Ah, my favorite, it's always the batteries and the extended warranty. I've ran into this before when purchasing a scanner online.

One reason I only buy from online stores which provide tracking information within 24 hours.

Also, you know their site is quality when you see this... "US1Camera One Day Sale Ends Midnight October 16th! Don't Wait!"

If the price is significantly cheaper than BHphoto, Adorama, or amazon, It's probably a scam.

I was selling a Fuji Finepix camera on craigslist last year, great camera in great shape, and someone actually posted a rebuttal ad saying that you shouldn't buy a used camera locally when you could buy the same model for the same price brand new from the Camera Professionals.

I thought it was both remarkable and insane that some guys from brooklyn had the free time to search for random cameras sold on New Orleans craigslist and match the price.

Someone flagged their ad as spam, and I sold my Finepix at the listed price without any problems.

I used to be ignorant of this scam. Now it's pretty easy to spot: never heard of the retailer? Price WAY too cheap? Memory cards ridiculously priced? Scam. Period.

I fell for it a couple of years ago, I saw a camcorder that was about $150 cheaper than anywhere else, ordered it, and had to "call to confirm." I did and they pulled the "battery that comes with it only lasts a 1/2 hour" routine. I knew they were full of shit, but seeing as how I wanted to get extra batteries anyways I bought 2 that seemed a little overpriced. I confirmed that they were about $20 too much and called to cancel the battery purchase. He told me "okay, but you'll have to cancel the whole order because it comes as a bundle. Then we'll charge you a 20% restocking fee." I proceeded to verbally abuse him, he did the same to me, and he decided to give me the second battery free. So it actually worked out halfway decent for me. And of course their "extended" battery lasts the same 2 or 3 hours as the one that came with it.

If you want reliable photography-focused stores, go with Adorama or Beach Camera. 999/1000 of those Brooklyn-based camera shops are scams. hell, even 999/1000 stores that advertise in photography magazines are full of crap. Research and rest easy.

Or buy what you can through reliable sellers like Amazon and newegg. Amazon sold me my 40D and Adorama has sold me my lenses, no fuss.

I've actually ordered from us1camera before and looking back they actually pulled a similar thing with me. I ordered a Sony DSLR that was about $100 below B&H prices, but the next day they told me that they were out of stock even though when I placed the order it clearly said "In Stock" on their site. However, after 2 calls checking in on when their stock would be updated they sent me out the camera with no hassle or attempt at making me purchase any accessories...then even 2day'd the shipping free of charge to make up for the mistake on their end. So yes it was a pain to call twice to check on inventory but I also saved myself $100 plus the taxes B&H would have charged me.

People really just don't want to believe that there's no free lunch in photography. There are never steep discounts, big clearance markdowns or door-busting sales. The most exciting discounts of the year are things like Canon's rebate program, which offers a whopping 5-10% off.

The sooner people realize this, the better off they'll be. It's an expensive hobby, get used to it.

@Ratty: Also B&H and KEH.

Wander outside the retailers we've mentioned at your own risk.

The other scam readers need to beware of is where they undercut the average selling price, but pull out the most common accessories.

Back when the Nikon D70s was around $1,200 I had a friend order one for about $700. Suprise suprise when the company called and explained to him that the camera didn't include the stock lens, batter, LCD cover and the camera might be used.

Buy from Adorama or BHphotovideo. Otherwise, the best you can get off most cameras is $100 to $150 off the retail price.

Top signs that it's a scam in one way or another.

1) It undercuts buydig(beach camera), adorama, b&h, and newegg.
2) They claim it's US warranty, not used, full kit with no other indications of why it's cheaper
3) They don't list a physical address on their website
4) You can't validate the physical address on their website
5) The address is in NYC ( except for b&h or adorama )

You know it's a scam when they call you and..

1) Won't sell you what you ordered
2) Claim that standard accessories are "extras"
3) Will only sell it with an expensive warranty plan

If you demand the item you ordered for the price they claimed

1) They will berate you
2) They will threaten you with physical harm
3) You will have to call back after they hang up on you to beg to cancel

google "Camera store Brooklyn scam"

I bought a Nikon D60 from these guys back in the summer. I picked them because they had the cheapest price for this camera. I got the same call... the scammer on the other end of the line told me that "since this was such a high value shipment" they wanted to "confirm the order."

