Any experience with online retailers GadgetCircuit and Tri-State?

Finally going to pull the trigger and pick up the d500 along with the 70-200mm f2.8 (catalog 2185) online through GadgetCircuit and Tri-State. Has anyone used either of them before?

Researched a little through Google shopping and found their reviews to be favorable. Appreciate any and all feedback.


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JRam said:

Finally going to pull the trigger and pick up the d500 along with the 70-200mm f2.8 (catalog 2185) online through GadgetCircuit and Tri-State. Has anyone used either of them before?

Researched a little through Google shopping and found their reviews to be favorable. Appreciate any and all feedback.

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You do realize that D500 is grey market kit, right? I mean I loves me some grey market, there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying grey, I've done it a lot and I've never had an issue, but that's me and my situation. A lot of people around here totally freak out over grey market, but that's them. I'm only saying if you aren't aware this is grey market, or you don't know what that means, you had better come to an understanding before you drop that kind of money. Caveat emptor, and all that.

Nikon has an article about grey market kit, here: What is Grey Market?

I'm not familiar with the dealers that you mention but this will start the debate of "to buy or not to buy" from an authorized Nikon dealer. This can translate into "do I have a Nikon warranty or not"? The store might offer a warranty. Some folks care about a Nikon warranty, some don't.
Dealer list:
http://cdn-6.nikon-cdn.com/where-to-buy/nikon_img_auth_dealers.pdf

The bigger problem is there are many unscrupulous camera dealers out there. Many of them in Brooklyn, NY for some reason. Venturing away from authorized dealers gets you more risk of having a bad buying experience. Unusually good prices often come with a trick (battery not included, etc) or a phone call to 'verify' your order but the call is really to up-sell you. I would google those sellers outside of the google shopping environment. In other words, just do a regular search on them.

I worked with Tri-State a few years ago. They were fine, but chances are they will try to upsell you something. Basically they'll put a "hold" on your order until they can reach by phone to ask if you need more memory cards or filters or something else. After the upsell they confirm the order and then process. At least that was my experience.

PapaST said:

I worked with Tri-State a few years ago. They were fine, but chances are they will try to upsell you something. Basically they'll put a "hold" on your order until they can reach by phone to ask if you need more memory cards or filters or something else. After the upsell they confirm the order and then process. At least that was my experience.

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That would be a deal breaker for me right there.

Yes, ignoring the whole "genuine" versus grey-market thing, almost EVERY dealer I know of with the exception of B&H and Adorama MAY play games... You'll order at some astonishing price, they'll hold the order until the can call you. Then they'll ask, for example, if you'd like a MEMORY card... It's been known to happen that the included memory card may NOT be included in the EXTRA good price, and you'll have to buy that. And maybe a battery. Or some other thing they can upsell... Back in the OLD days I recall posts that if you REFUSED to purchase the upsell items your purchase would just never show up. They'd just cancel it.

SO, you may find some genuine bargains, but as always be sure what you're getting...