Is $655.00 a good deal for a Canon T1i + 18-55mm lens kit?

[phillie5o3]

okay here's the deal--

i can get the Canon T1i body kit off of eBay for $625 brand new (after Bing Cashback)

and my friend is selling me his 18-55mm kit lens for $30 (to make it a total of $655 for body & kit)

how would you rate this deal?

should i jump on it, or look elsewhere?

thanks.

(and btw, i don't really like doing big rebates-- so that printer deal isn't something i'm interested in.)

[epicure]

Fleabay? Wouldn't trust em. Too many gray market items; especially for technology.

[JackProton]

You can get a the T1i body from Amazon for $720 and be absolutely sure that its brand new and will have a valid Canon US warranty and that you'll be able to return it if it arrives broken into 2000 pieces. My advice is to NEVER trust anyone selling popular newer popular cameras like the T1i at substantially lower prices than Amazon, B&H or Adorama. With cameras, if a deal is too good to be true, it is.

BTW, if your friends $30 18-55mm kit lens is the version withOUT IS image stabilization, avoid it. The older non-IS version was a poor lens on the old Rebel XT and will seem even worse with the T1i's higher 15MP resolution.

[GoodOmens]

My guess this is gray market. Not a good deal IMO