Where are people buying 150 from?

ESTEBEVERDE said:
Is AVAlive an authorized vendor?
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Yup, they are an authorized Panasonic vendor. I checked in with them last week, but so far no go on the shooter's. I noticed that other online retailers have the HMC150 in by itself, but still show the shooter's pack as unavailable...
 
I just got an e-mail from AValive....
It should ship today.:)

Why is it that we adults turn into littles kids on Christmas day waiting for Santa at these times????
 
Hidef1080 said:
I just got an e-mail from AValive....
It should ship today.:)

Why is it that we adults turn into littles kids on Christmas day waiting for Santa at these times????
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Same here. Wish i had picked a quicker shipping method.... oh well....
 
I keep observing this for those of you who believe that you can avoid sales tax on these purchasers.

Unless your state has no sales tax, you must pay an home state use tax that is the same percentage.

If you don't, you can get audited, and the penalties are pricey.

Just a heads up because saving a couple of hundred dollars isn't worth the aggravation. Note some states have regulations that affect video production sales taxes.

FWIW.
 
I'm glad people are having positive experiences with these cameras through authorized dealers. We also have 17 on hand as of 11:50 am cst today, and dvxuser discounts apply if you contact me directly.
 
David S. said:
I keep observing this for those of you who believe that you can avoid sales tax on these purchasers.

Unless your state has no sales tax, you must pay an home state use tax that is the same percentage.

If you don't, you can get audited, and the penalties are pricey.

Just a heads up because saving a couple of hundred dollars isn't worth the aggravation. Note some states have regulations that affect video production sales taxes.

FWIW.
Click to expand...

Not true.

You are 100% incorrect and unless you are a Tax Lawyer or Certified Public Accountant in every State and Territory you are giving advice to you are liable not only for your bad Advice but for the Unlicensed Practicing of Law and Accountancy.

Further More. Internet Orders are covered under FEDERAL LAW.

Sales Tax on the Internet
by Attorney Richard Stim


Everyone should read and understand their State Law for themselves and if they have questions should seek qualified legal council.
 
chanpanzee said:
BH didn't add sales tax to mine. You can't beat BH's coverage plans though.
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I was thinking about B&H due to those plans, well.

But with Panasonic's 3 year warranty on the HMC-150, do you think the extended warranty is as important as it is with some cams?

The 5 year extended warranty from B&H is $685.95, which may be just about a HMC-150 will be worth on ebay in 5 years. (or close, anyhoo) :)
 
By the way, for those of you considering buying anything from B&H, I'll share a tip that's helped me a good deal.

Photoshopuser.com, a membership/magazine type deal, gives you free ground and free 3 day shipping from B&H. Other forms of shipping are also highly discounted.

They also give you discounts from other major players that help with video projects, like one from Apple. I get 8% off of most pro purchases. 6 to 8% on other stuff, even in store. That saved me a heck of a lot of money on a Mac Pro, and easily paid for my magazine subscription (which I think is either $79 or $99 a year)

Discounts aside, the downside to B&H is the lack of any real type of dealer support (they're just a box shop), and sometimes less than exemplary customer service when things go wrong. Most orders I've ever gotten from them came along just fine, but sometimes they don't ship as quickly as you think they would, and there have been two times when relatively little things went wrong that left a bad taste in my mouth due to the way they handled them.

Once, a refurbished camera was sent to me that didn't include everything they said online. It took far too many backs and backs, too many weeks of my time, to get this handled. Promised phonecalls never happened. They ended up fulfilling their promises, but I'd always need to ride 'em to get them to move on anything. That ate up any cost savings right there, and left me annoyed overall.

I also ordered some lights not too long ago, and all of them came crushed to powder because B&H sent 'em UPS without marking them fragile, as most lighting dealers do. (and I imagine B&H usually does this, too, and simply forgot on this shipment) They had me send them back with a return tag they sent, and they promptly forgot about me. Again, too many backs and forths to get any headway on the problem, but this time they never handled it. They lost their return tag info in their system, and just stuck me with the cost of the (not inexpensive) lights. Ick!

