Buying lenses from amazon

scoped

scoped

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Andy
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Hi,

I've been looking at getting a 105mm Sigma Macro. Amazon have it for sale at the best price i can find (tied with parks). Is Amazon a safe bet when it comes to getting lenses?
It says the seller is Amazon.co.uk rather than a random 3rd party store on there.
Really just checking to make sure it is a good place to get lenses
 
scoped said:
Hi,

I've been looking at getting a 105mm Sigma Macro. Amazon have it for sale at the best price i can find (tied with parks). Is Amazon a safe bet when it comes to getting lenses?
It says the seller is Amazon.co.uk rather than a random 3rd party store on there.
Really just checking to make sure it is a good place to get lenses
Click to expand...

On balance I would say Amazon are a good supplier of products.................their returns policy and problem resolution is good (NB though I am not talking about lenses) . But the same cannot be said for their merchants where Amazon do the fulfillments. I have had very mixed experiences from the dire to the surprisingly good.

In the case of a Sigma lens (or any camera kit) I would get on their online chat to confirm it is Sigma UK stock not Grey Market. Why, well Amazon are for UK sales a Pan European company so I would have no idea which market they were supplying me from???

Edit ~ I have looked on Amazon and all looked OK but then I clicked on the pictures (left hand side) and one shows the Tech Details.............that is is German!!!!! So I repeat as above, make sure this is for Sigma Warranty purposes a UK supported lens.
 
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I've purchased from Amazon. All have been good apart from one, it was clearly opened and had finger marks all over the front and rear element. I emailed them and it was swapped over for another which was brand new.

Their customer service with me has always been 100%
 
I have never really had a good experience when buying lenses from Amazon, even when Dispatched and Sold by Amazon. Every single one looked, and probably had, been returned at some point, with all of them faulty or too far out of tolerance. Never kept one and now don't even consider using Amazon for lenses. Most recently was middle of last year so not an old problem either imo.
 
I bought exactly that lens from Jessops which, believe it or not, was the cheapest place for it by quite some distance - cheaper than Kacha, Panamoz and Amazon (and it wasn't on sale either.) So check them out before spending your hard earned
 
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Thanks guys, i might steer clear for lenses, was just tempted as i have prime and next day delivery!

@traindriver at the moment jessops are £359 and park/amazon are £328, but thanks for the heads up, always good to try and find the cheapest place
 
Do you have access to the sales section here? I have one that I could put back there if you're interested.
 
scoped said:
Thanks guys, i might steer clear for lenses, was just tempted as i have prime and next day delivery!

@traindriver at the moment jessops are £359 and park/amazon are £328, but thanks for the heads up, always good to try and find the cheapest place
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To be fair, £328 is a steal for that lens. I bought it at £359 so Amazon must have dropped their price a fair bit.
 
The only photographic equipment I've bought off Amazon was my Nikon P7100, as it had been discontinued and no one had any stock, Amazon had one at a very good price, registered it with Nikon U.K.and got a free 2 year warranty, but on the whole i prefer to support the smaller photographic retailers, I got my Sigma 105 from SRS in Watford for £329, there still selling them at the same price today
 
PaulButler said:
Always worth checking here https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/
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Camerapricebuster is definitely one of the best resources I've found!

Mike.P said:
I have bought lenses from Amazon with no problem.

You say you have prime so order it, when it arrives phone Sigma who will tell you there and then if it is a UK lens. If not just send it back for free.
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After reading some of the comments about possible second hands/returned stock, I will just get it from parks now, it seems ashame amazon aren't better with this.

Snapsh0t said:
Do you have access to the sales section here? I have one that I could put back there if you're interested.
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I appreciate that, but this is one lens I don't mind buying new (Although I have been debating getting an 80-200 or 180mm second hand).

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
I have just received a lens from Amazon and was expecting the usual big box, with protective packing around two sides and the top of the lens carton inside. This usually leaves the bottom and other two sides hard up against the outer box.
Not this time though....one Canon L lens, delivered in a brown paper bag.
 
I don’t usually have any issues with Amazon but have had a few instances where things have not been right but they refunded.

I bought a simfree Samsung S7 which arrived in a bag with no box or attachements. Years ago I bought an Olympus E610 and inside was a used E410.

Lasty I bought a Tamron 24-70 that had faulty VC and sent it back as faulty. My mate ordered one and got the same faulty one sent to him!!

I think because they ship out so much and probably have a lot of returns things are not always checked on return so make sure you check over the lens when it arrives.
 
