Dublin's dearest Camera shop.

AnimalRights

Camera centre of Grafton street wins hands down, Speedlite EX €329.99, Gunn's €249 and Conn's €299.
Other Canon lenses are far dearer in Camera centre compared to the other shops too. They even had the Speedlite 430 II advertised but when I phoned they actually haven't got it in stock. :rolleyes:

Arciphel

if this is the place that has a branch in blanchardstown too then i agree!

xshayx

Its not just their prices that are bad, I boycotted them years ago because of their arrogance and rudeness

AnimalRights

Arciphel wrote: »

if this is the place that has a branch in blanchardstown too then i agree!

It is, they have a 3rd shop in Tallaght too I think.

Covey

3 Shops.. the concept seems to work then :rolleyes:

*Dallas

the camera centre, (both grafton st & blanch) and Conns, have the market cornered for those 'more money than sense' people!.. those peope that buy a top of the range digital camera and leave it set to full auto mode lol

Bit off the point, but i also hate when celebrities buy the most expensive camera equipement available and then suddenly think their 'photographers'..

Did anyone see those photos of John Mayer buying a Canon, he was messing and put the camera (minus the lens so mirrors were exposed) up his tshirt .. oblivious that he was probably getting dust an dirt inside...see, more money then sense!





id rather go off the beaten track to Gunns, get good advice and not feel like i got ripped off!

AnimalRights

*Dallas wrote: »

Conns, have the market cornered for those 'more money than sense' people!..

I bought my 24-105L IS for a very good price €749 in Conn's but yeah I get ya drift.

Ricky91t

No one can beats harvey normans for rip off prices they sell the 17-85 for €695!i don't shop in shops i just ebay stuff but in my eyes thats pricy

Setun

I think in general, don't buy any electronic equipment in Dublin unless you're very sure that you're getting a good price - which is rare tbh.

Gunns is the only shop in town that I've bought photography equipment from, and I don't mind paying a little bit above internet prices for the service you get in that shop. Very helpful folks!

stcstc

there are other issues to consider when buying photography equipment


if you buy locally, your supporting local businesses, this is important for these places to survive, if you want to be able to even buy small things from them what would you do if they were all gone


more importantly though is the service and support, if you buy from abroad and something goes wrong it can become a real pain. If you need the equipment for any length of time and it goes faulty, when bought from abroad you will be without it


My method is if its less than 30% more in a shop i will buy it from there as its less grief plus both of the above. if its more than 30% more expensive then i consider other options

sunny2004

xshayx wrote: »

Its not just their prices that are bad, I boycotted them years ago because of their arrogance and rudeness

+1

And they dont stock IR filters ! imagine that

City-Exile

I was in Camera Exchange today.
They're great for an auld chat.
Pixels off Henry St. are a joke!
I find them expensive, but their staff dismiss you, if they sense you might know something about cameras. It's as though they panic that their cover will be blown. They seem to want the easy sale to the unsuspecting pleb!

Got what I needed today, in a matter of seconds, for a reasonable price.
I think it's important to have local shops.

WheresMyCamera?

I would agree on the local shops being good point. However I went into one of these local places the other day just to have a look at a lense on a crop body (which I found asking for just that was enough to stop most of the bullsh*t sales talk) And I have to say it was great having that option but the sales person then told me that "it's a good time to buy now as lens prices are about to go up 15%"

The lens I was looking at costs €839 here and €446 from B&H. And that's before the 15% increase. A difference of that much doesn't make me happy at all It is fair to note that there is about the same difference in price between the UK market and US so it's not just a case of only rip off Ireland.

Paulw

I would buy local, IF the price is right.

I know that Canon are trying to ensure that their prices are standard all across Europe, and then of course, the local stores add their own % profit on top.

For some stores in Dublin, their own profit seems quite high. For others, they do offer a good service.

There are some brilliant stores in Dublin (Gunn's on Wexford St being one). There are some I like to browse in. But, few I'd buy serious gear from, purely due to their high prices.

duffarama

WheresMyCamera? wrote: »

the sales person then told me that "it's a good time to buy now as lens prices are about to go up 15%"

Olympus did the same recently in the UK, and I presume the rest of Europe, as the exchange rates were hurting them but mostly so they didn't have to change their prices in the US which is their biggest market.

So I bought this http://asia.olympus-global.com/imsg/dslr/lenses/12-60_28-40swd/ before the price rise!

+1 for Gunns but I can't get camera equipment there but I try to buy all my film in there and will soon be doing my printing there too

WheresMyCamera?

I would always buy local if the price was right. I used to sell cameras in a shop in one of them bricks and morter places. So I used to know what the suppliers would sell gear for. I know the shop I used to sell gear from only had about a 1.5% profit margin on them. But in saying that when I bought my own camera body it was from Gunns which worked out cheaper then me buying direct from the supplier, and just a little dearer (€30) than B&H at the time!