To me, B&Hs online experience simply doesn't compare to their store in NY (which far exceeds most expectations). There are some things B&H does that are hard to beat (like Sony Vegas OEM for $129), but when all things are said and done, I'd much rather deal with Full Compass or a smaller company like Spec, when going by mail.

For my HMC purchase, I'm strongly considering Spec, in fact. I had no idea how good small video-related companies could be until I dealt with Coffey Sound in Hollywood for my sound needs. They helped me beyond all measure, compared to some of the big dealers. I'm now a small player with big time movie sound. (or very darn close) Some of the sales assistance, as well as the post-sales supportyou can get from the smaller guys is amazing, to say the least. A lot of the little guys MAKE SURE you are happy. :)
 
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vavavideo said:
By the way, for those of you considering buying anything from B&H, I'll share a tip that's helped me a good deal.

Photoshopuser.com, a membership/magazine type deal, gives you free ground and free 3 day shipping from B&H. Other forms of shipping are also highly discounted.

They also give you discounts from other major players that help with video projects, like one from Apple. I get 8% off of most pro purchases. 6 to 8% on other stuff, even in store. That saved me a heck of a lot of money on a Mac Pro, and easily paid for my magazine subscription (which I think is either $79 or $99 a year)

Discounts aside, the downside to B&H is the lack of any real type of dealer support (they're just a box shop), and sometimes less than exemplary customer service when things go wrong. Most orders I've ever gotten from them came along just fine, but sometimes they don't ship as quickly as you think they would, and there have been two times when relatively little things went wrong that left a bad taste in my mouth due to the way they handled them.

Once, a refurbished camera was sent to me that didn't include everything they said online. It took far too many backs and backs, too many weeks of my time, to get this handled. Promised phonecalls never happened. They ended up fulfilling their promises, but I'd always need to ride 'em to get them to move on anything. That ate up any cost savings right there, and left me annoyed overall.

I also ordered some lights not too long ago, and all of them came crushed to powder because B&H sent 'em UPS without marking them fragile, as most lighting dealers do. (and I imagine B&H usually does this, too, and simply forgot on this shipment) They had me send them back with a return tag they sent, and they promptly forgot about me. Again, too many backs and forths to get any headway on the problem, but this time they never handled it. They lost their return tag info in their system, and just stuck me with the cost of the (not inexpensive) lights. Ick!

To me, B&Hs online experience simply doesn't compare to their store in NY (which far exceeds most expectations). There are some things B&H does that are hard to beat (like Sony Vegas OEM for $129), but when all things are said and done, I'd much rather deal with Full Compass or a smaller company like Spec, when going by mail.

For my HMC purchase, I'm strongly considering Spec, in fact. I had no idea how good small video-related companies could be until I dealt with Coffey Sound in Hollywood for my sound needs. They helped me beyond all measure, compared to some of the big dealers. I'm now a small player with big time movie sound. (or very darn close) Some of the sales help, and post-sales help you can get from the smaller guys is amazing, to say the least. A lot of the little guys MAKE SURE you are happy. :)
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I kinda noticed the same thing about B&H too and that's one reason I “jumped ship” to Avalive but now I'm almost certain I'll be jumping ship yet again.


Is it so hard to have good customer service and to ship an order [complete order] when you say you will? Or at least have an answer to “when”.
When items are listed as “In stock” and have been listed as in stock for a while?


Sorry about the rant...
But really... People order stuff because they need it not because they want “I don't know. We'll send you a e-mail when it ships.”


Okay.
 
Yeah thanks for the info. I checked idealo.de but so far they didn't have any listings of the HMC-151 (or 150) They had the new HPX though...

You ordered it through the internet to Basque country? Hope you'll report how smooth the transaction was as soon as you get your camera.
 
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