Shopatron...

[Final Design Studios]

Just for people who want to know.

Apparently if you order your GH1 from Panasonic, you may or may not have it filled by a company called Shopatron.

I did a quick google search and found their website.
www.shopatron.com

Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm making an assumption based on their website. I'm suspecting that Panasonic knew the demand for this camera would be high, as a result they hired Shopatron to handle some of their online orders.

Shopatron isn't a reseller, they are more of an ecommerce service. I don't think that they have a warehouse of GH1's. I'll bet that they generate the orders and submit them to Panasonic's shipping department.

Anway, I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion with the mysterious Shopatron.

 

[Texanite]

According to their Wikipedia entry Panasonic is listeed as one of the companies that uses shopatron. I don't think this is directly related to the GH1.

Also, the wikipedia entry says this:

How it works

Manufacturers accept orders online and fulfill them through retailers or dealer channels to avoid the marketing problem known as channel conflict.

Shopatron’s retailer integration product is the basis of the system. Orders placed on a manufacturer’s Web site are placed in a pool, which retailers view through a Web portal. Each day orders are assigned to the retailer closest to the consumer who has indicated it has the product in stock.

This tells me that we have no idea when any given shopatron order might be fulfilled because it will also be based on the customer's location. Maybe that's a good thing if your local Best Buy gets a bunch of cameras in tomorrow because they'll ship one to you, but it puts order numbers and fulfillment priority into complete confusion. It also makes me wonder if "panasonic direct" handles orders from a certain part of the country (like S. Cal) and farms the rest of the orders out to shopatron to deal with.

That shopatronic "how it works" also explains why my confirmation email says that the price may change when my camera actually ships. This was in my order confirmation email:

- Sales tax may be required and added to your order total.
- Estimated shipping & handling may change, depending on the fulfillment location.

Me no likey shopatron

 

[Texanite]

By the way, in another thread somebody mentioned not being able to check their order status online. If you ended up ordering 'through' shopatronic, the trick is that you have to prepend your order# with the 4 letters: SHTR

Not that it really matters anyway, since the online info is shakey at best (read this post, yikes!) but at least you can enter the info into Panasonic.com and know that your order is in there.

 

[rubberbandito]

By the way, in another thread somebody mentioned not being able to check their order status online. If you ended up ordering 'through' shopatronic, the trick is that you have to prepend your order# with the 4 letters: SHTR

Not that it really matters anyway, since the online info is shakey at best (read this post, yikes!) but at least you can enter the info into Panasonic.com and know that your order is in there.

yea i can check order now there eventhough i am ordered via shopatron. and yea, it says i pay $90 tax. that is messed up. don't have to pay that on other retail sites online. why is that? anybody wanna sell me a new gh1 for $1590? you can make $90 and wait a couple days for yours

 

[paulgandersman]

i was charged tax for ordering through panasonic direct. i think it depends on what state you live in on wether or not you have to pay online taxes.

 

[Abstract Photog]

i was charged tax for ordering through panasonic direct. i think it depends on what state you live in on wether or not you have to pay online taxes.

same here. im in New Jersey and so is Panasonic Dirrect, guess thats why...
but im still payin less than all you guys corporate discounts rock :beer: