[Roger Slater]

Also, don't assume that B&H is cheapest either. For cameras, I would definitely check Ebay There are countless small sellers there you haven't heard of before, but you can trust them because of Ebay's rating system. If, say, they had 6,953 customer reports in the last year, with 99.4% favorable ratings, then you know it's safe to order from them.

I'm not saying it's impossible for bricks and mortar retailers to compete. In fact, it's probably a good idea for Cally to print out some of the best prices she can find on Ebay for a variety of models she is considering. Then, if she finds one she likes when she visits the store, she can show it to the clerk and ask if they can meet or come close to that price. Once they see that they're dealing with a customer who knows the score, they might well meet the price.

[Jesse Anger]

I didn't find that Ebay was cheaper, but I'll take your word for it and really check it out thoroughly next time I'm on the market (probably for a lens) before I decide to use this or that online vendor. I agree, too, that Ebay ratings do truly reflect the quality of a vendor.

Thanks, Roger, for the tips man.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Great to wake up to this discussion. Roger and Jesse have said everything I would have said, Michael. We're talking many many hundreds of dollars difference. As to my buying practises, well, they always involve op shops, garage sales and general scrounging. I borrow books from the library whenever I can, and if I really really must have one, then one of the great experiences in life is Powell's Books in Portland. As others have said already, most retailers sell online too. Even Powell's.

Roger - your post #30 is as if you read my mind. It describes precisely what I intend to do! In every instance, I would rather deal with a person, and I intend to be quite open about it. If the camera shop people can come close to the online shop price, they will have my business. For sure. I love building those kind of relationships.

As I said earlier, I know a professional photographer who is keeping an eye out among his professional friends for the option of buying, privately, a second-hand SLR, a really good one, really cheaply.

As I said, I am so glad this thread evolved the way it has. Jesse and Roger have given me invaluable information. I know so much more than I did two days ago, including what a 'mirrorless' camera is!

As for you, Guinevere, my camera would love to spend some time with your face! Would you allow me, sometime??!!

[Cally Conan-Davies]

My next-door neighbour, yesterday.

[Jennifer Reeser]

You flatter me, lady. If I ever make it out to the West Chester conference again, or if you ever make it down here, then my face will be at your disposal.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Both things will happen next year, Lady Jenn (you must be at WC for the big anniversary—I will not allow your absence!!) so let us do something beautiful...

(YAY)

[Janice D. Soderling]

And when the good Seattle camera shop goes out of business because too many customers are trying a few and then buying on-line - and then you have no camera store available to provide samples or advice - or your local bookstore folds because of skim-here-but-buy-from-Amazon shoppers - what then?

I can't pontificate against your buying practices, Cally - I do it myself (although I do try to buy many of my books from our excellent local independent) - but I think we have to realize that, sooner or later, there won't be any "good" shops around for comparison shopping and hefting purposes. Then what?

To answer Michael's "then what?" question, it's not a pretty picture.

http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel...-hidden-empire

Each time the income of the 1% increases there is a corresponding decrease in jobs. All the investigative and ordering work is put on the buyer so responsibility for informed decisions is up there on cloud nine. Or maybe has rained away. All the clerical work is in the machines. Even the packing and handling is highly automated. The jobs left are those underpaid packing and handling that machines can't yet do.

These guys are not keen on paying taxes and without taxes the whole infrastructure collapses. Soon even those jobs will be gone, outsourced to some country where packers are even cheaper.

Anyone who cares about the educational and vocational future of their children or grandchildren should be working to break up this oligarchy who not only govern the business world, your private life but also your nation.

That used to be called sawing off the limb you are sitting on.

PS No one who lives in a big city should neglect their indy shops. When I was in London last, I was in a bookshop (at Southbank Centre) that fills book orders and ships even abroad. I would much rather support them and shops like them.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

No one who lives in a big city should neglect their indy shops.

Yes! The heart and soul of cities.

[Roger Slater]

Janice, the sellers on EBay are not part of the 1%. Many of them are garage operations with sellers just as deserving of making a living as the beloved proprietors of Indy shops. I think it was the 1 % that benefitted under the old model, since competition was so minimal that consumers were routinely forced to pay higher prices than they pay now. It's not good for the average person to pay more for goods and products and services just to subsidize a business model which is inherently no better for consumers just because of nostalgia for the way things have been.