Important Information You Should Know Before Buying your Next
Nikon Canon Leica Olympus Minolta Pentax Camera or Lens
B&H Photo Video is fast becoming the new Microsoft of the Photo world. With photographic distributors cutting them ‘special deals’ outside of what other photographic establishments receive they are able to effectively undercut the pricing of every camera store in the U.S. and still be allowed to make a healthy profit. So you say that this is just regular business practices in the U.S. and what does this mean to me the consumer ? It means that while you enjoy lower prices today, you will bear the burden tomorrow. As camera stores fail across the nation because of unfair business practices of camera distributors, B&H will run a virtual monopoly of photographic equipment within a short time. Consumers will be held hostage to paying whatever B&H sets the price at for a particular item, and the distributors that are playing this game will get what is justly coming to them – B&H will tell the distributor what they will pay for a particular item. Let’s see, who wins? B&H wins with higher profit margin and a monopolized business sector. The Consumer (you and me) lose with higher prices and the Distributor loses because B&H will take there profit margin as well.
Here how it works:
Camera stores including B&H are sold a Widget for a net price $5.00 (net price) and by there franchise agreement with the distributor are told that the lowest price they are allowed to advertise that particular item is $5.50 (MAP Price), allowing all camera stores to compete for the same customer dollar and make enough profit to keep the store open, pay salaries and feed the kids. List price is set at $6.00 (List Price) which is a farce used to indicate the over inflated pricing that nobody ever sees except to lead the customer into thinking he is getting a deal because he is only being charged the MAP Price of $5.50. Basically NOBODY Advertises or Sells their goods at list price.
This all sounds fair and dandy and is the way the game is supposed to be played out. In reality, what happens is that B&H has so much buying power that they strike up ‘special deals’ with the distributors that are not given to Anyone other than B&H. Now B&H buys that same widget at $4.00 (Net Price) and then advertises below the MAP Price of $5.50 and sells there Widget for $4.95, which is below all other dealers Net Price for that same item, all the while making a healthy profit. The other dealers cannot compete or price match, so they simply watch there business go away as everyone flocks to B&H for the low price. End result is that all the neighborhood photo stores go out of business and then everyone says, “we used to have this great camera store where I would take my son to learn about the art of photography, a place where we could look at the equipment and get advice before we purchase…, I wonder why they went out of business?”. They went out of business because the greedy distributors fed into B&H’s greedy destructive strategy to take away all honest business and local customers. They went away because of UNFAIR business practices being perpetrated by the B&H and the distributors, creating an Uneven playing field. Soon there will be no more ‘favorite’ camera stores in your neighboring city either, just wait and see.
So why can’t the rest of the camera stores buy the widget’s at a lower price like B&H? Well, because they cannot buy product in the huge volumes that B&H does. Its simple math folks, lets pretend you’re a sales arm of a major photo distributor like Canon USA. B&H approaches them and says. “we will buy 10000 widgets, if you give us a discount of $1.00 each of Net Price so that we can sell lower then anyone else”. The sales manager says to himself, ‘”well I am not supposed to do this, but hey I can make a huge amount of money and move a lot of product in one deal that normally takes me several months selling to all the neighborhood camera stores, I’ll do it!”, and off it goes with every major distributor. The blind eye is turned, but only at B&H. The rest of the camera stores do not and will not get such deals and are forced to pay full Net Price.
Doesn’t MAP Pricing protect the other dealers? No, it only protects B&H. Here’s how. All dealers are told that they have to advertise at MAP pricing levels or they will get there kickbacks forfeited (a kickback, is a small percentage from 4-10% that the dealer gets back as a dividend usually on a quarterly basis from the distributor) – this kickback helps pay the advertising, employees and overhead costs associated with doing business and is Common practice. If MAP is broken a second or third time, then the camera store will lose there franchise rights (dealership) to sell that particular distributors products). So, the neighborhood camera store cannot break MAP pricing and must advertise at MAP to stay alive. On the other hand, B&H breaks MAP everyday, consistently with every distributor. Yes, other dealers complain, they even document the MAP violations and notify the distributors, but B&H is immune to MAP policy because the distributor knows that if B&H gets mad at them and decides not to sell there products that they are the ones that lose out. Yes, that right, the distributor loses a huge sales channel for their goods. In turn, B&H is not held to MAP pricing. To sum it all up, MAP Pricing only protects B&H, not the neighborhood camera stores.
