p.1 #2 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
Once a dealer accepts an offer, they are revealed to you. From that point, it's just like you bought directly from them. So yes, you get the invoice as normal.
p.1 #3 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
I have used them frequently. You always get a receipt from an authorized dealer with the shipment and when your credit card is charged you will know who the retailer is. Prior to being charged you will not know who the dealer is.
p.1 #7 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
Its my preferred purchasing method. Have not had a bad experience yet.
Sometimes though, what I am wanting to purchase isn't always available or has little or no savings.
p.1 #8 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
Do folks usually go in with a low offer first to test the water? If your offer is not accepted, is there a waiting period before you can submit another request?
p.1 #9 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
col4bin wrote:
Do folks usually go in with a low offer first to test the water? If your offer is not accepted, is there a waiting period before you can submit another request?
You can put in a lower offer to test the water, but I would not put an unreasonably low offer though. You can also modify your existing offer. There is no waiting period before you can submit another request. I recently bought a new A7RIII through them at a price that's lower than the used price folks are asking. It really depends on how widely available the item is. I recently put a $95 offer for the Sony 64GB SF-G Series UHS-II, no bite. BH sells it for $109.
p.1 #10 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
I've purchase my A9, 85GM and lighting equipment from GT. I noticed that you only get one counter offer. So, no bidding war obvious. Most items never dropped low enough to meet my desire to own. Good service.
p.1 #11 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
bwcolor wrote:
I've purchase my A9, 85GM and lighting equipment from GT. I noticed that you only get one counter offer. So, no bidding war obvious. Most items never dropped low enough to meet my desire to own. Good service.
Yes, I agree, and really, I think that GT is really more a service for sellers than buyers, because they don't really pit one against another in a way that gives the buyer any advantage.
For example, if you go to GT and get about 10% off on an item, that amount is similar to the commissions that the vendor would have paid if they were selling the same item on Ebay at list price (less, in fact). It is also comparable to the discount some companies will give you on 'educational' purchases (which you need to qualify for, but the terms are not impossible for a lot of people).
Since there isn't transparency, you don't really know what their cut is in this process, but the vendors do, since they must ultimately pay some kind of finder fee to make the sale. Since you don't, you have no way to know what the real terms are.
I'm not saying GT is in any way bad at all. I have used them a little bit, and have had good experiences so far, but I am figuring that a large vendor will figure out that they are better off setting up a "Gold Members" club that offers similar deals with an annual fee. That would have the buyers paying to be members as opposed to the vendors paying a third party to sell at discounts.
p.1 #12 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
GT is an excellent platform to connect with authorized retailers and request for a lower than retail price but there are occasional hiccups too. Some retailers are known to use GT to build a demand pipeline and wait on delivering the items. Of course GT will provide a disclaimer on why an upfront payment is required and why wait times are longer than usual. This leaves some user hanging but the lure for lower pricing is what everyone gets hooked on. Direct orders and GT orders go to the same fulfillment pipeline as far as most retailers are concerned but it's purely up to the discretion of the retailer to ship the order especially in cases where the demand is quite high earlier on like during pre-orders. So it all comes down to how widely the item is available and who wants to move the inventory quickly. Also, Sony in recent times have been known to ship surplus cameras to vendors and let vendors price at their cost and if users have a GT quote pending with the same vendor, the chances of seeing much lower prices are high.
p.1 #13 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
mjm6 wrote:
Yes, I agree, and really, I think that GT is really more a service for sellers than buyers, because they don't really pit one against another in a way that gives the buyer any advantage.
For example, if you go to GT and get about 10% off on an item, that amount is similar to the commissions that the vendor would have paid if they were selling the same item on Ebay at list price (less, in fact). It is also comparable to the discount some companies will give you on 'educational' purchases (which you need to qualify for, but the terms are not impossible for a lot of people).
Since there isn't transparency, you don't really know what their cut is in this process, but the vendors do, since they must ultimately pay some kind of finder fee to make the sale. Since you don't, you have no way to know what the real terms are.
I'm not saying GT is in any way bad at all. I have used them a little bit, and have had good experiences so far, but I am figuring that a large vendor will figure out that they are better off setting up a "Gold Members" club that offers similar deals with an annual fee. That would have the buyers paying to be members as opposed to the vendors paying a third party to sell at discounts....Show more →
I'm not sure if the last paragraph is true as this is equivalent to preferential treatment but come to think of it GT is more like a car dealer. They get paid on the items they sell and also get a fee from the manufacturer. Also, there are several office equipment suppliers who pick up electronics for their customer's employees/users who can also get lower prices directly from the manufacturer. This and other revenue sharing models are not widely accessible to general users but chances are lots of cameras sold on Ebay come via these channels. GT is no different.
p.1 #15 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
bwcolor wrote:
I've purchase my A9, 85GM and lighting equipment from GT. I noticed that you only get one counter offer. So, no bidding war obvious. Most items never dropped low enough to meet my desire to own. Good service.
I've received several counter offers on several items. I've also had items which only received one.
p.1 #16 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
I've bought a few things from there, most recently an A7r iii (arrives today, yay!) You generally get a good price on popular items but sellers seem to have less incentive to make a deal if it's a less popular item. The items come with a full warranty and a receipt from the vendor that accepted your offer. Shipping does tend to be slower than ordering from B&H/Adorama/Amazon.
When I bought my A7r iii I submitted an offer and received a counter offer within a few minutes. A few minutes later my original offer was accepted by a different vendor and I got it for the price I originally wanted. The moral of this story is be patient and don't accept the first counter offer you receive.
p.1 #18 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
The only thing that's worried me from GT is their returns policy says that a lens must be unopened for a return. So if you get a lemon lens, you're left with no recourse?
One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that you can use cashbacks sites on some of the large camera stores that will sometimes give you as much in cashback as the discount you could get at GT, at least on newer lenses where GT is typically able to discount less.
p.1 #19 · If you have used Greentoe to purchase gear....
Vcize wrote:
The only thing that's worried me from GT is their returns policy says that a lens must be unopened for a return. So if you get a lemon lens, you're left with no recourse?
One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that you can use cashbacks sites on some of the large camera stores that will sometimes give you as much in cashback as the discount you could get at GT, at least on newer lenses where GT is typically able to discount less.
I am not sure what you mean by cashback sites. Can you elaborate?
