to trust ebay or not?

X

xmephestox

Carbonite Member
saving up for a hvx200, has anybody ever bought one from ebay? everything seems extremely gray market and shadey, just want to know if anybody has had any experiences getting their camera there.
 
I got one from ebay in a huge kit deal, and it was great. I did however talk to the guy over the phone and by email alot, so it was clear he was an HVX owner, and not just a guy selling shady camera equip.

You can pretty much tell which auctions are grey market sellers, and which are owners selling their used cameras.
 
i'm trying to hold out on getting p2's for a bit until the 64 gb comes out. until then i can borrow p2's from a friend so my main concern is getting the camera for the best price possible without getting ripped off. i've been spoiled with working with 32 gb cards on shoots so i probably wouldn't get any card less than that. shooting for full days and not having to dump footage until you wrap is a nice feeling.
 
I got mine from DigitalCorp, I found it on EBay, but since I've had a bad experience with Ebay before, I just called them and ordered over the phone. The people there were very pleasant to deal with, and Steve (the guy that took my order) was very helpful in answering any questions I had. Mine cost me about $4200 CDN and came with a tripod, 5 dv tapes, an aluminum hard case, a nylon case, a light, filters, lens cleaning kit a wireless microphone kit and mack warranty (It's not the manufacturer's warranty, its some sort of 3rd party warranty. Not sure if it's legit or not, but I got it anyways, just in case. They say for warranty claims you go through them, and then they go through panasonic) I got mine delivered in about a week and a half, with everything described and 0 hours on the meter. I'd highly recommend them if you can't afford an authorized dealer. Their phone number is: 1-800-807-4171 and their ebay store is: http://stores.ebay.com/digitalcorp_W...sclZQ2d1QQtZkm

EDIT: Just thought I'd add that the tripod that came in the kit isn't much good for supporting an HVX unless you plan on having it as low as it can stand, but other than that I still think it was a good buy
 
id suggest ONLY buying from individuals on ebay and even then only from someone whos obviously a legit owner.

ive bought and sold a steadicam, high end dv deck and several guitars all over $1000 on ebay. but i always have conversations with the buyer/seller until im convinced they are legit before any money is exchanged. and ive only had one problem ever - and i SHOULD have seen it coming...

but still, even then its a dice roll...
 
You could always buy an authorized HVX with the 16gb and sell the 16gb card. Check to see how much new or used 16gb cards run for nowadays, in the end it might be about the same price as buying from ebay.
 
No, no, no. Yes, some people may have purchased on Ebay and gotten a decent deal. But when you're talking about so much money, it's better to look a seller in the eye, get a bill of sale, handle the goods. Even if it costs a little more. With a purchase this big, I recommend eliminating as much risk as possible and the way to do that is to pay just a little more. Peace of mind. Many of the retailers who sponsor this site offer very good deals -- better than their sites advertise -- to DVXUSER subscribers. I did very well on a new HVX purchase by calling Tommy Mack at EVS.
 
Mister Big said:
. . . Yes, some people may have purchased on Ebay and gotten a decent deal. But when you're talking about so much money, it's better to look a seller in the eye, get a bill of sale, handle the goods. Even if it costs a little more. With a purchase this big, I recommend eliminating as much risk as possible and the way to do that is to pay just a little more. Peace of mind. Many of the retailers who sponsor this site offer very good deals -- better than their sites advertise -- to DVXUSER subscribers. I did very well on a new HVX purchase by calling Tommy Mack at EVS.
Click to expand...

For the benefit of those who live out of the way from the big retailers and don't get the opportunity to take advantage of "good buys" and nice "Pro Stores" and have to do ALL their pro buying "online" like we have done on all but one of our purchases, here's a solution:
  1. Reputable - is the name a name you've heard of and/or know?
  2. Location Known - does their website have gads of contact information, including (but not limited to): street address, telephone number, email addresses, etc.?
  3. Call Them - call them on the phone, talk to them about the product, get more information than they want to give you, ask about return policy, ask about warranties and if you buy from them will the warranty be authorized in the USA, can you come to the store and if so what are their hours and who should you ask for?
  4. Credit Card - always pay with a credit card that can be reversed and dealt with legally (if that had to happen) and always use ON SECURE CHECK OUT never give the card to a non-SSL site (again this is pretty much covered under item 1.
  5. Ask Questions - ask them on line through their email addresses, call them, and if after all this you get a bad vibration . . pick someone else and as said even if it costs more.
  6. Dangerous Ebay - eBay is filled with scams and false offers. I've heard the term "Crooklyn" and although I never believed it and almost bought from one, two people I knew got raked over the coals over those "cheapie" prices that were almost streat hot prices. Truth was, one never got a camera and took 8 months to get it off his card AND had to pay interest and couldn't get credit back for the interest, the other got the camera without a USA warranty (that is NO warranty) and had to buy parts to even be able to use his camera and in the end although he saved some money he was without a camera for 8 weeks waiting in it to deliver and then waiting on the parts he had to buy to complete the kit.
  7. Dangerous Ebay - whoops did I say this already? The point is get this part LOUD and CLEAR "if it sounds too good to be true . . IT IS!" Explained, if the deal just sounds too good to be a real bonafide deal then the truth is the deal is a fake or another way to say it is that the deal is a wolf in sheeps clothing waiting to take you and eat up your time, moeney, and effort.

