$6,100 and no discount?

[Moses]

deleted

[monkey_wrench]

I finally have my shopping cart at B&H ready, and I called them yesterday to ask if they might be willing to offer a little volume discount, and the guy I talked to said no.

I thought I read here that someone did get a discount for spending a big hunk of change? Did I talk to the wrong guy or something?

while ive spent many hours walking round camera shops like jessops i found that listening to guys buying expensive equipement tend not to get a discount as such but they offer you other equipment ie cards, extra battery, filters etc for free rather then dropping the price of the actual camera itself

[martcol]

You would think that $6,000 of anyone's money would be worth a little sweetner! However, what were you buying (not 600 rolls of film, I guess!)

I agree that a big purchase like the camera can attract some freebies or discounted extras but they always complain of working to very tight margins on the hardware. It's even tougher on-line.

Martin

[defordphoto]

You're already getting a decent discount. And if you don't buy it, there's a person in line right behind you that will. $6000 in camera equipment isn't much these days and is not considered a large/bulk purchase.

[Moses]

You're already getting a decent discount. And if you don't buy it, there's a person in line right behind you that will. $6000 in camera equipment isn't much these days and is not considered a large/bulk purchase.I suspected someone was going to say that. Even though it may not be considered a large purchase to them, it sure is for me.

I would be happy with just an upgrade to two days shipping. I'm hoping to get all this by Thursday. I was thinking faster shipping would mean the packages would get kicked around less.

[NGrinerPhoto]

i bought $10K from them a few months ago. they gave me a deal on the shipping and that was it.

[codfish]

as a member of NAPP i get free shipping from B&H. i've never known anyone to get a product discount from B&H though.

[k2kv]

A few months ago I spent around $7k at B&H, inside the store. I asked for a discount, and even told them that their competition was offering for less. I ended up speaking to a manager, who eventually offered me a $20 discount. I told him to keep the $20, was more trouble than it was worth. I still love B&H, but if it is the bottom dollar you're looking at, B&H is not the very best. If you want service and an absolutely no-hassle return policy, B&H is the very best in the business.

I continue to buy there, recommend them highly to everyone. Professional in every way.

The truth is, they earn their profits on the tremendous volume they do, and $6k is just not that big of a deal. They stock million$ in inventory, and that costs, too. If they had to discount every $6k purchase more than their quoted prices already indicate, they would not be able to offer the same reputation.

I'm just glad they exist!!

Cheers,

Jeff

[Dante King]

Being a business owner, I am a bit biased, but why should they give you a discount? They are in business to make $$$. Some people just dont understand the overhead of business and the costs of doing business. Better look to sales or dell coupons if you want a discount.

[idofotos]

go to calumet and run up the same items and you will find you got at least a $200 discount, I used to use cameraworld of Oregon but since they sold out to ritz even with the free shipping they are still lots higher than B&H, Ive bought a lot of equipment from them over the past 15 yrs and at some point they were diffucult to work with but have since become very efficient and much more polite, they still get my money heck I was looking for a 70-200 2.8 and got it through them for 1149. with the rebate and the going rate on ebay and the forums seem to be 900-1000 so why not buy new. but it still sucks to slap the credit card down for that much and not get any discount

[Dante King]

Again, sorry to be contra here, but why do you deserve a discount?

[Jon]

Look at it this way. If they gave you a discount, you'd lose those frequent-flyer/reward points on your credit card. You are in some kind of rewards program aren't you? I use my reward points from camera purchases to get photo books ;{)#

[Belmondo]

I don't see any harm in asking. Maybe a better way to handle it in the future, especially when making exceptionally large purchases, is to submit written requests for quotes on the entire purchase. You're not in a strong negotiating position once you've put it 'in your cart.'

[Ogrt48]

Just buy from someone else if you can, their prices are nothing special at all, extremely average if not sometimes a little bit higher than other good stores.
Anyways its a business, the point to business is to make money, not give away stuff.

[cactusclay]

Deleted? I never get to read anything.

[Jon]

Deleted? I never get to read anything.

Slacker! Some people have even posted several times to this thread, and you haven't even read it? What are you doing? Your job?
;{)#

[charlesu]

Always ask. Never hurts. I got $20 off a pair of nice sunglasses at a Wal-Mart optical shop one day. I asked for discount. No. I then pointed out that the glasses had some white residue on them and would need to be thoroughly cleaned. They knocked off 20%.

B&H has almost no margin on camera bodies and such. No discount there. But you are shopping there for price and reputation.

I sometimes shop at a local retailer in Charlotte. They don't discount either. But their prices are far higher than B&H. They also, generally, have much better service.

