens for about a year and it was always in stock for no more than a couple of days. I don't think it moves quite as slowly as people think. Just laughed that they only got one given it is perpetually out of stock

Similar boat...

No one can keep the Panny 20mm f/1.7 in stock anywhere. I was in a local store the other day with the intention to buy a Panasonic 14mm f/2.5. To my surprise they had three 20mm f/1.7 in stock but I had already given up on it and really wanted the 14mm and finished saving. I posted its availability on another forum and it sold out even before I left the store. There is also some truth that some of the more popular products are harder to stock due to the crisis in Japan.

I'll eventually get the 20mm ... whenever... the moons line up just right.


btw... I have one regret. I should have wiped out the plastic, bought out their stock and resold on ebay at a higher price. Oh well.