"I read a lot of negative feedback about the store and took that into consideration when ordering my new sony cybershot dsc-h5. I did much research regarding pricing and found that butterflyphoto.com had one of the lowest prices and being that they weren't located in the state where I reside I wouldn't have to pay tax made the negative feedback a little less harsh.

When I called to place the order I mentioned to the salesperson that I was apprehensive about ordering because of negative feedback and that my order would have a time constraint on it. He assured me that they had over 250 of this specific camera in stock and that I shouldn't have a problem getting it delivered to my home in 2 business days. I paid the $25.00 shipping fee (which was not in addition to their regular fee).

The item arrived in less than 48 hours after my telephone order.

The salesperson did go through the usual list of accessories, including the warranty to purchase. They got me on the UV lens and that was it. He was friendly and helpful and wasn't too pushy about the additional items/offers.

I called the following day after placing the order to confirm that it would ship that day and the person from customer service was very professional and had an upbeat personality.

I would recommend them and buy from them again. I would suggest following up right after your purchase from any online store and follow through until you get a tracking number by email to make sure that your order didn't slip through any cracks.

"

"Ordered a Sony HDR-SR1 Camcorder with several accessories. Salesman called up and talked me into several other accessories. The 9 hour batterythey sell as an accessory is the wrong one and not compatible. Neither was the charger. Wide angle and telephoto lenses cut the corners off of the picture. Extended warranty was not sony factory warranty.

Tried to contact them by email and of the fw=ew tries just said to cal the 800 number. The RMA extension never answers and no return of phone calls. Contacted Visa to dispute and return merchandise. The camera itself is great. But the vendor sucks."

"Butterfly photo is just one of the suspicious looking webstore but I had great experience with them. At the time when I ordered, they had the lowest price for Casio EX-S600 digital camera. I went ahead and tried to order from them.

Again, I was e-mailed to finalize my order. I called them and I was offered battery and stuff. As usual, I refused it but the sales guy was okay about it.

My order arrived 1 week later. It was brand new and everything is included. The downside, I think it was a gray market product. Anyhow, I could careless about gray market product (unless rebates are involved). To me, all products that I bought always messed up right after the warranty expired. All I need was a good price and a good product, that's all.

I'm still using my Casio Exilim EX-S600 until this point in time without any problem. To me, I get what I paid for. So, don't set your expectation too high and you'll be satisfied.

They even sent me a thank you card after I bought the camera. It's a nice little thing that a store can do to make customer happy.
"

"Canon 400D XTi body I purchased:

I purchashed this Canon body from based on someone's referral. I should have got it from somewhere else. My specific goal in mind was to use my baseline digital rebel SLR battery grip and the batteries for this new body. Before I purchased this camera body, I specifically asked 2 different butterflyphoto.com employees the same question on 2 different calls. I asked if my battery grip BG-E1 would work with the Rebel 400D. They both said YES.

So I ordered it because the price was good. That's when it got interesting. It took 45 minutes for the guy on the phone to get my confirmation/receipt email to me. Next,when I tried to log into my account on their Website, it listed my order, but when I clicked the link I got a "404 Page Not Found Error". I also was getting bounce-back errors when I tried to email them. I am thinking, "oh sh*t!". I called the company to inform of their technical difficulties and got a customer service manager who could have cared less about this. He called the online account a "bonus service" that we provide to the customer as a courtesy. Well he did not seem to care too much about the their customer service email was bouncing back to me with "unknown user" errors.

It would have been very nice to know that the battery grip and batteries from my DSLR were NOT compatitible. Their "Canon Specialists" are totally incompetent when it comes to true product knowledge. Also, their lack of customer care is disturbing. The only positives are they have good prices and the shipping seems reliable.

My advice is to look for your camera gear somewhere else. I am a professional photographer, and I expect more for someone who calls themselve a 'Canon Product Specialist'. Also as I said, the poor customer service coming from their customer service manager was appauling.

Best of luck everyone! Don't shop here... "

"I am very glad that I made the decision to buy from Butterflyphoto.com - this is one of the best shopping experiences I've ever had since my first internet purchase in 1994. I bought a Sony DSRL A100 camera kit. They had the best price with FREE shipping. I placed the order over the phone. It took just 5 min. It was Monday morning at 11:30am. Guess what, the camera was at my door exactly 24 hours later - Tuesday morning 11:30am! They use DHL 2nd day delivery. I cannot expect more. The camera was factory sealed with all the documents. The sales guy was polite. He just asked me if I want to order any accessories,and not pushy at all. I'll certainly buy from butterfly photo again. "

"Very positve experience for me! Best price and xtra fast shipping. I called in to order my new Sony DSC H5 camera on 10-26-2006 and was very pleased with the maner in which my order was taken. I was asked if I wanted to buy extra items for the camera and did opt to buy extra batteries and a charger. They thanked me for my order and told me that it had already been processed to shipping dept. I had to remind the salesperson that he had not yet taken my credit card number. He thanked me and told me that I would have gotten it free if I had not been honest. I received my order in 2 days! I am going to place another order with them tomorrow for items I declined, along with a good bag. "

"I am a great enthusiast of on-line commerce (choice, and of course, price), so I don't care too much for their petty transgressions, such as if they follow up with a call trying to soft sell extra stuff, I just politely cut short their pitch and tell them to ship just the merchandise I originally paid for. Funny thing is that butterflyphoto.com didn't do that ...

