5D Mark 3 Queue @ B&H

[Smith]

I have multiple B&H orders listed as "backordered. I know for a fact that I am in the top 10 on the order list, for all DSLRs, as confirmed by a sales rep. Regardless, I really don't care whether I'm in the first, second, or third allocation. The new tools will probably be sitting in a box for a while anyways.

 

[5dmk.iii]

I think when your order first goes into their system is says pre-order first because that is the sale type before the payment amount has been authorized on your card. After card authorization it then tries to fulfil the order when it finds they have no stock because the item is a preorder so its obviously not in stock yet the order flips into back ordered status...

I think thats whats happening... I may be wrong of course

Makes comeplete sense...

but the only thing thats goning to make the lads happy is to know really when it is in their hands... we can't stop thinking about every lost opportunity with no 5Diii in hand. :'(

 

[se7en]

Whether you know or don't know when it will ship, does it make it any faster getting there? This crisis evades me...

 

[NutsAndBolts]

I pre ordered a 24-70L II the day it was announced, and it said the item was backordered instead of pre ordered. I find it hard to believe that there's going to be huge shortages of that lens, especially since I pre ordered one as soon as it showed up on the B&H website.

I suspect that 'backordered' just means they don't have stock to ship to you, and means nothing about your place in the queue.

Edit: I am referring to what crapking posted: Then why the 1D X says pre-order?, it should also say 'back-order' since they do not have any 1D X in stock either.

 

[takoman46]

Here's an email update I just received from B&H regarding my 5DmkIII pre-order:

You placed order #(order number) on 03/02/12.

One or more items from this purchase are still out of stock as we haven't
yet received the merchandise from our supplier. We are sorry for any
inconvenience this may have caused. We will keep you posted on a weekly basis.

We appreciate your patience and patronage. Feel free to contact us with any
questions or comments about this order.

Thank you.

B&H Photo-Video
www.BandH.com

Weren't retailers supposed to have received the first shipments this past thursday-friday? What does this mean? Maybe I didn't make the first shipment... :'(

 

[cmunozs]

Here's an email update I just received from B&H regarding my 5DmkIII pre-order:

You placed order #(order number) on 03/02/12.

One or more items from this purchase are still out of stock as we haven't
yet received the merchandise from our supplier. We are sorry for any
inconvenience this may have caused. We will keep you posted on a weekly basis.

We appreciate your patience and patronage. Feel free to contact us with any
questions or comments about this order.

Thank you.

B&H Photo-Video
www.BandH.com

Weren't retailers supposed to have received the first shipments this past thursday-friday? What does this mean? Maybe I didn't make the first shipment... :'(

I've received the same email today morning... Although, they already took my many a week ago!

 

[bchernicoff]

B&H is probably keeping quiet for one simple reason: Business intelligence. If they tell people how many they have coming or how many preorders there are, their competitors might gain an advantage. What if B&H has *special* terms with Canon on receiving priority over others...say receiving 5x many bodies initially as their closest competition. If that were to get out, every other retailer would complain to Canon and that advantage might get taken away.

 

[NutsAndBolts]

B&H is probably keeping quiet for one simple reason: Business intelligence. If they tell people how many they have coming or how many preorders there are, their competitors might gain an advantage. What if B&H has *special* terms with Canon on receiving priority over others...say receiving 5x many bodies initially as their closest competition. If that were to get out, every other retailer would complain to Canon and that advantage might get taken away.

Nobody is asking how many they will get. People want to know when they are likely to get their camera. By answering a customer's question on when they are likely to ship the camera is not going to reveal their numbers nor will it reveal any 'special' agreement with Canon. And by the way I doubt that would be the case. This is USA, if that got out and if Adorama/Amazon did not sue to Canon some other two bit retailer could. Why would Canon risk it?

 

[bchernicoff]

Nobody is asking how many they will get. People want to know when they are likely to get their camera. By answering a customer's question on when they are likely to ship the camera is not going to reveal their numbers nor will it reveal any 'special' agreement with Canon. And by the way I doubt that would be the case. This is USA, if that got out and if Adorama/Amazon did not sue to Canon some other two bit retailer could. Why would Canon risk it?

The reply from B&H when asked, "When will my camera ship?" has been "We don't know how many we are getting, we don't know when yours will ship." And you think B&H doesn't have a deal with Canon? Why does Canon allow them to be an authorized retailer when they also offer grey market Canon gear? And in order for someone to sue Canon for allotting more bodies to B&H there would have to be a law against doing that? Do you think the US Government attempts to regulate how Canon chooses to allocate inventory? Of course they don't.

 

[kiniro]

When I pre-ordered from BHPhoto on March 2nd the availability of the product was Backordered. That was before it showed up as Pre-Order. So I did e-mail BHPhoto to asked them what the difference was and they said...

"Thank you for contacting the Customer Service Department at B&H Photo Video and Pro Audio.

They both mean the same thing, but it comes down to the same conclusion - we don't have it yet.
Pre-order means that the item is on Backorder, and is available to be pre-ordered as this is a new item that wasn't released yet, rather than just Backorder which may mean that we just ran out of stock."

This past saturday I received an e-mail telling me that my Backordered product (5d Mark III) is still in Backordered status. duh! lol

I also e-mailed them asking them if they know when they're going to ship these out and how much it'd cost me to change the shipping method to Overnight and the response I got was...

