[potplant]

who actually buys their camera equipment over the net? do people shop around? or do you buy your precious equipment from trusted dealers only, which you deal with in person?

[jericho]

I have purchased new from www.cameracanada.com and used from www.fredmiranda.com

Success with both.

[shuttertalk]

I got my first digicam and my most recent one off ebay... they were relatively cheap <$500 AUD. Regardless, my heart was in my mouth the whole time...

If I were to buy a DSLR though, or some expensive piece of glass, I would probably purchase from a reputable shop, which I could go back to for servicing and repairs etc.

[Polly]

I buy mainly from the .net after searching around for the best deal. I only buy from reputable, known or recommended dealers and only from SECURE websites, ie those with proper/secure payment facilities. Both my husband and myself have returned good and always had refunds or replacements, no bother.

I bought my last PC from the .net and it was so good I've just bought this new one from the same place.

We've never had any problems with ANY internet shopping, it great but you should ALWAYS be absolutely sure the site has a secure payment service and check the small print about delivery, returns etc before going ahead. I always make sure there's a telephone contact number and address for the company concerned.

Polly

[Toad]

I have purchased lots of things over the net. I typically search forums like dpreview (who have millions of posts) for feedbsck on a distributor before I purchase. I have always had good luck so far (knock on wood).

I tend to purchase things that may have a higher possibility of technical problems such as camera bodies locally from reputable stores to partially negate the return / refund issue - but I am a lot more casual with lenses, accessories, software, etc.

One thing - if you are not USA based, check that the manufacturer warranties are hono(u)red in your country.

[shuttertalk]

Good advice, Polly and Toad...

I also use the neighbour-to-neighbour section on photo.net:
http://www.photo.net/neighbor/opc.tcl?category_id=0

Quite scary actually, when you start reading all those stories of scams and bait and switch techniques...

[de_axeman]

Yeah, I've done a bit of online shopping too. Agree with Pol and Toad that you only buy from reputable sites. When dealing with sites like evil-bay and amazon.com, I never buy large-value items (> $100) unless I personally know the seller I'm dealing with.

[StudioJ]

A bit of both for me, depending on how impatient I am and whether I can find something I like from someone reputable. Just as an example a lens for $650 here I can pick up from the US with delivery for $420 maybe $500 if I'm unfortunate and get taxed. The 20D when it is available as stock will make it a margin of $700 or around $500 if it gets taxed. Is that saving worth it if the item breaks down? I guess that depends on the individual, I trust most items are most likely to be repaired outside their warranty period anyway so it shouldn't be such a big deal.

[dewy]

I havn't really bought off the net but my Order using my Mr. Gadget voucher just got processed today so does that count? I did win an auction on ebay and waited 3 days for him and even tho saing he will acept PayPal on his auction he refused to take paypal and 2 weeks later now no reply so i am ealving bad comment becuase he naver worked something else out and flase advertised.

[Mr_Gadget]

I agree with you guys...trust is definitely one of the biggest factors with shopping online. You basically want to know if other people visit and buy from that site and any feedback they've provided is always a bonus!

Alexa's toolbar (owned by Amazon) is pretty cool for finding out a websites rank. Basically the higher the rank the more people visit it which is a sign of trust in that site. There are a lot of shonky dealers out there, but with this toolbar installed I can pretty much pick them straight away. I don't shop anywhere where the site has a traffic rank of greater than 100,000.

http://download.alexa.com/index.cgi?amzn...etaustr-20

I know Shuttertalk uses it...

[adam]

Yes, I do

[dewy]

I don't because I mostly use Firefox/Mozilla Suite

[peter]

I buy stuff from Centre.net.au ...

whoo go FireFox!

[StudioJ]

FireFox.. I remember that movie, wasn't Clint Eastwood in it?

[dewy]

No No StudioJ when you enter a Forum you have to leave the real world and join the Fantasy worl we all wish we could live in 24/7. FireFox is the browser part of the Mozilla Internet Applications Suite which has been 'slimmed down'. It runs on the gecko which is (at the moment IMHO) the most standards complaind web rendering engine.