"Deals" found online....

[10kman]

I'm sold on a 20D, but am still looking for the best deal. Of course, I scoured ebay.

Some of these package deals are quite impressive. Memory cards, bags, lenses, card readers, etc. etc.

If the seller is a power seller, has 98+ % positive feedback, is there a reason for me to be skeptical of this? Not refurbed, brand new in the box items, claims no "grey market", whatever that is.

I'm not TERRIBLY concerned about having a warranty issue, but with the money saved with a kit deal, even if I had to pay for a repair outside of the initial 1-year you get with these cameras, it'd probably still be cheaper unless something HUGE went wrong.

Thoughts?

10k

[Lionheart]

I'm sold on a 20D, but am still looking for the best deal. Of course, I scoured ebay.

Some of these package deals are quite impressive. Memory cards, bags, lenses, card readers, etc. etc.

If the seller is a power seller, has 98+ % positive feedback, is there a reason for me to be skeptical of this? Not refurbed, brand new in the box items, claims no "grey market", whatever that is.

I'm not TERRIBLY concerned about having a warranty issue, but with the money saved with a kit deal, even if I had to pay for a repair outside of the initial 1-year you get with these cameras, it'd probably still be cheaper unless something HUGE went wrong.

Thoughts?

10k

I'm not a very seasoned e-bayer, but you might want to check how many transactions the seller has as well, and check out other merchandise they're selling. If they sold 3000+ powder puffies worth a buck and have one high dollar item like a d-slr, I'd be wary that their rating is based on a bunch of no value easy to acquire and sell trinkets used to beef up their ratings. I've purchased a 400mm f5.6 L USM, 1.4x II, and an EOS-3 on e-bay, and not been burned, but maybe I just got lucky too. Actually, I'm 4 for 4 on not being burned on e-bay, but I'm still wary ;)

[another view]

claims no "grey market", whatever that is.

That throws out a big red flag to me. Grey Market means that the store (or someone) imports it directly from another country - it doesn't go thru Canon USA. I'm not a Canon shooter, but this could mean that mean that you won't be able to get firmware updates (there have already been 2 or 3 on this camera!) or any other service on it from Canon. Grey Market also means that the seller will provide the warranty - not Canon USA. It doesn't take much of a problem for it to be a really expensive problem when we're dealing with DSLR's.

Personally, I wouldn't be worried about a 50 f1.8 lens or something inexpensive without a ton of electronics in it. But a grey market DSLR is something I wouldn't touch. I have to assume it's grey market for two reasons: A) I'm a skeptic when it comes to Ebay (works pretty well ;) ), and B) the seller is apparently not making it overly obvious that it is not grey market.

[mjs1973]

I bought my DRebel as a kit off of ebay, and I wish I hadn't. It is new and NOT greay market. and I have had no problems with the camera and I love it, but the kit came with tons of stuff that I didn't need, and the things that I really wanted, like the 1gb CF card, are not the best quality. Just this week I have been having some trouble with the card reader that came with it. Again, not the top of the line reader. The filters that came with it would be better used as coasters on my desk. The circular polorizer is so stiff that it moves my focusing ring. The tripod that I came with it, is about as cheap as they come, but I can use it for my mini DV recorder. The bag that came with the kit wasn't even big enuf to hold everything that came with the kit. But again, it is perfect for my mini DV recorder. All in all, I really wish I would have taken my time, and pieced together my own kit. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[10kman]

My apologies.......

I threw in the "not grey market" thing to cover all bases, I also would not buy from someone making it a point to say what it is NOT. I've been around ebay since the late 90's, I have my techniques for being safe, and all have worked out well (most were mentioned above).

I found sellers that are USA dealers, and have plenty of feedback selling DSLR/Lenses, etc. I also went out of my way and wrote to a few of them, asking if I could make a kit of my own, rather than having the knick-knacks like a tabletop tripod, etc. I'm waiting for a reply now, hope to hear from them. I specifically asked for the D20 body, 50mm f1.8 lens, and "the" 28-135 IS lens, from Canon, not the Sigma models often bundled. I'd rather just do it right and be happy.

Thanks for the help on the matter. If I had the $$$$ and had a side-by-side comparison of the L lenses vs. the "not L" lenses, and could actually SEE the difference, I'd save longer, but that's for me to ponder while going to bed.....

10k