Pentax K-30 Digital SLR Camera w/ 18-55mm AL Lens DSLR $600 FS AR

http://www.resellerratings.com/st...y_s_Camera

Lots of negative reviews but as people below have pointed out they could be negative fodder from competitors.

samys is legit but the rebate seems to be from "promaster". Is promaster the owner of samys?

Sure seem to be a lot of angry customers on RRs that disagree, and not too many happy ones.

Samy's is authorized. ResellerRatings is a horrible website. The number of shady, bait-and-switch camera stores from this list that have near-perfect RR ratings:
http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/
Means that resellerratings is a website that I don't trust. Anything on Pentax's authorized dealer list is good enough for me. Otherwise, if you have any qualms, instead of trusting a website that's simple to game into BS ratings, go hear from actual people on the various photography forums (dpreview, POTN, photo.net, pentaxforums, etc). If a company pays a "membership" fee at reseller ratings, then they can have these negative reviews buried. I say bravo to Samy's to not allowing a shitty website to strongarm them into extortion.

The K-30 I would say is a little bit higher than the D5100 and T4i in terms of camera capability. Plus, Pentax and Sony have in-camera image stabilization, which is a nice bonus if you're one of the many people that's in love with that feature. Plus, Pentax has a pretty impressive lens lineup.

Quote from shnitz : Samy's is authorized. ResellerRatings is a horrible website. The number of shady, bait-and-switch camera stores from this list that have near-perfect RR ratings: http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/ Means that resellerratings is a website that I don't trust. Anything on Pentax's authorized dealer list is good enough for me. Otherwise, if you have any qualms, instead of trusting a website that's simple to game into BS ratings, go hear from actual people on the various photography forums (dpreview, POTN, photo.net, pentaxforums, etc). If a company pays a "membership" fee at reseller ratings, then they can have these negative reviews buried. I say bravo to Samy's to not allowing a shitty website to strongarm them into extortion. The K-30 I would say is a little bit higher than the D5100 and T4i in terms of camera capability. Plus, Pentax and Sony have in-camera image stabilization, which is a nice bonus if you're one of the many people that's in love with that feature. Plus, Pentax has a pretty impressive lens lineup.

So do you think the plethora of negative ratings and stories are faked? Not a rhetorical question.

I think your point about sites having artificially inflated positive ratings is valid and I'll definitely consider that when using RRs, but it doesn't explain the stores with negative ratings unless you think those are also artificial.

I have been at the physical location at Samy's (bought several gear) on L.A and it's a very legit store. This is a great deal for an awesome camera !! wish the kit was with the Weather resistant lens.. but second hand is cheap that lens.

You will not find any WR dslr on this price range, it really have a lot of whistles found only on $1300+ cameras

Quote from dqniel : So do you think the plethora of negative ratings and stories are faked? Not a rhetorical question. I think your point about sites having artificially inflated positive ratings is valid and I'll definitely consider that when using RRs, but it doesn't explain the stores with negative ratings unless you think those are also artificial.

We're starting to derail the thread here, so if you want to talk more about it, please just message me, but the reason that I tell you to go to forums is exactly for the responses like the one below you. People have actually been to the store, it's a legit setup. Most of the critiques on resellerratings about this store are just angry about them protecting themselves from fraud, so the customer has to jump through extra hoops. Hell, I'd wager some of them are the scammers themselves that are just being vindictive towards the store. Plus, historically, if you have a satisfied customer, they don't speak, while if you have a negative experience with a customer, they on average would tell seven people. With the pulpit of the internet, that has increased exponentially, causing a very vocal minority. Here are the complaints I'm seeing on resellerratings. And I'm just going in order here:
-1 star because someone thought that a 5 year warranty meant that he could return the camera at the end of the 5 years for the full purchase price. Are you kidding me? This is the first review, and that's a reason to rate them 5 stars? It's not looking very good for you.
-1 star because they are tired of the prevalence of credit card fraud, so for a new customer ordering a hard-to-find $3,000 camera, he had to pay through different means like Paypal. Is that worth a 1 star review?
-1 star. Complaining about having to use Paypal, and when he refused, there was still a pending amount on his credit card. He even admits that is how the banking system works, but is still levying a 1 star review against Samy's for having a pending transaction on his card. Seems to me like he's just taking out his frustration.
-2 Star, angry that he wasn't informed of a restocking fee. I just did a 3 second google search and found Samy's FAQ, describing the 15% fee.
Next two are glowing reviews, and the one after is another whine about fraud verification. Says "Frustrating experience with fraud verification, but ultimately they found a solution," yet still gives two stars.