During the "confirmation" I was told that the stock battery in the Nikon D60 would only last for 5 shots and I would need the additional charger and battery for another $80.

Since that sounded like total BS I politely declined and told them to just ship me the camera kit. I was then told they hope I would enjoy taking 5 pictures at a time. I told them I'd have no problem with this.

I got the camera. But for such a "valuable shipment" it wasn't even delivered with signature confirmation. It was just left on my doorstep. After fully charging the camera, I was able to take about 200+ pictures (I lost count) before having to recharge the battery.

A simple check on Resellerratings or BBB can save consumers a ton of grief when it comes to shady online camera retailers.

After many years of trouble-free online shopping, a false sense of security made me forget this simple advice when I bought from fotoconnection.com. What they advertised: new camera, factory sealed, memory card, 1-year warranty. What I got: used camera, box contents sealed with scotch-tape, broken charger, no memory card, warranty registration missing. Moreover, they worded their return policy to effectively render the sale as final. Customer service was nonexistent. AND fraudulent charges started appearing on my credit account within an hour after I initiated a chargeback. Coincidence? Hardly. A slew of other people had complained about the exact same things about this retailer on resellerratings.

It's amazing how the system allows such open and blatant fraud to continue. Take advantage of consumer review sites and always be a defensive shopper.

Here ya go:

Our good friend Don Wiss has provided us a photo of the store:

[donwiss.com]

Check out the number of names used by this company.... maybe to deceive the consumer?

Look how the company photoshops the photograph of their building:

[offtopic.glennchan.info]

And here is the company's offering:

[www.us1photo.com]

I just luv their business practices:

" US1photo.com prices are determined by the cost of the product when purchased from our distributor. Due to fluctuating wholesale costs from our distributors prices may vary daily. US1Camera offers the lowest current price possible. We cannot offer price protection since our distributors do not offer it to us. There will be no price adjustments given once your order is shipped. This is the only way we can ensure that we give our customers the best price possible.
"

WTF? My distributors set prices for blocks of time, sometimes as much as a year. Price changes daily? WHO in HELL do they think they are kidding?

@snowmoon:
Some great tips, but I must add a few more!

Add J&R to the list of acceptable NYC stores. They are very good and will price match B&H and Adorama if either of those don't have something in stock. (I think they do it online, but I just go down there in person since it saves on shipping.)

Also, some of these places have relocated to New Jersey, in various places in Union, Essex, and Hudson Counties in the NYC suburbs.

One other tip if you suspect something, Google the phone number. Often they don't change them when they change the name of their website to do more scamming. The phone number will usually pop up on several consumer oriented websites with tales of bad service probably under another company name.

something else to keep in mind... alot of the times these cameras are "grey market" or from Japan or whatever... they are quality but in the case of a Nikon my boss got, the firmware upgrade was not supported. so he is stuck with a camera that is pretty badass but you can't update the software on it.

Haha, the picture of their store front is badly photoshopped, add to that the one of people inside, who look suspiciously added digitally :)

I actually ordered from US1Camera back in June. I bought a brand new Canon Rebel XTi with the body kit. They offered the lowest price of anyone by far. Surprisingly though, I can say I never got a phone call or anything from them. Shipping was longer than I liked (about a week and a half, a lot when you're used to Newegg). Maybe I just got lucky, but they seemed fine to me. At the time I got the camera for a steal, about $595 for the whole kit, when even Newegg was selling it for $630 or more. Maybe they only do that upsell garbage when you actually buy something significantly more expensive than what I got.

I guess upselling is the new "Selling" since nobody seems to make any money anymore without tacking a bunch of extra crap on to a transaction.

@Corporate-Shill: These links are awesome. Thanks!

Yeaaaaaaah... New York is becoming a scam haven. It's starting to rank up there with Nigeria on my list of locales NOT to do business with.

@Chris Walters: You may want to also check out the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs website

If you absolutely know what you're doing, ordering from one of the big names already mentioned should work.

BUT . . . photography equipment is one area where I don't mind paying a bit more and supporting the local guys. They will be there to answer questions when you can't quite figure out that menu setting. They will let you bring your shiny new DSLR into the store and try a new lens. They have the extra battery and/or memory card you might need because you're leaving on vacation the next day.

