Is amazon U.K third party ok for used camera gear

Yeah, I almost know its stupid to consider it, but amazon do say they protect buyers even through third part so long as you purchase through the amazon website. Ive also not found many negative reviews of anyones experience with amazon third party sellers.

Im not that familiar with the term bait and switch. Does this mean they could try telling me its out of stock and give me something at a similar price like a canon 60d and hope id keep it?
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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CJRodgers said:
Yeah, I almost know its stupid to consider it, but amazon do say they protect buyers even through third part so long as you purchase through the amazon website. Ive also not found many negative reviews of anyones experience with amazon third party sellers.

Im not that familiar with the term bait and switch. Does this mean they could try telling me its out of stock and give me something at a similar price like a canon 60d and hope id keep it?

Most 3rd party sellers on Amazon are very good. Did you actually try to buy it? I dug up the thread I was thinking of, and when the cheap 5DII was added to the cart, it turned out it wasn't really available, it seemed.

Yes, a bait-and-switch is where you get something other than what's advertised. Or, the seller contacts you with the info passed along from Amazon, and talks about how the 5DII at that price is the Malaysia-specific version (or whatever) that is missing some features of the regular version and lacks warranty coverage in your country, but they could sell you the better version for a very nice price, along with an extra battery for which they'll charge you $200.

Lots of scams out there...if your common sense tells you it's too good to be true, then it probably is. Even if Amazon or whoever covers you, and you get your money back, you have still had to deal with the hassle of filing claims and waiting for your money.

£800 sounds too good to be true. FWIW, 'brown source marketing' is legit (apparently) but does not list any products from Canon on Amazon, nor any cameras at all.
 
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CJRodgers said:
I just saw a canon 5dmkii for £800 on amazon through a third party seller. The seller had 95% positive response ...
In the future should i snap somehting like this up or is it risky?

95% is a little low for someone that merely has to take the money and post out the goods - 5% of orders cocked up in some way doesn't inspire confidence. £800 for an as new 5dmkII is crazy. Either a simple pricing error, stolen, broken or a scam. You did right to avoid it, tempting though it must have been.
 
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Hi,

Thanks for advice. The seller actually email me this morning and said that their account had been hacked and things posted on it that they werent selling. Apparently amazon have stepped in to help them but also said its getting very common!

I think id trust this seller for most things, but it did seem odd as a camera was a strange addition to their product line. Ill always email to check first!

Im looking out for a new camera this year, unless i find a great price on a used 5d mkii whcih is why I was looking. This has put me off trying to find a bargain.


Thanks,

Craig
 
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For used gear I'd guess it would depend very much of the seller, I'd definately email them first myself to get as much in writting as possible.

For new gear I'v heard from a few people that alot of the ultra cheap third party sellers are actually grey imports not covered by uk warrenty, the Canon 55-250 mk1's espeically seem to often be suspect.
 
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S

SnappyJohn

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I have also been using London Camera Exchange! They are always very helpful.

But I find generally on Amazon its best to contact thrid parties f they are not a reconized company, as have had some bad experiences with people trying to contact me from Nigeria when selling a camera.

My girlfriend recommended discount and vouchers sites to sch as Groupon.
 
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