What about other dealers (mostly in New York) that advertise really low prices that are too good to be true? They are simply scammers with several ways to part you from your hard earned money. They advertise the widget for $3.00, then when you call to buy they simply put you into another product where the profit margin is high. If you insist on buying that widget for $3.00, they will sell you a junk filter for $100 to make up for it, or they will de-content the package (take accessories out that normally come with it and then try to re-sell them to you) or you will simply Never receive the product and you will have to call your credit card company because you can never get through to there so called customer service phone lines. What is the world coming to ? I tell the people that the Photographic industry is 95% crooked and it really is. Buyer Beware.
What are the repercussions of all this? Let’s see, if Microsoft is the only game in town for operating systems, guess what? You pay Microsoft whatever price they dictate for software and as far as choices? Guess what? You get Microsoft’s operating system. When you walk into a computer store are you given a choice of operating systems ? What if you asked ‘I like this PC, it has everything I need, but what are my choices for an operating system? The clerk, may say, ‘this one’. You would reply, I know but what about something else ? The clerk would reply ‘this one’.
The consumer, yes that’s you, loses in the long run through increased prices and choices determined not by you but by B&H! Not to mention the neighborhood camera store which use to be a fun place to hang out on weekends and enjoy a terrific hobby and art form is now GONE!
Now, lets see. Does B&H or the distributors care about photography as an Art ? No, its only dollars to them, they do not publish information useful to the photographic community unless they feel there is some return in it for them. B&H tells you nothing about photography. You think I’m joking, I’m not. I am in this business and I meet and talk with these people on a daily basis. They DO NOT CARE about you or Photography. Only one thing drives them, that is personal gain and money for their company. They are Evil, believe it.
Sounds backwards doesn’t it ? Shouldn’t the people interested in fostering photography as an art be allowed to prosper for the good deeds that they do everyday ? Well, that is entirely up to the YOU! You may think it isn’t but it ENTIRELY is. You the consumer decides how things work with the money you worked hard for and spend everyday. If you spend your money with the B&H’s of the world you are doing one thing – feeding a monster that is creating this bad environment. You need to Pay it Forward - Spend your money with your favorite camera store that is making a difference for you and your kids, then you are changing the world for the better, for yourself, for your kids and for everyone else. Your Dollar talks! It is you that creates this environment, but not because you want it that way, it is because information is with held from you. You are being manipulated by the big Greedy Corporations such as B&H.
Now you are armed with the truth. There is no greater power, because as you know, Americans when armed with the Truth will do the right thing. Boycott B&H Photo Video, spend your dollars with the people that serve you and protect the art of photography.
Do Not buy from B&H. Buy your photographic equipment from the people that help you. Its simple to see who that is, call a few places and see you Really helps get you into the right equipment for your needs without first thinking of their profit margin, spend your dollars with the people that spend the time with you and answer your questions. It is Ok for a camera store to make honest money, we all have a job and nobody would walk into your place of employment and ask you to work for free, would they ? Asking a camera store to sell you equipment at there cost is the same thing. If we work hard, we all have a God given right to earn a living and provide for our families.
See if B&H will answer any questions for you regarding photography or your needs, they won’t, they will simply get rid of you if they do not smell dollars within the first minute. Yes being put on indefinite hold or being spoken to rudely is the same thing as being hung up on.
Here is some Important information for other Dealers: Have you noticed that B&H is selling all New Canon USA Equipment at straight Dealer Net? Wonder why? Its because B&H has a former employee that is now a Top V.P. at Canon USA and is giving B&H special discounts at 10% below std. Dealer Net! This allows them to completely monopolize the entire Canon USA Lineup of Digital Cameras and Lenses, which happens to be the Hottest Photo Equipment on the market right now. Don’t belive me, check there site and see, al the New Canon USA Lenses are being sold at Dealer Cost, why because they are making 10 points on the backend. Something the rest of us dealers would never see. Can you say UNFAIR Trade Practices? Any Good Attorney reading this should be able to smell a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT a mile away on this one.
ONE MORE TIME – You are in Control. You have the knowledge to do what is right. You can Create the environment for the future for you and your children. Do it the next time you make a purchase of photographic equipment and let yourself be heard around this great Nation. Don’t say you didn’t know what was happening before it was too late, because it is NOT too late. You can make a difference right now!
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