So, I think I'm going to stop now, because hopefully you see where I'm going with this. None of the reviews are actually bad because of a let-down on Samy's end with the gear; they are just excited photographers anxious to get their toys. Now, Samy's could take care of those reviews, but here is the membership program at resellerratings.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/resel...-a0cba.htm
That's pretty much the explanation about the website in a nutshell, I encourage to to carefully read it, because it explains the situation as well as I could. So, either Samy's can pay ridiculous fees to resellerratings and change their rating from something very low to something very high, or we as consumers can start educating our fellow buyers and move smart shoppers away from their website. Because if whether a store is a 3/10 or 9/10 rated depends on whether they are paying $500 a month to RR, then it's not a website that you can trust. So, as a slickdealer, I beg you to drive people to SMART reviews such as Yelp, forums, etc.

Quote from shnitz : We're starting to derail the thread here, so if you want to talk more about it, please just message me, but the reason that I tell you to go to forums is exactly for the responses like the one below you. People have actually been to the store, it's a legit setup. Most of the critiques on resellerratings about this store are just angry about them protecting themselves from fraud, so the customer has to jump through extra hoops. Hell, I'd wager some of them are the scammers themselves that are just being vindictive towards the store. Plus, historically, if you have a satisfied customer, they don't speak, while if you have a negative experience with a customer, they on average would tell seven people. With the pulpit of the internet, that has increased exponentially, causing a very vocal minority. Here are the complaints I'm seeing on resellerratings. And I'm just going in order here: -1 star because someone thought that a 5 year warranty meant that he could return the camera at the end of the 5 years for the full purchase price. Are you kidding me? This is the first review, and that's a reason to rate them 5 stars? It's not looking very good for you. -1 star because they are tired of the prevalence of credit card fraud, so for a new customer ordering a hard-to-find $3,000 camera, he had to pay through different means like Paypal. Is that worth a 1 star review? -1 star. Complaining about having to use Paypal, and when he refused, there was still a pending amount on his credit card. He even admits that is how the banking system works, but is still levying a 1 star review against Samy's for having a pending transaction on his card. Seems to me like he's just taking out his frustration. -2 Star, angry that he wasn't informed of a restocking fee. I just did a 3 second google search and found Samy's FAQ, describing the 15% fee. Next two are glowing reviews, and the one after is another whine about fraud verification. Says "Frustrating experience with fraud verification, but ultimately they found a solution," yet still gives two stars. So, I think I'm going to stop now, because hopefully you see where I'm going with this. None of the reviews are actually bad because of a let-down on Samy's end with the gear; they are just excited photographers anxious to get their toys. Now, Samy's could take care of those reviews, but here is the membership program at resellerratings. http://www.ripoffreport.com/resel...-a0cba.htm That's pretty much the explanation about the website in a nutshell, I encourage to to carefully read it, because it explains the situation as well as I could. So, either Samy's can pay ridiculous fees to resellerratings and change their rating from something very low to something very high, or we as consumers can start educating our fellow buyers and move smart shoppers away from their website. Because if whether a store is a 3/10 or 9/10 rated depends on whether they are paying $500 a month to RR, then it's not a website that you can trust. So, as a slickdealer, I beg you to drive people to SMART reviews such as Yelp, forums, etc.

Thank you for the in-depth information and the link about RRs' membership program. Yelp has Samy's getting very middling reviews, but it seems to be mostly because of people being upset that their in-store service wasn't as helpful/knowledgeable as they'd like. At least it's taken away my concern that they're a scam organization like many online photography shops. Thanks again.

Out of stock!

awesome...one of the best low ISO handling sensors out there for a camera at this price.

Quote from shnitz : Samy's is authorized. ResellerRatings is a horrible website. The number of shady, bait-and-switch camera stores from this list that have near-perfect RR ratings: http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/ Means that resellerratings is a website that I don't trust. Anything on Pentax's authorized dealer list is good enough for me. Otherwise, if you have any qualms, instead of trusting a website that's simple to game into BS ratings, go hear from actual people on the various photography forums (dpreview, POTN, photo.net, pentaxforums, etc). If a company pays a "membership" fee at reseller ratings, then they can have these negative reviews buried. I say bravo to Samy's to not allowing a shitty website to strongarm them into extortion. The K-30 I would say is a little bit higher than the D5100 and T4i in terms of camera capability. Plus, Pentax and Sony have in-camera image stabilization, which is a nice bonus if you're one of the many people that's in love with that feature. Plus, Pentax has a pretty impressive lens lineup.

Frys.com has a similar rating and we know that they aren't scammers or bait and switchers.

Back in stock and the price is too tempting. In for one. Now I just need to sell my Sony gear. EVFs simply aren't for me, so Sony has lost a long-term system user :/

Wish I would have caught this at $600. Can't pull the trigger at $700.

Seems Pentax deals are pretty rare, correct? Or is it just that most SDers aren't looking for them?