Advice Needed on USAPhotoNation.com

[Martha]

I am buying my first digital SLR camera and want a Canon Rebel I need only the body since my son-in-law has Canon cameras and will give me a few lenses. He has used this site in the past for different things but I wondered if anyone here has used them recently to buy a camera. I'm looking at this page. Here are 2 camera descriptions:
CANON
EOS400D Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Black Body Only) (EOS-400D, EOS 400D, XTi)
Price: $249.00
CANON
EOS-350D Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only -Black) (EOS 350D, EOS350D)
Price: $219.00
CANON
EOS-350D Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only -Black) (EOS 350D, EOS350D)
Price: $299.00

The last 2 seem to me to be the same but why, I'm wondering, is there such a difference in price. I would really appreciate any help and advice that anyone can give. Thanks.
Martha

[JulieM]

Martha,

I'm afraid those prices seem just too good to be true. I did a quick search and found these reviews at epinions.com. More could be found I'm sure if you search a bit more...

Julie

[Martha]

Thanks, Julie. They did seem awfully low but I supposed that it was because of the fact that no lenses were included, . That's why i posted here-I'm not too trusting about ordering online unless I either know the company or they are recommended by people I trust.
Martha

[JulieM]

You are definitely going to save money if you only need the camera body but from ads I've seen recently, I think the price will more likely almost 3 times what you saw from that vendor. I got an ad in the mail today from a local source and the xTI body was $729. I have never ordered camera equipment on-line but there are certainly reliable sources out there. B&H, for one, has an excellent reputation. I hope that you'll get some advice from others here who have experience with on-line vendors...

[Bayla]

Wow Julie,

I don't think I've ever seen such bad reviews and ratings for an online company before (& I do a lot of shopping online!)

Bayla

[JulieM]

Scary, isn't it? These are really big ticket items and one big concern is that you'll be caught without a valid manufacturer warranty. My very cautious brother-in-law inexplicably ordered his Nikon D200 on-line earlier this year from a vendor he wasn't familiar with. Red flags went up when it arrived and all the literature, both print and electronic, were in a language other than English. He guessed that the camera wasn't licensed to be sold in North America at all and was able to return it. He went back to B&H and I'm sure won't go anywhere else again...

[Stoney]

Martha, you might try this site for reviews on the cameras you have an interest.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html
Click in the box where it says "All cameras alphabetically"; find the camera you are interested in and you will have all the info you can digest. You can go right to the "Conclusions" page and get a feel for the camera based on the testers comments. Then you can back track to the other pages if you are still interested in the camera after reading the conclusions.
Once you determine the one you like, go to Costco's website if you are a member, enter it in the search box. All cameras they sell does not always come up if you just go through the menus that leads to digital cameras. Their prices are competitive and the service is good.
Hope this helps a little.
David

[jo]

I think I tried to buy a camera from them -- ridiculously low price -- the order went through, but I got a message to call them. On the phone they tried to sell me the camera with lenses. I said I only needed the body. Then the "customer service rep" said the one at that price was in Chinese so I said cancel the order. And it took a lot of insisting to get it cancelled.

If it sounds too good to be true it's probably a come-on.

[Martha]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I can't click on any links anywhere on the forum tonight without my computer freezing up and me having to press Ctrl + Alt + De.. Microsoft says it's a Yahoo Browser problem. So frustrating!!

BHPhotoVideo.com was another site My son-in-law mentioned-he said they were reliable. He also told me to watch out for the language problem and for the salesmen trying to sell all sorts of other things--that's why I wanted to see what experiences others have had. I have some prices from B H and while they were higher, I guess you get what you pay for!

Stoney, I belong to Sam's club but there is a Cosco about an hour from me.

Again everyone, thank you so much!
Martha

[kImages]

Martha - I've used B&H a number of times. I always get good service and rapid delivery from them.