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B&H still a good online seller?


chuck

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<blockquote>

<p>"For orders shipped to any address outside NY state we do not (and may not) collect sales tax. That includes Texas."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Hmm... I must be disremembering. I do recall Adorama collecting sales tax, but now that I think about it those purchases were through their Amazon outlet.</p>

<p>Anyway, I know the state sales tax collection thing is a complicated issue, as some of my friends who run small businesses that depend on online sales remind me.</p>

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<p>B&H and ADORAMA are <strong>THE BEST</strong> and in fact their prices <strong>almost</strong> always match for items. They also have terrific return policies.<br>

For any 'bad' review you may see for B&H or ADORAMA, there is likely a few thousand or more 'good' ones, so take any bad reviews with a grain of salt.<br>

I have used both exclusively for a long time and would not even consider going elsewhere. As far as I am concerned, they are both interchangeable stores.<br>

By the way, both are FAMILY owned and run and are old, established stores.</p>

"My film died of exposure."
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<p>B&H: The first item I remember buying from 'em was an import Nikkor 300 2.8 AIS new for 1200 bucks in May 1983. I've been buying from 'em ever since. I feel like I know the owner personally after all these years and it's good feeling for me and for B&H. It's been amazing to watch B&H grow from those small ads in the photo mags to be king of the hill. </p>

<p>However, the king has a pea under his mattress these days and seems to have taken a lesson from Amazon is stupid packing of expensive items for shipment by putting folded bubble-wrap on top of the item, and then leaving the bottom and sides totally unprotected against shock. B&H should change the B-W machine and have the item placed between the bubble-wrap at the minimum. They way it is now, you better pray the manufacturer does a good job in protecting the items with their packing. I get quite a few items with the box partially crushed even when the outside box is undamaged. How many G's does it take to crush the corner of a box inside an undamaged outer box?</p>

<p>I still won't stray too far from B&H, but I will stray Adorama's way.</p>

<p>Adorama: They always used to be second fiddle to B&H, but I agree that over the last several years they have really upped their game to a high level resulting in becoming a viable alternative to B&H. It's good for both Adorama and B&H to have strong competition between them. </p>

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<blockquote>

<p>They way it is now, you better pray the manufacturer does a good job in protecting the items with their packing.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>In fact the manufacturer's packing is so good we could wrap their carton in Kraft paper, slap a label on and ship that way without hesitation. The proof?</p>

<ul>

<li>Manufacturers and US distributors ship to us that way and the merchandise arrives here unscathed. It's actually kind of neat to open a carton and see it packed edge to edge with individual camera or lens boxes like sardines.</li>

<li>We ship thousands of packages per day and the number returned to us due to damage, (in-transit or otherwise) is miniscule. If this were an issue we'd have addressed it long ago.</li>

</ul>

<p>But, customer satisfaction is paramount. Right now we're clearing space in our warehouse in which we will soon install a custom packaging machine (device?) which will create a unique package for each shipment. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

Henry Posner

B&H Photo-Video

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<p>Yeah, packaging is practically a non-issue, both from the manufacturers and the retailers. The manufacturers seem to do their homework based on realistic testing and use sensible packaging without going to excess that would be cost-ineffective and wasteful. I was a bit skeptical of some packaging I've seen that included thin foam sheets and folded cardboard, rather than lots of styrofoam and bubble wrap. But nothing I've ordered through B&H, Adorama or Amazon has arrived damaged, including cameras, lenses, hard drives, etc. Even when the manufacturer's box was sliding around a bit inside the exterior shipping carton, there was still no damage.</p>

<p>The only damaged packages I've received in the past few years were things that couldn't really be damaged, like pet food from Amazon, delivered by USPS. The post office has a knack for knowing what's actually inside those anonymous Amazon cartons and know which boxes they can abuse and which need to be handled more carefully.</p>