This time, I was in for a more bitter surprise. I ordered a 46" LCD TV (Sony KDLV46XBR2 Bravia) from butterflyphoto.com. I was very careful to order it from a merchant that would sell me a brand new item in an un-opened box. butterflyphoto.com web site explicitly confirmed this, when I ordered it.

When the TV was delivered almost three weeks later, it was very obvious that it was anything, but an unopened box. Everybody can tell the difference between a factory-sealed box and one that was opened and returned. The box was crumpled, torn, with carelessly applied strips of dirty adhesive tape. Definitely not the original factory tape. Some of the polystyrene shipping stands were torn or cracked, the protective white cover was crumpled - not the way you would expect it for a brand new product coming out of the factory doors -, and worst of all, there were obvious scratches both on the transparent plastic edge and on the TV's stand.

The TV probably would have worked (I haven't even tried), but this is not what I paid for. So, if you buy from butterflyphoto.com, beware, you may get used stuff that they are trying to sell it to you as "new". If you're OK with that, go ahead and order.
"

"It took 2 weeks and at least 3 phone calls to get my shipping information correct. Every phone call I was assured everything was fixed, then i recieved an email that there was another problem. No one would respond to the emails and ecah phone I spent up to 10 minutes on hold. Finally I cancelled the order, 5 days later I received an email that it shipped. Now I am trying to return it."

"This was an awful experience. I found the item I wanted on their site, which clearly stated that it was in stock. I even called to make sure, and they told me it was in stock, so I placed the order. I checked the order two days later for a shipping ETA, and, of course, the site said it was BACKORDERED.

It took several calls and lots of holding, but I cancelled the order. I also sent an email just to be sure. 10 days later, I got a notice that my order had shipped. Of course, I'd already bought the item from Amazon and had been using it for a week.

Many more phone calls later, I finally got an incredibly rude phone rep who insisted I had never canceled the order. HE demanded that I send him the emails I had written for proof and then hung up on me.

And that's where we are now. The receptionist at my office accepted the package, so I didn't have the opportunity to refuse it. It's sitting on my desk and that phone dick over there is going to decide whether or not to refund me."

"Great price, fast shipment. Item ordered on a Sunday. Received a message and an email on Monday to contact them regarding the order. When I reached the representative "Victor", he thanked me for the order and then proceeded to sell accessories for the camera. I purchased some of the accessories, although the prices were a little high. But, given the price of the camera that I purchased, I still received a good deal, plus I got free overnite shipment."

"Scammers, convenience based price mistakes for FREE advertising.
Order never came. STAY AWAY."

"
I just had a terrible experience with butterfly. They are absolutely beyond unbelievable.

I ordered $425.00 in camera equipment. I check the tracking number at their site and it didn't work. So I call and tell them about it numerous times for a week. They said it was fine.

I asked about my order after several days. They said it was going out immediately.

Then the idiot's ship it to me fed ex ground, and didn't put my apartment # on the package. The buffoons from fed ex bring it to my place 3 days straight and didn't deliver because they didn't have the brains to call and get the freaking apartment #. This is the famous Einstein theory that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."

I just happened to call them and they said 3 strikes and your out, but they hadn't sent it back yet, and then they had to figure out some way to get it for me because of their incompetence. They had to find some way around the rules to do this, and it a few days before they got back to me.

They told me I had to wait at home from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on a Friday, and they didn't show up. When I called and told them, they said I would have to wait the same time the next day to get the package.

I finally get the #$%@&* package and it's been beaten to death. Using a cheap paper thin Chinese cardboard box sure didn't help and I had to refuse the package.

They have had it back now for quite awhile and just wrote me to tell me they would refund my money in 3 weeks.

I called my bank and they are taking the money back out of their account.

"

"Excellent experience. Placed order on Sunday, camera arrived on Wednesday, exactly as expected. Very good price. Called the company to confirm order, holding time was okay. Didn't get pushed to buy any accessories at all. Will shop again!"

"ordered DVD Camcorder online. got an email to call them. when I called, I was recommended batteray, warranty,etc.. reject all of them politely, and got the order shipped two days later. "

"I have bought about 4 cameras from Butterfly Photo and each time from John and have ALWAYS been treated with respect. Yes they try to sell accessories and I figure that is their job so just say no, and most times it works. IF they push, push back and say no more thank you.
John has always been very good about shipping the order out that day and I have it within 3 days. Always good product and US warranty.
I would shop there over and over again without hesitation!"