Graymarket camera
I saw a graymarket Sony a6500 on sale at Abe's of Maine for $839. Is this a good deal; they warranty it for 90 days.
AndyH
Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire
<sigh>
Search Abe's of Maine on this forum...the results won't be pretty. After all, a 90 day warranty from a shyster dealer with no repair facilities or technicians ought to be just fine, right? You MIGHT get your money back if it fails within the first three months, or you might not. They certainly don't have the capacity or desire to repair anything.
Barnum was wrong - every thirty seconds these days.
Nope. New warranty is one year at a legitimate dealer. Abe's has a reputation that is less than stellar.
B&h, Adorama, Hunt's and a few others are the best. I'm sure others Hoggers will add to this list.
Stay away from Abe's - do a search on this site or at Google for "Abesofmaine reviews" and you'll see what I mean. Had a bad order experience with them before and it went like many of the reviews you see online.
I you don't mind going grey, there are other, better options.
I had a great experience with e-infin.com on a high-end Nikon lens, and they have pretty solid reviews from most of their customers.
They have the Sony a6400 for $799.00
.. and a6500 bundled with a 18-135mm lens for $1,249.00
Two strikes before you get started, Abe's and Gray Market. I would really have to save a bundle before I would consider either of those. So what do you do after 90 days?
Country Boy wrote:
Two strikes before you get started, Abe's and Gray Market. I would really have to save a bundle before I would consider either of those. So what do you do after 90 days?
A e-infin.com they warranty their products for 1-year: not great since you have to ship back to Hong Kong, but it is some form of protection. I saved about $700 on a Nikkor 105mm f1.4 that arrived in perfect condition within days of placing my order, so was well worth it for me.
Gene51
Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
shieldsadvert wrote:
I saw a graymarket Sony a6500 on sale at Abe's of Maine for $839. Is this a good deal; they warranty it for 90 days.
Good. Buy it. And when it breaks, good luck getting it fixed.
At Abe's of Maine, with its bait-and-switch shenanigans, even what seems like a good deal is potentially a very bad deal. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with buying a grey market camera, as long as you know the risks and are okay with them. (I've bought a grey market camera some years ago at a very good price and have absolutely not regretted it.) But at least buy the camera from a supplier that is not known for cheating customers at every opportunity!
TriX
Loc: Raleigh, NC
If you’re considering buying from Abe’s, might as well get a bid from 42nd street camera while you’re at it 🤮.
Abe's also has a good price on a bridge in Brooklyn. It must be a good bridge, many folks have purchased it over the years. Of course traffic, {and therefore revenue} has dropped since "Abe's of Maine" moved out of Brooklyn, NY.
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If you can say no to fries at McDonald's, you can survive dealing with Abe's.
But see if they're offering the same deal on their Amazon store -- sometimes yes and sometimes no -- because them you have the benefits of Amazon's consumer protection policies AND the low price.
If you buy from B&H and use their credit card you can save the sales tax. I just bought a telephoto lens from them and saved $90.00
Just remember to set up autopay to pay the entire balance by the dues date or it will cost you interest.
Amazon prime gives you 5% back on purchases at Amazon if you use the amazon card to pay for the item.
The happiness of a cheap price fades very fast when problems come up. Just sayin.
Abe's used to be a good dealer. I don't know if they changed hands, but the reviews these days are not as good.
Having said that, I have bought grey market cameras from Ebay with good results. It is about the same risk as buying a used camera, except you know up front that there is no warranty. Don't trust any vendor that only has 10 or 20 good reviews. You don't want any vendor that has only been in the camera business for a few weeks.
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