<p>The last time I saw consistently inferior packaging was in the early days of trade with China, the late 1980s-early '90s, when their factories seemed to ship fragile goods in cartons made from typing paper. I worked part time on a freight loading dock, loading and unloading trucks, and it was impossible to quickly load cartons of Chinese made glassware without a lot of breakage. But that was decades ago and not at all like the current higher standards.</p>

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<p>By chance I just received a package from B&H today. It is in the usual cardboard box. There is bubble-wrap around manufacturer boxes. The SD card inside is clearly not as easy to damage in its little plastic box. I also ordered a more vulnerable computer hard drive, and that is also fine.</p>

<p>The only time B&H's packaging is more simple is when I order memory cards only. Those are thin so that B&H doesn't always ship inside a box. But memory cards have their plastic casing, and usually you can't damage them by dropping.</p>

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<p>Yes, and they've gotten better over the years. The ordering system is flawless, returns extremely easy, their online system is the best on the Internet, the telephone support is far nicer to deal with than it used to be (NY brusqueness has been toned down), and they're one of the very few places that still do a 30-day return period. And they clearly the widest stock of any single camera store.</p>
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<p>per JAY<br>

<strong>--- a lesson from Amazon is stupid packing of expensive items for shipment by putting folded bubble-wrap on top of the item, and then leaving the bottom and sides totally unprotected against shock. B&H should change the B-W machine and have the item placed between the bubble-wrap at the minimum.</strong></p>

<p>Jay I have always been really aggravated to receive packages in that manner, but so far no damage. The worst time of year is the holidays when UPS, FEDEX hire part timers who could not care less how they handle deliveries. But as I stated - so far no damage.</p>

<p>All the stores do it -- B&H, ADORAMA, AMAZON, many others. Frankly I cannot and never do pack boxes like that. My shipped items are always packed in the center of a 360 degree foam / peanuts / cushioning, surrounded by at least 3 inches of protection.</p>

<p>I am surprised but also pleased to read Mr. Posner's comments on the miniscule returns for damage.</p>

<p>One bad thing that really got my ire up recently was a few months back when I ordered a lens filter and it arrived in what amounted to a hermetically, vacuum sealed 8 X 10 or so, very tough plastic envelope. It was so difficult to slice that <strong>never-meant-to-be-opened package</strong> open that I came close to returning it partially sliced open with the nastiest letter ever written by man. I forget whether the filter was from B&H or ADORAMA but it was 95% most likely ADORAMA as that is from whom I have been getting most of mine.</p>

"My film died of exposure."
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Regarding packaging, I just received a cleverly

packaged item from Adorama. It's a little WD

Passport Ultra, shipped in a foam lined plastic

envelope. The envelope was inflated and heat

sealed to retain the air. It created its own

bubble wrap. Made it perfectly intact that way.

Probably more efficient for the seller too.

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  • 2 years later...

No, not anymore. They used to be very solid and reputable and I had been ordering from them for nearly 20 years. This month I ordered some items and nothing arrived. B&H claims they shipped the items to a place I haven't lived in several years -- they must have gotten that address from old orders, because I entered my correct current address when I placed the order. I now don't have my stuff or my money. B&H customer service refused to do anything about it -- they told me that they shipped the items and it doesn't matter to whom. I emailed the CEO to ask for help and got back a response saying that not only does he back up his customer service's refusal to fix their mistake, he's even willing to go to the length of lying to the credit card company to dispute the credit card chargeback (he intends to tell them I put in the wrong address when I ordered).

 

There are a lot better options for honest online merchants these days: Adorama, Amazon, Kenmore Camera. I will be avoiding B&H and would recommend the same to anyone.

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When you order from B&H via their web site, the order confirmation clearly specifies the "ship to" address. See the example in my recent order (this year, in 2018). If you specified the right address and that is confirmed in the e-mail, but B&H shipped to a wrong address, I would imagine that B&H is responsible. In my case, my address is now slightly different from before, and the change is reflected in the confirmation.

 

However, in case you accidentally clicked on an old address, that is your fault. I can see that can easily happen. It is best to delete all out-of-date addresses from your account to avoid errors.