We like and use routinely:

B&H Photo & Video http://www.bhphotovideo.com
JR's http://www.jr.com
Calcumet Photo http://www.calumentphoto.com

Among a few and buy from the routinely. They are not always the "lowest" price but after shipping, return option, warranty, and help over the phone, let alone stop in their store if you get to the neighborhood, they most often are not that far off and as the Aussie's say "no worries." :o)
 
I bought mine from Studio Exchange, an authorized dealer, on Ebay and it was painless.
That being said, many of the Ebay deals are shady. Feedback is everything, and not just numbers- go through their feedback and make sure some of those 800 positive feedbacks are for high dollar items and not where they bought or sold beanie babies or something. If you find an authorized dealer who is offering the camera a couple of hundred less than normal and the feedback is flawless, than it's probably an OK deal. Otherwise, call Spec Comm or B & H. Or Profeel, who I bought from years ago with no problems.
 
I bought mine one ebay from a private owner I got a Great price on it. But even then the seller was less than honest with the hours or operation it had 374hrs of use and he pro ported it to be much less. My advice is to stay away from the companies on ebay and buy from a private owner. I see studio exchange on there all the time and their prices aren't much less than a regular dealer With some work and time you can get a good price, always check the feedback score. I got a very nice used camera for 3100 but that took months of monitoring ebay daily I might have just got lucky cause I wouldn't resell it for that price. it was a 3 day listing and no one bid on it so I got it for the starting Bid price. But I see them sell for 3900 on there all the time. Hope this helps
 
not true. i bought an hvx200 from ebay user "time2envy" about 2 weeks ago for around $3700+shipping (same person who i bought my canon hv20 from when it came out almost a year ago). he has the lowest price then, and the lowest price still now. it is the USA model and brand new. now i have no idea if he stole it, and resold it to me or what, but he has over 11,000 positive feedbacks, and my purchase went smoothly...no calls to try and upsell, no scamming, no "sorry, its not in stock"...shipped it 2 days after payment, im happy. came in original panasonic box, brand new accessories and everything.
 
I know mine is not the camera asked about but it is the same premis.

Before finally deciding to by my DVX100A off of this forum I attempted to bid on Ebay. On four of the cameras I received a notification from Ebay saying that they had removed the post because I had contacted a seller that has been reported to them for fraud. I was impressed with the fact that Ebay has safeguards in place but also worried that if I had won two of the items I would have already paid prior to getting the "warning". There are a lot of legitimate sellers on Ebay but be real careful on the higher dollar items.

I came back to this forum and purchased a DVX100A from Sherlock256. I got immediate contact information that was verifiable prior to sending payment. Bottom line...try here first if possible.
 
i just don't get how people worry about saving a few hundred bucks when there spending 5,000 on a camera. And why would anyone buy a HVX and not want a p2 card ? kinda defeats the purpose of having it
Plus buying from an authorized dealer gets you Barry's HVX book, another must have if you own an HVX
 
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Jason Wilson said:
i just don't get how people worry about saving a few hundred bucks when there spending 5,000 on a camera. And why would anyone buy a HVX and not want a p2 card ? kinda defeats the purpose of having it...
Click to expand...

well, #1 - $3700 vs $5000, that's 1300 saved, not just "a few hundred", and that's 100% brand new, USA model

also, why would anyone not want a p2 card?...one word, "firestore"...i bought a fs100 firestore for $1500, then bought a 250gb harddrive for $100, swapped it out with the 100gb inside the firstore, now i have over twice as much recording time on my firestore, so i basically got a 250gb p2card for $1600, lol, so i dont see why ppl even use p2 cards at all, when you can have a 250gb firestore for that cheap, get two if you need, then have 500gb for $3,000...try getting that much storage in p2 cards for that price.

-connor
 
adorama.com or call b&h over the phone and they will honor their old price of $1400 (found that out after i ordered from adorama, lol

-connor
 
Connor
how did you swap the 100GB hd with a 250GB?
is there any guidance somewhere so i can do too?

how did u insall the firmware onto new HD?

thanks in advance

berk
 
the firmware doesnt install on the hd, the hd is just the content holder for the recorded files. when you update the firmware, it updates the pROM memory chips inside the firestore...does not alter any files on the harddrive.

this is the thread i followed on updating the firestore harddrive...this guy used a fs4 40gb and upgraded to 120gb, but it worked with my fs100 to 250. i love shooting now without having to worry about time anymore :)

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=124596

-connor
 
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