If you have a local Jessops they will price match theirs with the £328 from Parks and Clifton. Its only £31 but better in your pocket than theirs.
 
This is from memory so may be incorrect...

As I recall, Amazon is NOT a Sigma registered dealer and has in the past supplied Grey market imports rather than Sigma UK products. Sigma UK will not touch these under warranty (and no cash back deals, etc. will be honoured).

I just found this posted on Sigma’s website Q&A regarding 3 year warranty...

Amazon UK is no longer listed as a recommended internet stockist on the Sigma Imaging UK ‘Where to buy’ section of the website as of December 2015. We have been made aware that Amazon UK is selling grey market products, items not officially imported into the UK, and not eligible for the extended warranty program. Since the UK consumer cannot determine whether the item they are interested in purchasing is a UK serial number we have decided to remove them from our list.​
 
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Eloise said:
This is from memory so may be incorrect...

As I recall, Amazon is NOT a Sigma registered dealer and has in the past supplied Grey market imports rather than Sigma UK products. Sigma UK will not touch these under warranty (and no cash back deals, etc. will be honoured).

I just found this posted on Sigma’s website Q&A regarding 3 year warranty...

Amazon UK is no longer listed as a recommended internet stockist on the Sigma Imaging UK ‘Where to buy’ section of the website as of December 2015. We have been made aware that Amazon UK is selling grey market products, items not officially imported into the UK, and not eligible for the extended warranty program. Since the UK consumer cannot determine whether the item they are interested in purchasing is a UK serial number we have decided to remove them from our list.​
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And that one says it all I have just had my 35 months old 150-600 sport totally rebuilt under warranty ,it was sent to japan and has come back in as new condition .well worth buying u.k models
 
Eloise said:
This is from memory so may be incorrect...

As I recall, Amazon is NOT a Sigma registered dealer and has in the past supplied Grey market imports rather than Sigma UK products. Sigma UK will not touch these under warranty (and no cash back deals, etc. will be honoured).

I just found this posted on Sigma’s website Q&A regarding 3 year warranty...

Amazon UK is no longer listed as a recommended internet stockist on the Sigma Imaging UK ‘Where to buy’ section of the website as of December 2015. We have been made aware that Amazon UK is selling grey market products, items not officially imported into the UK, and not eligible for the extended warranty program. Since the UK consumer cannot determine whether the item they are interested in purchasing is a UK serial number we have decided to remove them from our list.​
Click to expand...


However if you get one from Amazon and phone Sigma they will check the serial number and if it is an official UK lens then they will honour the 3 year warranty. (and that's from personal experience)
 
Mike.P said:
However if you get one from Amazon and phone Sigma they will check the serial number and if it is an official UK lens then they will honour the 3 year warranty. (and that's from personal experience)
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If that works then all well and good ... but another hoop to jump through!
 
My only ever lens purchase from Amazon was a complete fail. After scouring the internet, I found tat they had a Tokina lens listed at about £100 cheaper than anywhere else, so I placed the order. All the confirmations etc were received, only for five days later to have Amazon announce I had returned the order and my money refunded with no explanation. They hadn't posted it out to me (it was sold by Amazon) and couldn't explain why it was returned - apparently something to do with the packaging being damaged.

It was relisted about a week later at the full price.

I smelt a fish and boycotted Amazon for a good five years.
 
We buy a lot from Amazon and I mean a lot, almost a parcel a day. We have had very few problems and have found their returns service to be very good.

I have bought one camera and 5/6 lenses from them. As Canon do not seal their boxes it is difficult to tell if they are returned goods, however they all looked new to me. One lens from their market place was probably grey as the price was lower than I found elsewhere in the UK but it qualified for a Canon cash back so not clear. The one Sigma lens I bought was from Amazon direct but turned out not to be a UK version as Sigma refused the extended warranty. I spoke to Sigma who explained that Amazon sourced from Europe as there were shortages. Amazon confirmed this in a roundabout way and offered to replace the lens for a UK version. I did not take up the offer as the one I had was a good copy and was not expensive. I may regret this decision is if fails in year 2 or 3.
 
Out of interest, why would people here choose jessops over park (I don't really know much about each company, although have used jessops before)
I ordered the lens, but it is currently unopened, as I have been experimenting with the new camera using a 50mm and it is a lot harder to work with using my tethered set up than anticipated, so I'm going to return the 105mm until I am certain as to whether I will be able to use the d810 well, and do more experiments this weekend with different software.
 
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