NB - this does not mean Ritz or any of their other incarnations.

I used to manage for a chain of camera stores back in the early 80's. We had fixed pricing that the sales folks couldn't negotiate on. Our mom and pop competitors were of the old world sleeze ilk that would say/do anything to make the sale.

We sold a particular Canon camera for $299.97. They knew that was our price so they would offer it for $269. When you went to buy it, the lens cap ($7), battery ($8), strap ($10), warranty card($10), etc all became mandatory options. Sometimes the accessory price varied but the scam was pretty much the same.

We joined the sleeze pool several years later by offering a lifetime warranty on the camera. It was optional for a cost of 10% of the camera price. The catch was that you had to bring in the camera annually for a clean and check that could take up to 3 months. Miss a year, you were SOL.

I left the company soon after. The company folded about 2 years later taking the warranty with it.

@Binaryslyder: +1 - Adorama and B&H are quite reputable, and those two and J&R are just about the only NYC camera/electronics shops I would buy from online.

@Epsilon748:

Since when is $30 off something a "steal". ~5% off doesnt translate to "steal" in my book.

@G_Money21: especially when you factor in that the fact it could be a high quality used or grey market item.

@G_Money21: Trust me, when you look for cameras, that's a steal. Like posted earlier, finding 10% off is a *huge* sale. 5% off is nice to find on it at non-sale times of the year. If you don't believe me, go look for a camera kit anywhere, prices are always within a few dollars of each other. The difference being when you're getting a non-retail kit or body only. Every other retailer was selling the camera for at *least* $630 + shipping. Maybe US1 wasn't as scammy when I bought it.

The camera I got was in the US retail packaging, and marked with the same lot numbers as those offered locally, so I'm guessing it wasn't gray market either (I checked my box last night, I don't throw anything away). I'm not defending US1, maybe they are scam artists, I'm just saying I didn't have any issues when I purchased from them ~8 months ago. And I used that 5% to buy a case and 8gb CF card, so it was hardly an "insignificant" savings.

@PBark: Uh huh...

@MikeGrenade: Or, if you're lucky enough, a good local photography shop. I have one a 30-minute walk from my apartment and patronise them for what I can.

@Epsilon748: Risking grey market items for 5% of is hardly a steal at all.

@Quatre707: This photo store looked shady to me before. I was in the market in January for a SLR in the $600 range, and although prices varied by a great deal they were offering a price that was at least $150 below everyone else's on the Google Shopping results.

But after reading so many negative reviews for this store, I decided not to go anywhere near it. It looked like too many customers got roped into a bait-and-switch, and that this company had too many inventory issues (maybe they don't even have an inventory, etc.)

Everything about it, including the lowball prices, seems scammy.

To the OP: Please file a complaint with the FTC.

Clark Howard spoke of this on his radio show several days ago.

@Plates: Absolutely. I haven't ordered cameras from those sites but have purchased various computer products and electronics with no problems. Prices have been reasonable too.

I hate to admit it, but my wife got taken in by this last year for my birthday.

She bought me a Nikon 55-200mm AF-S VR lens for my DSLR. She said she got a good deal, however the guy called her back a couple hours later and sold her a $45 UV filter. He gave her the hard sell as how it's practically required for good pictures and to protect the lens. Being the good wife she is, she bought it wanting to protect her investment.

Anyone who knows anything about cameras knows a generic UV filter like she was sold was worth about $12 at the most. I was floored when she told me what she paid for the UV filter.

So I used to work for a company that did comparison shopping (think Nextag, although that wasn't the one). We did both product and retailer comparisons/ratings.

Every holiday shopping season we had to have a specific team of people who had the job of weeding out the scummy companies like this. Around Christmas all these slimy camera retailers pop up like mold around NJ and NY and try to screw unsuspecting consumers over with scams exactly like this.

Something similar happened to me a couple years ago when I got a new digital camera online (I can't remember where I got it).

I got a call 1 week after I placed my order from a sales rep trying to get me to buy a new battery and memory card. I told him I already ordered them online (for a lot less than they were trying to get me to pay) and wasn't interested. He then got SUPER snippy with me and said that since I wasn't getting the accessories, they would only be able to ship the camera to my via some super slow way that took a couple weeks to get to me.

It was really annoying, but I got a strange kind of satisfaction that I hadn't played into their little game.