$1078 shipped for a HUGE package deal!

[DangerZone]

Hey, guys!

I just bought the HV20 package from a dealer off of ebay:

EBAY AUCTION LINK REMOVED
(no need for it, there's tons of places to buy the HV20, and this link wasn't particularly special in any way; price or otherwise)

It includes:
Tripod
Hard Case
Soft Case
Tele lens
Wide lens
3 filters
3 HD tapes
the camera
cleaning kit

The company is legit, it has excellent ratings, and it includes everything I need to start out. I feel very safe with this company, because they called twice to make sure my billing and shipping information are correct. They didn't push anything else for me to buy either. Thought I'd pass this deal along to people who are looking for a package deal.

[Lunchbox]

It has no manufacturer warranty only their store warranty. Very likely it's a grey market stock. Beware if you can deal with no Canon waranty.

[cheapo]

I suppose it would make sense if you need all of that. However, I bet they would not sell just the HV20 without all the other stuff. If they did the price probably would be almost the same.

[Lunchbox]

25 neutral feedbacks and 7 negative feedbacks within last month. Most said overnight shipping paid but receive 2 weeks later. Take your chance.

[DangerZone]

Why wouldn't it have a manufacturer's warranty? A company has to put a warranty on all their products regardless of where you bought it.

[Lunchbox]

If the camera's from grey market (import from other country), Canon USA will have no responsibility to repair the item for free.

It's obviously that ebay seller aware of that. Under Listing Description, it said

Manufacturer Warranty : --

And in the auction listing, it mentioned "comes with 1 year store warranty", which means if your camera need service within the first year store warranty period, you need to send it back to the store instead of Canon USA repair facility. Who knows when you will get your item back and what kind of parts they will use.

If the price is not much different, I would rather buy it from a reliable vendor (Circuit City, Bestbuy, B&H, Newegg.com) as it is a big ticket item.

[DangerZone]

Well, if it does break without cause (IE me not damaging it), they're most likely going to send it to the manufacturer or have some sort of technician repair it. They'll get the job done. Knock on wood, but I've never had a piece of electronics equipment go bad on me after a year due to normal wear and tear. Hell, we had a Pioneer receiver at our house that had been working regularly for over 30 years and finally bit the dust just 2 years ago. 2 TVs we have are over 20 years old and still working, Hi-8 Sony camera is 15 years old and still works, never had a computer monitor go bad, and never had a VCR or DVD player fail. Hell, I even bought an RMAd speakers off a pawn store off eBay 2 years ago for $30 when they're usually $200. They were perfect and still work to this day.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you take care of your equipment, it shouldn't fail. I trust the workmanship on the product and I'll take the 90% odds that it won't fail. I understand your statement of the manufacturer's warranty by paying more from a local store or authorized dealer, but I've always taken chances and came out ok. I'm an optimistic person :).

[Lunchbox]

I have 2 Canon GL2s. Both need repair service before and after the 1 year mark. Shit happens.

It's really up to the buyer to take the chance to buy something from eBay but not a reliable vendor. Besides, people are reporting buying HV20 for around $8xx to $9xx from Amazon, Newegg, Dell, Circuit City, Bestbuy... Anyway, congratulations on your purchase. Have fun with the cam. Hope we can see some of your footage soon.

[sp8ce07]

You guys do understand this is a completely bogus poster right? He's acting like a "buyer" because he is the seller. Get rid of this post and the free advertising he's trying to get.

[sp8ce07]

I take that back - he or she probably isn't the seller...regardless this would be considered a warm to cold deal. When puchasing expensive goods you should tend to avoid ebay for many reasons. The quality of the "accessories" are going to be cheap, no warranty, no real company to work with for returns or problems.

Again, with an investment into a thousand dollar camcorder you should not be taking the short cuts to the finish line. By from reputable dealers from real business locations, or solid ones on the internet (Dell, B&H).

The fact that they have 7 negatives in a month would steer me clear of the seller forever. Not to mention the workmanship and quality of the accessories would have me looking elsewhere. There are no details on what sorts of brands these accessories are. A poor tripod is a useless tripod (Depending on what you are doing). Again, poorly made filters can lead to loss of quality.

I see no reason to take a risk on ebay for an important purchase such as this. Sure it may be a quick alternative -- but long term, if I have problems in a month or two - You aren't looking at much help or support.

These are my personal opinions, anyone may freely disagree with them. Good luck.

[DangerZone]

No, I'm a serious member of the site! Honest to goodness!

[Lunchbox]

sp8ce07... well said well said.

Obviously I wouldn't spend that much money to buy a camera knowing there is no original manufacturer warranty.

[DangerZone]

I did my homework on this place. I visited http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Shopsunshine_Sunshine_Electronics_DSN_Digital_Shop ping_Network and everything. I was skeptical about the 7 negatives too. However, I looked at 775 other people that month that had positive experiences. Then I looked at 7 of the negatives (0.9% of their customers) and saw that the people had 0 or 1 ratings on eBay or the shipping was to a military address.

That's my take on the place.

\Crosses fingers
\\Will give a follow-up. I need the camera by Tuesday and got overnight shipping. Should arrive latest by Tuesday.

[Mal]

I say buy the cam from a reputable dealer (Circuit City, Dell, Newegg, B&H, etc.) at low cost (~$800 - ~$950) and buy the accessories separately. That way you get exactly what you want.

Companies that add items to make package deals, add items that cost them pennies. Those items are usually of the absolute lowest quality. It's a simple way to make the deal look more appealing, although in fact making the seller's profit increase.

[Mal]

Good luck with the cam, DangerZone; hope it works out for you.
Let us know what you think of this great cam once you get it; and be sure to post footage.

Hope you don't take offense to people being sceptical here; it's just that this deal didn't seem all that special; the seller is no different than 100 other sellers on eBay, and the price isn't anything special either. Not bad, just not better than anywhere else either.