[photoshooter]

go to ebay thats where ive bought everthing i got 2- d60 2 -50 500 sigmas 1-70-200 2.8 sigma 1- 24-70 2.8sigma and sigma 500 flash with no promblems

[radar-eclipse]

B&H is better on pricing than say a store in Charlotte because of volume. On a good weekend day, they will have OVER a thousand customers in their store. They also have a few hundred employees. They won't have the absolute lowest prices like the transshipped goods from overseas kind of prices. But their merchandise will be legitimate, their customer service is good, the sales personnel if your in the store are knowledgeable and helpful. Your not buying a car, so you can't expect a discount. Their 1DS Mark II is $7999. Take it or someone else will. They can't even get allocated enough of them as an example. Their building is a full city block and their property taxes are probably half a million dollars a year, maybe more!!!! Discount? :o

[Moses]

Geeze! Was this ever a hot button topic! :confused:

OK, I shopped, I asked, and I bought. No harm done. I wasn't about to twist their arm or anything. I didn't even have a tantrum when they said no. Hey, I'm not made of money, so I'm not too proud to at least ask. They still made the sale. I was even curtious to the sales person--even though he added the waranty without my agreement (I bought it anyway).

The equipment all arrives tomorrow (unless the butterflies get the best of me and I refuse the shipment). :eek:

PS: You never get anything in this life unless you at least ask.

[Moments]

I was in the trade in dept at B&H one day. Some guy was trying to trade in 20+ year old Minolta equipment, 3 systems in fact. He was really mad that they were only giving him $5.00 for a flash, $20.00 for a 50mm lens etc. He said to the counter guy, "you have to help me out here, I'm going to spend a lot of money here today and buy a Fuji S2 for $2500.00" The counter guy said so. To him, his buying a $2500 camera was a lot of money, to me when I bought my first Hasselblad system for $12,000 it was a lot of money, but to B&H, they are just a drop in the bucket. Think about how much they do in sales each day. They need to do high volume with the small margins on equipment. The expense of running that store in NYC has to be incredible. My friend has a studio on the 9th floor of a building on 23rd st in NYC, and it's expensive. B&H has a ground floor, city block, plus other locations and a ton of staff. They are in a catch 22 situation. They are not the cheapest, nor are they the most expensive, but they are a reputable store.

[Mycroft]

Again, sorry to be contra here, but why do you deserve a discount?

Because without happy customers, you would be out of business. A small ($50-$100) discount on a $6000 purchase will encourage the customer to keep coming back and spend more money. Would you rather make $6000 now and never see him again, or make $5900 now and perhaps thousands more in the future? It's not simply a question of the bottom line and lining your pockets with greed, it's about building good customer relations and letting them know you value their business. Like I said, without customers, you wouldn't be in business in the first place.

As for "thin margins", that's a load of BS. $6000 of equipment does not cost you $5800 to sell to the customer.

[Paul_O]

Because without happy customers, you would be out of business. A small ($50-$100) discount on a $6000 purchase will encourage the customer to keep coming back and spend more money. Would you rather make $6000 now and never see him again, or make $5900 now and perhaps thousands more in the future? It's not simply a question of the bottom line and lining your pockets with greed, it's about building good customer relations and letting them know you value their business. Like I said, without customers, you wouldn't be in business in the first place.

As for "thin margins", that's a load of BS. $6000 of equipment does not cost you $5800 to sell to the customer.

I have to agree with Mycroft here, he or she or whomever deserves a discount because they've taken the time and offered the store the privilege of their business. Whilst I also agree that a group like B&H rely on volume, have tight margins and high costs, there should be a discount offered on a package price. Otherwise Joe Bloe could by the Body from A, lenses from B and flash from C with other accessories from Discount store C, and that doesn't help anyone. It's pretty customary in Australia and many other countries to expect a discount on a large purchase unless buying on finance, and most stores would mention that they can "do a bit better than list price", even on single items.

Just my $0.02

Paul

[malcolmx]

please excuse my ignorance but I see that a lot of you buy extended warranties in the uk we find these are just a rip off, we have 1 year free from the manufacturer and are covered by the sale of goods act for the item to be of "merchantable quality" so if they have a fault the retailer is obliged to replace the faulty item Household insurance covers for accidental damage away from home as well as at home is it different in the usa
in the uk we seem to pay more for each item than you do a 1dsmk2 is at $7999 which converted would give a uk price of £4850 but mostly sell for £5250 so we do try to get reductions from retailers asking £5999 when net suppliers are at £5250 but often we are not very successful
so I assume there are a lot of purchasing differences in the usa

[radar-eclipse]

Okay. All's good. Hey, enjoy!