GreenToe - Reverse Auction Photography Site

I got my rebate via Paypal. I just emailed Andrew to confirm. It usually comes a few weeks after you receive your item.

I'm a huge fan of making offers on ebay. same thing

Has anyone purchased a Canon 100-400 II through them? If so could you PM me the amount payed.

Bah - posted a low but not unreasonable offer for a 5D3/24-105L combo, and have since received multiple emails asking me to up my offer to... $2699, same as the current CPW price (when combo'd with a lens, but still). Same price the combo has been at various times recently. If it's just another avenue to the same price as CPW Street Price, I don't see the point.

LonelyBoy wrote in post #17562926
Bah - posted a low but not unreasonable offer for a 5D3/24-105L combo, and have since received multiple emails asking me to up my offer to... $2699, same as the current CPW price (when combo'd with a lens, but still). Same price the combo has been at various times recently. If it's just another avenue to the same price as CPW Street Price, I don't see the point.

Well, you can read the many posts here that indicate some opportunity for savings, or look at your single data point and make a conclusion based on it. Your choice. One thing to understand is that GreenToe is not going to be consistent. While that may be a bit frustrating, it is one of the things that creates an opportunity to sometimes save more than what might otherwise be available.

mpix345 wrote in post #17562950
Well, you can read the many posts here that indicate some opportunity for savings, or look at your single data point and make a conclusion based on it. Your choice. One thing to understand is that GreenToe is not going to be consistent. While that may be a bit frustrating, it is one of the things that creates an opportunity to sometimes save more than what might otherwise be available.

Yeah, those posts are why I tried it. Frankly, I'd be happier if they didn't email me (multiple times, no less!) asking me to up my bid to an unimpressive deal. Will I try them again sometime? Sure. But if it doesn't work for me again, would you really expect me to keep trying? Honestly, how often do you keep trying something that doesn't work for you? If there's a restaurant that's supposed to be good, but your meal is screwed up twice, how many times will you keep going back because other people say it's great?

LonelyBoy wrote in post #17562926
Bah - posted a low but not unreasonable offer for a 5D3/24-105L combo, and have since received multiple emails asking me to up my offer to... $2699, same as the current CPW price (when combo'd with a lens, but still). Same price the combo has been at various times recently. If it's just another avenue to the same price as CPW Street Price, I don't see the point.

If your offer isn't significantly lower, leave it for a couple of days. I did that with a 5D and ended up having my offer accepted at $270 less than the counter offers... The prices were a bit higher back when I purchased mine but it was still a significant difference than the counter offers.

I just bought from them. Put a lowball offer in and got a reply if I raised my bid to this, it would immediately be accepted. Got offer the following day of $2050. I said yes as long as they agree to ship it out that day via 2 day fedex shipment. They took the deal and took my money. I should have got it Saturday according to them but didn't end up getting it until Monday.

You don't find out who the seller is until after the bid is accepted. My vendor has very low and horrible reviews. Upon learning that I suspected something was going to go bad and even told GreenToe of my fears.

Up to that point everything went well. Received a message that would be sent Friday but never received shipping information. Friday comes with nothing and the customer service at Greentoe says it will get delivered Saturday.

They swore that it was shipped and I would receive it Saturday but they couldn't provide a tracking number, said they ship via a Amazon warehouse and sometimes the item ships before the tracking number makes it. I doubted everything because UPS doesn't deliver on Saturday.

Bottom Line no one knew what was going on. Let the GreenToe folks know on Saturday I didn't receive it. Monday I still don't have a tracking number....called Green Tree with no luck. Ended up calling the vendor themselves and received tracking number from them. Good to go, got the camera that day.

GreenToe did pretty much nothing in this deal except trade a few emails and they lacked the ability to track shipments. They also should probably look at working with companies that have good online reviews. Though mine eventually worked out, I wasn't feeling warm and fuzzy from the start and was expecting it to go bad. I was playing out scenarios in my head to get my money back and where to buy a 5D3, knowing would cost me more money due to expedited need now. I think GreenToe is viable, but they need to tighten up their processes and vet their vendors.

And Finally, better communications after the sale. They are emailing you every day to make the sale, but after the sale and need help as I did...beeeeeeeeeeeeeee​p.

I never did get a "sorry, we screwed up" from them.

Thank you for the information. Looking for a camera body for shooting Sports.

LonelyBoy wrote in post #17562959
Yeah, those posts are why I tried it. Frankly, I'd be happier if they didn't email me (multiple times, no less!) asking me to up my bid to an unimpressive deal. Will I try them again sometime? Sure. But if it doesn't work for me again, would you really expect me to keep trying? Honestly, how often do you keep trying something that doesn't work for you? If there's a restaurant that's supposed to be good, but your meal is screwed up twice, how many times will you keep going back because other people say it's great?