And the service from Gunns was excellent.

LeoB

Its a pity some camera shops screw people in to the ground. I am stunned at the cost of Canon eos 40d. I can get it in A.J. Purdys in Harlow in Essex, pay for flights, stay 2 nights and save €250. Its a pity the shops dont kop on to what they are doing. Could there be a cosy cartel going on here. I have only ever bought gear in Hall cameras and found them very good to deal with, but on a tight budget I just cant afford to shop local. Maybe the question should be "Where is the cheapest camera shop in Dublin"? Then just maybe we would see a bit of competition!! I would gladly drive to Cork for a deal that would come close to internet. I have also found if you trade anything in its a moan straight away. If Canon do try and level out their prices across europe, do you really think we will benifit:rolleyes:;)
stcstc made point, "if you buy locally, your supporting local businesses, this is important for these places to survive, if you want to be able to even buy small things from them what would you do if they were all gone".
Shop on the internet. If they want to survive they must compete a little better

stcstc

its not quite as simple as they need to compete with the internet:

Dublin is one of the most expensive cities in the world for office and retail space, I know i am looking for some at the moment


and this has a huge impact on these places,


also the market here is soooo small relatively that margins have to be pushed just to turnover enough


i dont disagree that shops here seem to be expensive but it isnt as simple as oh i can get it cheaper on the internet, there really is more too it

Borderfox

In a lot of cases though you can legally import the gear in for less even when you pay VAT and import duty so where does all the money go into, it seems that its the same with most things in Ireland. Screw the customer with the high price once and they never shop with us again instead of trying to build relationships.

A case in point - I was in a certain retailer in Dublin and I was talking to the boss, I remarked that I was going Pro and wanted to purchase around €20,000 (approx) worth of equipment and listed off what I was looking for and asked what sort of discounts could be had from that retailer. He said he wouldn't know what amount of discount I could have until I came into buy the gear??

Beggars belief

Dundhoone

The legacy of the boom, where people just paid the asking price and haggling/bargaining went right out the window.

He wanted you in the shop , cash in hand, because he knew you could get the kit for less if you bought from the UK , maybe. That or he couldnt be bothered to try to get you a price because business was too good?

Borderfox

Instead I purchased a lot of it from Uncle Albert (wink wink) and the 1d from BH (which I paid VAT on and it was still over €1000 cheaper)

jpfahy

I went to Jessops in Newry for my 5D at Christmas and saved a packet, an hour and a half up the road......

magicbastarder

i'm buying a lens in town for about €100 more than i can get it online - for several reasons.
if it gets stopped by customs, they'll add about €80 onto it.
if it arrives broken, i'll have to send it back, and pay delivery fees. which would not be cheap.
i shop regularly in two camera shops in town, and in one i regularly get at least a 10% discount because they know me. i know i'll get good service, and a loaner to cover any equipment which fails within warranty (where possible - obviously not with most secondhand kit).

also, i have been able to borrow gear from one of the shops before buying - including a lens and a medium format camera (which i ran about ten rolls through in the week i borrowed it - they got the film and dev out of it, so there was something in it for them). i think all that is well worth taking a €100 hit on a lens.

Paulw

Buying small items (under a few hundred euro) might not save you much between online and a Dublin shop.

Buying a large item (a few thousand) can save you hundreds or even a thousand Euro, so buying online can be well worth it.

Shipping an item back to (eg HK or the US) will only cost you €50-60. Compared to what you save, it can be worth it.

As the Govt always advise - shop around. If I can't get a competitive price in Dublin, then I will certainly spend my money where I can get value. I always consider all the options, including warranty, dealing with faults, etc.

So far, I've never had a single issue that couldn't be quickly solved.

trishw78

I went into that Pixels place in Henry St. to ask about a tripod and a lens just so I'd have a bircks and mortar price before purchasing from online. I had an arguement with two of the sales reps about the existance of the Canon 100mm lens until one of them went to the computer to prove me wrong, and low and behold there it was, two apologies and red faces later they still could give me a price.

It's that type of service that just turns me off Dublin

AnimalRights

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'm buying a lens in town for about €100 more than i can get it online -

Very few Lens would fit into that €100 window though.
I saved almost 700 euros alone on my 70-200 2.8
€250 on my 100mm Macro 2.8 and they included rip of bank charges and p+p and sterling conversion.

Covey

stcstc wrote: »

if you buy locally, your supporting local businesses, this is important for these places to survive, if you want to be able to even buy small things from them what would you do if they were all gone

Do what I do now, buy from 7dayshop or the like and have it delivered in a couple of days to my house for a fraction of the price. Frankly it's not important that they survive to fleece the Irish customer.

stcstc wrote: »

more importantly though is the service and support, if you buy from abroad and something goes wrong it can become a real pain. If you need the equipment for any length of time and it goes faulty, when bought from abroad you will be without it.