"I sincerely apologize, but Canon has not advised anybody of the shipping date yet. It will cost $65.25 to have the package shipped over night. With the free shipping that you have now, it will take 3 days. "

Bottom line...gotta wait patiently.

 

[MARKOE PHOTOE]

Per an email response I rec'd from B&H last Friday, they use the term 'pre-ordered' and 'backordered' interchangeably, or in other words, its doesn't matter which is listed. This is in writing from B&H.

I for one am sitting on the edge of my seat patiently waiting for the 5D3 and 24-70 II. I too have already paid via PAYPAL so you would think that B&H would take care of those who have already paid. Maybe, maybe not.

Good luck Canon shooters! In about a week, we'll be seeing 5D3 images posted on our websites.

 

[Loswr]

It will cost $65.25 to have the package shipped over night. With the free shipping that you have now, it will take 3 days.

That's one nice thing about being in Boston...B&H's free UPS ground is overnight shipping for me. But since I ordered a 1D X, I have a longer wait than you...

 

[bchernicoff]

That's one nice thing about being in Boston...B&H's free UPS ground is overnight shipping for me. But since I ordered a 1D X, I have a longer wait than you...

I'm in DC, so it's usually 2 days. Which means if it ships Thursday, I'm probably not going to see it until Monday. I sold my Mk II last week and am camera-less with the cherry blossoms peaking this week!! ARGHH!!

 

[kiniro]

The level of impatience and desperation for knowing when the camera will be shipped to me has led me to start checking my credit card account online to see if I have any pending charges from B&H. lol
just like when I preordered I had a pending transaction of $3500 for 2 days and then I had a pending credit of $3500.

 

[NutsAndBolts]

Nobody is asking how many they will get. People want to know when they are likely to get their camera. By answering a customer's question on when they are likely to ship the camera is not going to reveal their numbers nor will it reveal any 'special' agreement with Canon. And by the way I doubt that would be the case. This is USA, if that got out and if Adorama/Amazon did not sue to Canon some other two bit retailer could. Why would Canon risk it?

The reply from B&H when asked, "When will my camera ship?" has been "We don't know how many we are getting, we don't know when yours will ship." And you think B&H doesn't have a deal with Canon? Why does Canon allow them to be an authorized retailer when they also offer grey market Canon gear? And in order for someone to sue Canon for allotting more bodies to B&H there would have to be a law against doing that? Do you think the US Government attempts to regulate how Canon chooses to allocate inventory? Of course they don't.

But they know how many they ordered. I have heard the same thing from a number of retail shops, including small local shops, they ordered x but not sure what they will get. Now I buy that argument, may be Canon cannot tell them for some reason how many they will get on a given shipment. So even though they know what they ordered they cannot be sure how many they will get, and furthermore how many they will get the subsequent shipments. This would be a natural outcome where if the camera is really popular as it appears to be, Canon would be sharing the current inventory between a number of retailers so they may end up shipping fewer than what the retailer asked for. Hence the uncertainty on when a customer may get their order shipped.

You did not say 'deal' you said 'special deal'. I doubt Canon gives BH special treatment. It would be against fair business practice and would look really bad on Canon if it came out you can bet someone will think of suing Canon (not that it would be easy to prove, but that will not stop people, it is our national sport). Just because Canon is allowing BH to sell grey market Canon products, does not mean BH will get preferential treatment when it comes to fulfilling their stock request, in fact the opposite may be true, who knows? BH is a big player and I suspect their allotment is one of the largest, but that is it.

 

[grahamsz]

I have a preorder waiting with Amazon but they gave me a 4/3 delivery date for the kit.

Just talked to my local shop and they said they expect to have them in stock tomorrow, but don't know how many they'll have. They have some people preordered but sound like they are expecting more.

They also said they expect the kit to arrive first.

 

[gravediggingaditch]

Any word or updates from folks who ordered from Adorama? ???

I was told last week that Adorama expects to send 5d3s out in approx 3 weeks. WHAT?!?!

 

[kiniro]

I called B&H a couple of minutes ago to change my shipping method to Overnight delivery. Asked them when they're going to have the camera in stock and the guy on the phone didn't know.
In any case, I hope that having modified the order won't send me to the bottom of the list!!! :-\
On the other hand, hope rumors about retailers receiving kits first, and then bodies, isn't true because I ordered body only. lol

 

[5dmk.iii]

I have a preorder waiting with Amazon but they gave me a 4/3 delivery date for the kit.

Just talked to my local shop and they said they expect to have them in stock tomorrow, but don't know how many they'll have. They have some people preordered but sound like they are expecting more.

They also said they expect the kit to arrive first.

What city is this local shop in? ???

 

[SomeGuyInNewJersey]

I called B&H a couple of minutes ago to change my shipping method to Overnight delivery. Asked them when they're going to have the camera in stock and the guy on the phone didn't know.
In any case, I hope that having modified the order won't send me to the bottom of the list!!! :-\
On the other hand, hope rumors about retailers receiving kits first, and then bodies, isn't true because I ordered body only. lol

I dont think changing your shipping wont send you to the bottom of the list, changing from body to kit or vice versa would have because its a different product.