 

Situations are pretty much the same with Amazon. I have been ordering from B&H and Amazon for over 20 years. I don't even recall one bad experience with either one of them.

 

BH.jpg.7fbe7043c272d43023ce565fd57f2ee3.jpg

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I have never had a single issue with B&H.

How did they get the old address?

Is it anywhere on your order screen?

I expect the invoice shows which address it was shipped to.

As stated above the order formats sometime make it easy to make a mistake when ordering.

Amazon is a classic example.

 

Have you tried contacting the people at the address it was shipped to?

You might be pleasantly surprised......Some people can be downright honest and nice about getting your things to you.

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I have this recent experience with Amazon (which has nothing to do with B&H, but there could be similar situations). With Amazon, I have three addresses under my account, home, PO Box, and my work address. Apparently the work address is the default.

 

I put a few items in my "shopping cart" and wanted Amazon to ship to my home address, and I selected that address. However, instead of checking out immediately, I looked at some other items .... I don't remember exactly which pages on Amazon I viewed, but by the time I finally checked out, the address was somehow reset to my work address again. When I got the order confirmation e-mail, I noticed the wrong address (which would still have been ok in this case) and immediately made a correction..

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In general, you are obliged to pay sales or use taxes on purchases shipped to you from outside your state. However, the state cannot require the vendor to collect the taxes unless it has a physical presence (nexus) in that state. Until Congress acts, the situation will remain the same, as decided by the Supreme Court. There are over 3000 taxing bodies in the U.S., which gravely complicates the process.
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In general, you are obliged to pay sales or use taxes on purchases shipped to you from outside your state.

 

When I did my Kentucky tax return last week, as I do every year, I checked my records for out of state mail order purchases and added the requisite 6% to the relevant line on my form 740.

 

Amazon has a physical presence in Kentucky, and collects sales tax on every purchase. B&H does not, so they go into the total I pay at the end of the year. In addition, as per my understanding, if I physically make a purchase out of state and pay sales tax over the counter(a common situation is me going to a closer and less crowded Wal-Mart in southern Indiana) I don't need to pay that either. Everything else, though, gets to the state on my tax return.

 

Of course, it's on the "honor system" but I still want to make sure I stay legal.

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There's virtually no exemption on paying use tax on out of state purchases, unless those items are exempt in your home state (e.g. food, prescription drugs, etc.). While people refer to paying sales tax on those purchases, the correct term is use tax.

 

States are now resorting to demanding that companies like B&H notify them of shipments to consumers in their states. On another chat site, a user in Colorado received a letter from B&H, stating that his purchases (over $3K) had been reported to the Colorado taxing authorities. That type of action forces the issue, knowing that Colorado is likely to dun the resident for payment of Colorado's use tax. I would imagine that companies would comply rather than have to fight x number of lawsuits filed by various states.

 

The state treasurers all communicate with each other, either through normal means, or during confabs. They'll figure out a way to get the tax money due.them.

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No, not anymore. They used to be very solid and reputable and I had been ordering from them for nearly 20 years. This month I ordered some items and nothing arrived. B&H claims they shipped the items to a place I haven't lived in several years -- they must have gotten that address from old orders, because I entered my correct current address when I placed the order. .

 

Web No: 1049685611

We received your order via our web site. No one looked at the shipping address and certainly no one edited it. We use the information the customer provides to us and the order is processed from computer to computer with no human interaction except that products are removed from warehouse shelves and placed into shipping boxes. The ship-to address we used was the one we received from you.

 

During the order, before it was submitted you had the opportunity to review the order and make any necessary edits or corrections. When we received the order we replied via email with an order confirmation and asked again that you check the contents and contact us if any update was needed. The order was processed and the merchandise was shipped as the order was submitted to us.

Henry Posner

B&H Photo-Video

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credit card chargeback (he intends to tell them I put in the wrong address when I ordered).

  • Have you tried reaching out to the people in the old address?
  • Normally your credit card company would also help you dispute the charge. They have insurance to deal with that.

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