Buying an A1 off Ebay? Anyone heard of this?

John Scott 3

John Scott 3

Well-known member
A buddy of mine is wanting to buy an A1, but didn't want to pay and arm and a leg without researching any other possibilities. I just got my A1, but I ordered it from B&H and I wanted to suggest something possibly cheaper. I paid 3500 (+shipping) and got a 250 rebate. I saw the Beach Store had it for cheaper, but I also looked at ebay and saw that a few ebay stores had it for 3100-ish. I was telling him to buy from there, but I wanted to see if anyone had purchased from them. Here is a link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-XH-A1-Min...yZ122611QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I just want to know if this is a "respectable" place or if someone has bought from them before and how the service went. Their ebay rating isn't bad. Thanks all.
 
The answer is maybe. The camera is most likely gray market and doesn't qualify for the Canon rebate. And they might not let you get away with that price even if they're legit. It's a guarantee they'll make your friend call in to "confirm" the order, at which point they'll try to sell you stuff. Not to mention they'll charge inflated shipping price (over $100).

I ordered an FX1 from a similar ebay dealer and ended up paying $200 more than the advertised price. Don't know if I would have gotten the camera had I not agreed to the "upgrades", but it's not an experience I would go through again. And at 3k+ your friend is already paying an arm and a leg.
 
No, that place is completely gray market merchandise. I got lucky and bought mine from a regular seller (not a store) and got it for $2850.
 
There are "legit" deals for better prices. $2850 sounds a bit low to me. BUT, with rebate I purchased from a Canon authorized dealer for $3,000 AFTER Canon Rebate. HOWEVER, I just checked, and the place I purchased from has raised their price. Onecall.com by the way.
 
I just went through this with them. I had to make multiple calls to confirm the item. Each time they tried to sell me all kinds of stuff and told me the stock battery would only last 25 minutes or so. They told me the lens was no good and that I needed to buy this high resolution adapter if I wanted to shoot H.D. Also, to ship it within 3 days, they wanted $175.00. So, after getting frustrated with my refusals to buy all this crap, he said o.k. "you will just have to wait 2-3 weeks to get your order, if your good with that fine" and hung up. They promised me a tracking # that never came after 3 days. I called in after that and had to go through the whole pitch again, after refusing all the crap again, I was told the camera was out of stock. I canceled my order at that point and got my money back a week later. I then bought the camera from someone else for the same price (Craigslist pick-up). I just looked yesterday, and B & H still has a good deal on them (3,249.00 after rebate). After many bad experiences trying to save a few bucks, I think B & H is the way to go.
 
Yeah. I told him to go through Beach Camera since people were talking pretty good stuff about them. He paid yesterday and is waiting on the tracking number. Curious, while I'm here, how long do they typically take? I'll head on over to that thread too. Thanks.
 
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