Buying from anywhere else in the EU, I get the same, and in most cases better, after sales service than in Irish shops. Canon don't have a repair centre in Ireland , so it goes overseas in any event.

stcstc wrote: »

My method is if its less than 30% more in a shop i will buy it from there as its less grief plus both of the above. if its more than 30% more expensive then i consider other options

Steve thats generous in the extreme and maybe the reason why shops in Ireland feel they can charge what they want.

stcstc wrote: »

also the market here is soooo small relatively that margins have to be pushed just to turnover enough

Thats really a fallacy. The small camera shop in Frankfurt/Paris etc has access to probably the same or maybe less of a market than Dublin and still charge a fraction of whats being charged here.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 40D in Ireland (Belfast) in a bricks and mortar shop for €620. The cheapest price, I could get here was €900. That a whopping 45% extra. Canon RRP is € 1400, which speaks for itself really.

I refuse to be ripped off anymore for anything I can get without fuss for a fraction of the cost. Canon don't care and that was borne out by their response to a tread last year by Leinsterman on here. They appear to have a made a corporate decision to service the bottom and top end of the market (P&S/Professionals) and are happy to ignore the middle bit, where most of us on here fall into. I have no experience with other marques, sorry.

The downturn in the economy will hit luxury item sellers hardest. Whilst I would prefer to shop in Ireland, I don't go along with the attitude "we must or else" . I predict camera shops will go to the wall and thats down solely to not being competitive. I own a fair bit of gear (and consumables) and aside from a monopod, nothing bought in Ireland. I've saved packets and all bought legally, with full warranty and great after sales service, within the EU.

The poster who quoted margins of 1.5% above is living in cloud cuckoo land.

It wouldn't bother me in the morning if there wasn't a camera shop in Ireland to be honest. As Borderfox has stated a potential sale of 20K doesen't even get them to act in a normal commercial manner.

T.

AnimalRights

Also another problem I have with buying stuff here is that for instance the new Canon speedlite 430 II was released in UK today and according to Gunn's we will not be able to get it here for 2-3 weeks.

stcstc

covey

do you mind telling me how and where you got the 40D for 620 euros

on the warehouseexpress website, (which is a general good rule of thumb for prices) its 607 stg

I am assuming you did something with VAT


actually the margins are not that high, main reason being not the camera shops but the fact that most brands here have distributors where as in the uk the shops buy direct from the manufacturer.

I had a camera go bad on me a while ago, because i bought it here, when they sent mine for repair i was able to have a loan machine, i wasnt without a camera because of it. when you earn money from this stuff, thats kinda important.

s

Covey

AnimalRights wrote: »

Also another problem I have with buying stuff here is that for instance the new Canon speedlite 430 II was released in UK today and according to Gunn's we will not be able to get it here for 2-3 weeks.

True, but you expected Irish shops to have it three days before the launch day (see opening post on this thread).

Covey

stcstc wrote: »

covey

do you mind telling me how and where you got the 40D for 620 euros

on the warehouseexpress website, (which is a general good rule of thumb for prices) its 607 stg

I am assuming you did something with VAT


actually the margins are not that high, main reason being not the camera shops but the fact that most brands here have distributors where as in the uk the shops buy direct from the manufacturer.

s

Bought in Calumet, Belfast. GBP 595 less GBP 100 rebate, works out around €620. The €900 I mentioned also has the rebate factored in.

I'm not vat registered.

Regarding distributors, thats something that the shops tolerate. They don't neccessarily have to though. Being pro-active would sort it out fairly rapidly:rolleyes:.

thebaz

Gunns are the business , they have a great attitude , reasonable if not the best pricesin Dublin , and seam genuinely interested in photography

Covey

thebaz wrote: »

Gunns are the business , they have a great attitude , reasonable if not the best pricesin Dublin , and seam genuinely interested in photography

All of the above, but they are still expensive.

If I go to my boss and ask for a 30% increase, well I know what I'd be told. So, I see no reason to pay extra on overpriced Irish.

Both of us went to Belfast to buy our new cameras btw.

AnimalRights

Covey wrote: »

True, but you expected Irish shops to have it three days before the launch day (see opening post on this thread).

I was led to believe the release was today from online and Gunn's, but I was also told it would be 2-3 weeks from the day of the release so I still stand by my original post.

Drummerboy2

If I was buying local I use Dublin Camera Exchange on Dame Street and Trinity Street. Guys behind the counter know their stuff.

AnimalRights

I agree, along with Gunn's they are the 2 best shops IMO.

thebaz

Covey wrote: »

Both of us went to Belfast to buy our new cameras btw.

What did you get ??

good luck with it anyway

Covey

40D

@ animalrights - T minus 3 = < T

AnimalRights

WheresMyCamera?

