bnsf

Received a call from one of the Grand Kids needing help purchasing his first camera. He was looking on the Wal-Mart website and found a beginners camera a Nikon Coolpix 20mp bundle for around $110.00. This camera bundle is being sold thru Beach Camera. How reliable is this company is Wal-Mart is handling the merchandise and when l looked l did not see no extra service contracts offered or extended warranty. Is this buyer beware or since it is being sold by Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart is handling the problems and returns? Would you buy from Beach Camera?

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Perhaps 3 years ago I bought from Beach. All went exactly as it should have. They got my business because they offered a lower price on a Sony a6000 it with both the 16-50 and the 55-210 kit lenses plus a bunch of misc. incentives.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I bought from them in the past and got good service - about 3 years ago. Walmart keeps a pretty good eye on the sellers on their site.

bnsf

Thank you for your positive feedback. Will pass it on to there mother.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Good for me a year ago.

Bill MN Loc: Western MN

No do not buy from them. I bought a movie camera that did not work. They would not take it back.

mvetrano2 Loc: Commack, NY

Beach Camera is the first place I look when buying anything. I have dealt with them on many occasions and have never had an issue.

anotherview Loc: California

Check out the reviews here of Beach Camera: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beach-camera-edison-6

Buyer beware!

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I have bought from them several times over the last few years, everything just as it should be. They have been around for a long time, but I don't know if ownership or other factors have changed. Walmart does not handle the 3rd party seller items (returns and refunds are almost always direct with 3rd party seller), just the monetary end, a lot like Amazon and 3rd party sellers. If it is being sold & shipped by Walmart/Walmart.com then they are actually handling it, otherwise it is the 3rd party vendor. Past experience with Walmart 3rd party vendors (when there was an issue) was that they work reasonably hard at customer satisfaction (never had to "go up the chain") with refunds/exchanges. YMMV

trinhqthuan Loc: gaithersburg

Beach Camera has been around for quite some time. I got by Nikon N8008s from them and many lenses from BH in 1992. Should be a reliable store

Wags Loc: Mequon, WI

Last week, I ordered a Nikon D500 from Beach Camera through Amazon. It was the best price I could find, and arrived in 3 days, and had the Nikon USA warranty. I did need to communicate with their customer service regarding a delivery question and they responded almost instantly. I am very happy with the service from Beach and with my new camera!

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I've bought camera gear from Beach Camera in the past without any problem. It's been some years, though. And the Yelp feedback looks pretty bad. I noticed a lot of the complaints are about purchases of things other than cameras.... Still, if a price is significantly below what well-established and highly reliable dealers like B&H Photo and Adorama are offering, I think twice.

PS: I looked at the Walmart site and didn't see Beach offering any Coolpix models for less than $159.... ??? There's another company I've never heard of (Ted's Electronics?) offering one or two in the $110 range. The "bundles" I see there appear to be mostly pretty cheap junk (a flimsy little tripod, one or two inexpensive memory cards, a cheap case, yada, yada)... but that won't matter a lot if the camera is okay.

Watch out for "store warranty" or "international warranty". Those are "gray market"... not officially imported. And with Nikon gear that means there's effectively no warranty at all because Nikon USA won't even look at gray market items, let alone repair them... Even if you're willing to pay for the repairs. Nikon USA also won't provide most repair parts outside their small network of "authorized repairers" either, which can mean that no one else may be able to fix a camera either. Chances are if a camera works okay out of the box (and most do), no repairs will ever be needed and the warranty would never be needed. But if for any reason repairs are needed, a gray market Nikon can be a problem. (Other manufacturers are less restrictive and gray market is less of a problem.)

Finally, a Coolpix A100 is the only camera I see on the Walmart website that comes close to your description. If that's the one under consideration FYI, that camera uses a tiny 1/2.3" CCD sensor (about the size of your pinky fingernail). CCD sensors are not able to be used at very high ISO due to image "noise" issues. Especially the really tiny sensors utterly crammed with many millions of pixels, like in that camera. I would search for online reviews and read them carefully. There are lots of websites with reviews that can be helpful, but this one might get you started: https://cameradecision.com/review/Nikon-Coolpix-A100. I have never used an A100, but would be surprised if it will make very usable images above ISO 200 or 400. Among compact cameras, lower resolution in the 12 to 16MP range might be a bit better. Even better still would be a camera that uses a bit larger (and less crowded) sensor and/or a CMOS sensor, which perform better at higher ISOs.

Oh, and BTW... Ted's is offering the same camera on Amazon for $8 or $10 less (free shipping with Amazon Prime).

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The Yelp reviews seem to be a mixed bag. Were those who got 'good' deals actually getting gray market?

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Reviews are a crap shoot to start with, so any conjecture is part of the program. They may add to a decision and should be taken for what they are. An opinion.

bassplayer59

I've made several purchases from them and an exchange. The exchange was hassle free. Would definitely buy from again without hesitation.