I don't have any expectations with regard to where you or anyone buys their gear.

The point I would make to anyone is that GreenToe is just not like dealing with B&H or Amazon. They often offer some savings, but you have to be patient and flexible if you want to work with them.

edit: After posting I read rob0225's post (#1211 in this thread) and had to add an edit here. His delivery was delayed one day and there was no communication. While that is not acceptable to me, it ultimately ends up in the "no harm/no foul" category. As for the vendor selection, this is one of the benefits of using GreenToe. They can offer savings working with whatever authorized dealer they want, and they should shield the purchaser from any significant risk. But we have to be a bit flexible and a bit patient. Maybe they will improve over time, but they need to do that without adding significant infrastructure costs, otherwise there will be no reason to buy from them.

I'm not aware of GreenToe screwing over anyone. That is the bottom line. If you want that low price you may need to overlook some of the little stuff. If you can't do that I'd recommend going with a traditional and proven option.

In my experience, GreenToe does not process payments nor shipping. They are just the middleman between the buyer and retailer. In fact, if anyone has ever used Priceline or Hotwire's reverse bidding for hotels, it works the exact same way. If you get to the hotel and find that there's no hot water, there's not much Priceline/Hotwire can do to help you get hot water in your room. Instead, you should go directly to the hotel and ask them to rectify the issue.

On the otherhand, I am a little surprised GreenToe promised a certain delivery date since this depends entirely on how quick the retailer processes orders and GreenToe couldn't possibly have any control over that. If the retailer happens to be Adorama, they'll most likely be able to ship the same day or next business day (depending on availability). Other retailers may have a longer processing period.

Last purchase I made through GreenToe was the 400mm 2.8 IS II. Was able to take advantage of their 5% cashback promotion and received a whopping rebate after a few weeks.

For those that are low balling just to low ball and hoping to get lucky; just remember that this isn't craigslist.

John wrote in post #17564416
In my experience, GreenToe does not process payments nor shipping. They are just the middleman between the buyer and retailer. In fact, if anyone has ever used Priceline or Hotwire's reverse bidding for hotels, it works the exact same way. If you get to the hotel and find that there's no hot water, there's not much Priceline/Hotwire can do to help you get hot water in your room. Instead, you should go directly to the hotel and ask them to rectify the issue.

On the otherhand, I am a little surprised GreenToe promised a certain delivery date since this depends entirely on how quick the retailer processes orders and GreenToe couldn't possibly have any control over that. If the retailer happens to be Adorama, they'll most likely be able to ship the same day or next business day (depending on availability). Other retailers may have a longer processing period.

Last purchase I made through GreenToe was the 400mm 2.8 IS II. Was able to take advantage of their 5% cashback promotion and received a whopping rebate after a few weeks.

For those that are low balling just to low ball and hoping to get lucky; just remember that this isn't craigslist.

I think Greentoe works with the seller so if the seller promises 2 day shipping, Greentoe tells the buyer they'll get 2 day shipping.

As far as rob's problem goes, Greentoe can't give out a tracking number if the seller doesn't give them one. I've had a similar experience and emailed the seller directly who provided the tracking info. I notified Greentoe that the seller hadn't updated the website with the tracking info and the next day, it was there. As mentioned, no harm, no foul.

Other than low costs, my experiences have been pretty good with Greentoe's customer service. I've had no problems with rebates, communicating about offers or returning items I wasn't satisfied with.

Your right...it ended up being no harm/no foul though it didn't reduce the stress levels wondering if I was going to get the camera in time (I was leaving which is why I asked for the expedited shipping as part of the deal) or if I was going to have to get it overnighted by B&H or someone. The online reviews (horrible reviews) of the vendor didn't give me much confidence either.

Bottom line, I got the camera two days later then what was promised. Part of my deal (via email with GreenToe) included the expedited delivery which didn't happen.

I most likely would not use GreenToe again unless they put more effort in vetting their vendors.

Well, I'm joining the Tamron 15-30 f/2.8 VC club, thanks to Greentoe!

I've only been through the Offer/Counter-offer email part of the service and my vendor was chosen - so far so good. Now the terrible waiting game!

I'd definitely use Greentoe again.

freestylee30 wrote in post #17584015
Well, I'm joining the Tamron 15-30 f/2.8 VC club, thanks to Greentoe!

I've only been through the Offer/Counter-offer email part of the service and my vendor was chosen - so far so good. Now the terrible waiting game!

I'd definitely use Greentoe again.

What offer was accepted?