Covey wrote: »

The poster who quoted margins of 1.5% above is living in cloud cuckoo land.

I know the above is hard to believe and I can only speak from personal experience based on running a camera dept within a bigger electronics store. (While not a specialised camera shop it still had the same suppliers as most camera shops in Ireland.)

As stcstc quite rightly pointed out there are a number of other channels that equipment has to come through before it gets to the retail shop in Ireland and each of those steps adds on their % increase to make a little money along the way.

As to why it has to be this way? I have no idea. Could never get a consistant answer from the top brass (including Canon and Olympus reps) as to why we couldn't just use another supplier and import a small amount of the right gear to sell at a better price. Could have something to do with returns/buying power on other products,none camera related/importation laws.

All in all I have much the same attitude as you Covey. I will shop around to get a good deal but at the same time I do not mind spending a small amount more for good service.

AnimalRights

If it were just 1.5% there would not be a Camera shop in Dublin, they have to pay VAT/Rates/ESB and millions of other stuff.

Covey

WheresMyCamera? wrote: »

I know the above is hard to believe and I can only speak from personal experience based on running a camera dept within a bigger electronics store. (While not a specialised camera shop it still had the same suppliers as most camera shops in Ireland.)

As stcstc quite rightly pointed out there are a number of other channels that equipment has to come through before it gets to the retail shop in Ireland and each of those steps adds on their % increase to make a little money along the way.

As to why it has to be this way? I have no idea. Could never get a consistant answer from the top brass (including Canon and Olympus reps) as to why we couldn't just use another supplier and import a small amount of the right gear to sell at a better price. Could have something to do with returns/buying power on other products,none camera related/importation laws.

All in all I have much the same attitude as you Covey. I will shop around to get a good deal but at the same time I do not mind spending a small amount more for good service.

I have experience through my job of a variety of industries and, aside from Financial Institutions, I've never seen an industry that made margins of 1.5%. For a retail outlet that's not economically viable. On a turnover of 20K per week thats €300 to pay for staff and overheads.

WheresMyCamera? wrote: »

As to why it has to be this way?

It doesn't. The only reason it remains at all is because consumers accept it. Though if retailers were more pro-active they could quite easily get around this.

WheresMyCamera?

You're dead right. But I'm only talking about DSLR equipment in a camera dept of a much larger shop. Don't worry shops do have their products that they make a shocking amount of profit on*:o


*As well as some they even make nothing on or actually make a loss just to get said punter in the door:eek:

conical

Covey wrote: »

D40

@ animalrights - T minus 3 = < T

@Covey

If it's not rude to ask, where did you buy and how much?
What was the saving vs. down south or the internet?

I'm thinking of investing and am having trouble deciding!


C

Covey

It's all up further in the thread.

conical

Covey wrote: »

It's all up further in the thread.

Ah, I see.
I actually read that, but then read your other post before you fixed the typo

D40 / 40D, with all the letters and numbers available you'd think Canon/Nikon could come up with something original

magicbastarder

Covey wrote: »

All of the above, but they are still expensive.

i went into gunns to buy a scanner which was available online for €175, from komplett.
the *wholesale* price gunns were being charged for it was significantly higher than the retail price komplett were able to charge. for gunns to match an irish (let alone HK) based warehouse would see them on the dole queue in very short order.

don't blame the small retailer for the high prices - camera manufacturers are trying to squeeze them out of business; they'd prefer deal with an anonymous warehouse which will turn over ten times the volume of kit, so are pricing the small retailers out of the market.

Covey

magicbastarder wrote: »

i went into gunns to buy a scanner which was available online for €175, from komplett.
the *wholesale* price gunns were being charged for it was significantly higher than the retail price komplett were able to charge. for gunns to match an irish (let alone HK) based warehouse would see them on the dole queue in very short order.

don't blame the small retailer for the high prices - camera manufacturers are trying to squeeze them out of business; they'd prefer deal with an anonymous warehouse which will turn over ten times the volume of kit, so are pricing the small retailers out of the market.

Thats exactly the point I was making further up about being more pro-active.

Retailers have the same right to shop around within the EU as us consumers have. They're just too lazy or complacent to do so.

T.

LeoB

Agree with you Covey, If ordinary people can go home and research good deals on the internet surlEy these "poor" camera shops can do the same. Or even if a few shops got togeather it would make a big difference to the amounts of camera kit being brought in from H.K. or U.S.A. As I stated earlier if the price was half right I would buy here tomorrow.

harr

fuji s200 exr 330 euro on amazon. rang most shops in dublin city all were around 450 to 499 euro,way to dear for bridge camera

Barname

my biggest gripe is when I went to a certain well known shop and purchased a D200, I was assured a new model was not imminent, the D300 was launched the next day!

left a sour taste especially as I have since learned about Nikons product cycles and know that they had to know!

poor form.