ePhotoCraft.com... any experience with them?

Just discovered ePhotoCraft.com and they have the lowest price on a camera my gf is interested in. I never heard of them and immediately ignored them when they showed up on Google Shopping. But I see they have a decent Reseller Rating.

Anyone with first-hand experience? I trust forums with members who post frequently more than I do those ratings sites.

B&H, Adorama or Amazon are known entities and will work with you if there is a problem.

If the discount is so much that you are willing to ignore the regular sellers I listed above, I would question that the price is legitimate.

B&H, Adorama and Amazon all charge sales tax to NYC. I buy from them all the time, but for large purchases, it is significantly more expensive due to the tax alone. Thanks for mentioning them, but I am already familiar with those places. I'm still interested in people's experience with ePhotoCraft. I've seen a few threads with good reviews here and there, but hoped to find out more.

Yes, I did have an experience with them recently and it was (mostly) positive. Although not 100%.

I purchased a brand new Tamron 70-300 VC that they had listed at about 15% cheaper than the big guys. It took me a while to check the company out (found mostly positive reviews, and not just fake ones ), by the time I was ready to do the cart checkout their price jumped up by about $40. Called them & they honored the original price. They told me I got their last copy. Very polite, not pushy, didn't try to upsell.

A few days later I receive the lens. I take it out of the box (looks just like a new lens is supposed to), and in about an hour of playing with it it starts giving me "Err01" messages if I hold it in portrait orientation (AF switch facing down). No issues if I hold it any other way. I call PhotoCraft and speak to the guy who suggested I tighten down the screws around bayonet mount on both the body and lens, if this doesn't work just send it back. This didn't fix the problem and since they didn't have any lenses coming in the nearest couple of weeks I asked for refund & return shipping label, which they emailed in a day or two. So far so good.

About a week later I get a call from a third guy who tells me that he's tried this lens on two different T3i bodies and never got a problem. He seemed to insinuate that I made the whole thing up. He wasn't rude, but I didn't enjoy it a single bit & clearly stated so; I also reminded him of my several attempts to fix this or get a replacement rather than a refund. Finally he said this may be a problem with my body but they will issue a refund. It took about a week, may be 5 days, from when they received the lens to when I finally saw the refund hit my credit card (and I called twice).

I just bought this very lens model used from a member on this forum and, lo and behold, I have no Err01 issues. I strongly suspect that the lens they sent me was a return (being the last one they had). May be I am wrong. It did look untouched, although the box had a slight tear at the flap.

Anyway, they were pretty helpful and polite throughout the order process, if a little bit less efficient than B&H. The return was a bit of a hassle but not a real battle like you'd have to put up with some shady vendors. Overall, I'd give them 10 out of 10 if the lens worked, but between the lens issue & that last call they get 7.

In all of my dealings with them, and I called them more than a few times, I've only dealt with 3 people, and mainly with two (Eldar and Jack IIRC). They seem to be a small outfit.

Thanks for the replies. I decided to give them a shot since I was able to reach a live person over the phone.

One thing that concerns me is their 15-day return policy. That's lower than the 30-day policies B&H and Adorama has. Crutchfield has a 60-day policy. Since this is a gift, the recipient won't receive it until after the 15-day mark, which prevents me from returning it if the recipient doesn't like it or if the item is defective. Well, this will be the litmus test for ePhotoCraft, I suppose.

Just an update, I received my camera in the mail yesterday. Everything looked good and works fine so far. It took 1 week to receive the camera after submitting my payment, given their economy shipping.

I'm still not comfortable with their short return policy, which I believe starts counting from the invoice date. That means if the package takes a while to get delivered, you have a small window to test the product. I realize they are a small shop, but I imagine they'd get more business if they competed with Adorama and B&H with a full 30-day policy.