Purchasing XL2

[Tony Cruz]

I am looking to purchase an XL2 and my question pertains to pricing and reputable dealers. Most dealers' price is $4K-5K,
but I have noticed that usaphotonation.com and royalcamera.com and selling the XL2 for $3,149 and $3,179 respectively.
Usaphotonation told me that their XL2s are brand new from the factory and carry the Canon's manufacturer's warranty. Before I purchase an XL2, please advise me on whether I am taking a risk by purchasing from these two dealers. Thank you, in advance, for any helpful feedback.

[Chris Hurd]

See USA Photo Nation's very poor score at Reseller Ratings.

See also Royal Camera's very poor score at Reseller Ratings.

Generally speaking, if the price seems too good to be true, then it is. The price you've listed is far, far below actual dealer net. We've assembled the best dealers in the business here at DV Info Net. You'll find them on our Sponsors page. They're all highly recommended. Hope this helps,

[Scott Ellifritt]

The best reputable price I have found for the XL2 is $4200. It was on Ebay.

[Barry Green]

Those "resellers" are gray marketers, and they absolutely will not sell the camera for that price.

Not without you buying a lot of overpriced accessories, that is.

And even then, it may not actually have the manufacturer's warranty. Some of these unscrupulous resellers have taken to advertising their cameras come with a "US Warranty", which really just means that they print up their own bogus in-store warranty card! They figure that because their store is in the US, that counts as a "US Warranty"...

Stay away from the scam shops, you absolutely cannot win when playing that game. Rush at EVSOnline.com is one of the best in the business and will completely take care of you and get you one of the best legitimate deals from a legitimate authorized reseller.

[Jay Gladwell]

I paid $4,198 at http://www.1877camcorder.com/xl2.html the first week they were released. Now they're selling for $4,079. Hard to beat that price, and they are reputable.

Jay

[Tony Cruz]

Jay, I called "Bob" at the seller, who assured me that his are not grey market. The XL2s include the Canon 1 year manufacturer's warranty and everything included as if purchased from Ritz Camera, Best Buy, or Dell. Does that reflect your experience, when you bought from them? I want to make sure they are not grey market... tc

[Jay Gladwell]

Tony--

No, they are not gray market--full US warranty. They delivered everything as promised. And it even came a day or two early! I have no problems with them.

Jay

[Sebastian Jacome]

When I was researching prior to buying my XL2, I called Royal Camera many times, trying to get a straight answer from them. My friend had tried to buy an Optura 300 from them and he was told he needed to buy a ton of accesories which he did not need, and later on we found out that they even open the boxes and take the batteries, and some of them the viewfinder of the package. (I remember calling a place called infinity that took the 20X lens off the package)

@ Royal Camera, I called many times, and I was treated like cr**, ended up paying a bit more somewhere else, but I am sure I am not getting a half packed canon package with no batteries/ view finder/ warranty from these sellers that offer *too good of a deal... it never is.

Be careful

[John Sandel]

Jay, I'm glad you got a solid buy from 877Camcorders. The price they're quoting on the XL2 is so low, I'm tempted to call them. But I'm loathe to buy from someone not approved by the DVInfo guys---I trust mainly this community's opinions about resellers.

Today, 877Camcorders's website says "$4078.77" for the XL2 with the 20x zoom, which is only $79.77 more than I've been quoted by forum-sponsor merchants for the body-alone kit. At that price, I could also buy a 14x zoom (my favorite lens) and sell the 20x zoom for a profit!

I read everything at 877Camcorders's website and it *looks* like they're legit: they go to some trouble in their "About Us" pages to clarify how they sell, honor warranties, take return etc. I did find this:

"Some UPC's may have been removed for inventory tracking."

(That's at "http://www.1-877camcorder.com/theproduct.html")

That sends up a warning flag for me; it's a classic sign of a reseller who's out to make his buck regardless of the customer's need. (After all, the whole point of UPC codes is to enable inventory control without paper, so removing the code is technically unnecessary; plus, many manufacturers require a original UPC from the owner code for proof of purchase.)

Did your XL2 packaging come through intact? Were the UPC codes still there? Was the package opened, or did it look factory-sealed? Did you receive everything in the package that Canon lists on their website?

The NY state Better Business Bureau has one report on 877Camcorders (I searched at the BBB's website, http://www.bbbnewyork.org/businessreports/default.aspx, for "877 camcorder" with the street address as a parameter.

They have one report, detailing 5 complaints in the past 3 years: one each for "Billing or Credit" issues, "Product Quality" (which could mean anything, including stupid customers) and "Refund or Exchange." The BBB has received 2 complaints in that past 3 years about the company's "Sales Practices."

If I read the BBB chart right, all but one complaint have been resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

(The last was resolved by "Administrative Judgement," which usually means arbitration, though the BBB notes: "the Company has responded to the complaint[s] addressing the disputed issues, however, the consumer remains dissatisfied.")

The BBB's site notes: "The number of complaints filed against a company may not be as important as the type of complaints, and how the company handled them. The BBB generally does not pass judgment on the validity of complaints filed."

According to the BBB, the company's president is Jeff Scholder. It does business as "1-877 Camcorder.com," "1888camcorder.com" and "Safeguard Camera."

Of the three DBAs, only Safeguard has a rating at ResellerRatings.com: a single "Very Dissatisfied" (which alone is a thin impeachment, but worse as a recommendation, in the absence of other info).

I haven't called he NY state attorney's office to see if they have any complaints about 877Camcorders.

Anybody with any opinions on this company? And Jay, thanks in advance for your answers.

JS

[Chris Hurd]

The deal with our site sponsors is this:

First of all, they're highly reputable. EVS and Zotz have a score of 10 out of 10 on Reseller Ratings. They're well known in the industry. They are top-tier video equipment dealers. B&H, everybody knows. They have an RR rating of 8.5 thereabouts. Again, an excellent outfit. All are fully authorized by the manufacturers.

Second, when you buy from them, you're giving back to DV Info Net just a little. This site is free to its members and always will be as long as we have support from sponsors like EVS, Zotz, B&H, ZGC etc. In addition to the tremendous customer care they all offer, you're also helping to support DV Info Net by doing business with them.

That's two excellent reasons to go through our site sponsors.

If you choose not to buy from our sponsors, and this is your own decision and your own business, then I will ask two things of you.

First, call the manufacturer of the item you're interested in and ask if this dealer is an authorized dealer. Don't ask the dealer -- ask the manufacturer. All the U.S. offices of the major camera makers maintain a list of authorized dealers. An unauthorized dealer means, no warranty protection. Period.

Second, please discuss non-sponsor dealers privately by email. Out of fairness to our sponsors, we owe them a certain degree of exclusivity. Otherwise why would they even be interested in us... and also, this policy helps to keep traffic about unauthorized dealers to a minimum. So please continue by email. Thanks!