"Price for the Lumix DMC-FZ15K was great, ordering was easy.

When I got the confirming phone call I was ready for an upsell, and thought I was hearing it when the man offered to upgrade me to a faster speed SD card.

He explained how the quicker write times would allow faster picture taking, and gave me an upgrade cost of $70- outta my price range, I really was near the limit with the original package selected.

Then he offered to give me the higher speed 256MB card instead of the 512 I'd chosen, as it was the exact same cost.
As I was saying "Ok" to that idea, he interrupted and said he'd give me the 512MB card at $40 instead- "Could I do that?".

Yeah, that was feasible, if only barely, and much appreciated.
And he wasn't pushy about it, also appreciated. If that was an upsell, it was very clever, and did not come across as one.

Delivery was faster then expected: I had selected 7-10 day ground, but some kind soul bumped me up to 2 day express, so I received the camera on Friday after ordering on Wednesday- wow.

Package was in good shape, no damages, all equipment is working properly- the next time I need a camera or supplies, I'll be coming back to Butterfly.

Update: the Merkury battery that was bought as part of an extras package was bad.

I contacted Butterfly about the problem, and they had me send them the defective battery, then sent out a replacement, took less than ten days all together- good, quick service."

"Butterfly photo was the best in their price range and here’s why. First off I tried to purchase the Sony DCR-PC350 camcorder from the Amazon market place (third party sellers) because that’s where I found the best price. Long story short I ended up sending several hundred dollars (Western Union) to this crook in Romania (named Lupescu Marius Alexandru BTW.....for future would be victims) and I never heard from him again! Funny NOW, but oh so painful at the time. And no I didn’t just fall off the ‘turnip truck’ He sent an e-mail posing as ‘Amazon payments’ with Amazon’s format, insignia etc. with specific instructions for me to complete the wire transfer. It TOTALLY appeared to be legit--not to mention directly from Amazon. Buyer BEWARE of the Amazon marketplace because should you send anything Western Union--from what I’ve learned up to this point you WILL get burned--Of course I did have to file a report with the FTC and Amazon was not able to reimburse me! Welcome to the wonderful world of fraud.
Next I went through several retailers who were too good to be true. They would claim to have the item in stock though when you decline accessories they either give you the run around or cancel your order. Some open the box and try and sell you JUST the unit. These were the shady vendors: Genius Camera, Infinity Photo, Express Camera, Stop4camera, Best Buy Digital and finally I Buy Dig. In fairness I Buy Dig. at least had customer service reps who didn’t sound like angry 7-11 clerks (anyone who’s dealt with these people know what I mean--it’s not about the dialect but about the rude attitude) They’d still tell me it was available at the point of sale only to turn around and say it was on back order.
Well finally I tried Butterfly. I placed the order on line--though Butterfly did e-mail me the next day (like they all do) to contact them by phone (here we go again I thought). When I did call back a couple of days later I spoke with a rep. named Bryan who admitted of course practically every vendor (reputable or not) who offers similar prices will often try to sell you their ‘extra packages’ but with Butterfly it was NOT a requirement. So though I was called initially for the extra sales pitch once Bryan heard my story he didn’t even ask, and to make up for the extra time my order had been sitting he upgraded my order to Fedex saver. I received my order, totally dialed in, in a week--like I was originally told. WHAT a relief.
Now I had also read similar reviews that this is not an uncommon practice by vendors in this price range but hey after dealing with some of the blatant scam artists I’ve been through, these guys at Butterfly photo were square--definitely on the ball and very cool. I mean come on good people if you want an item for as inexpensive a price as some of these dealers are able to provide, I don’t care who you try to buy from or how much you research, at some point, somebody’s going to angle to try and sell you extra goods. I mean this is America. But if you do know your product, the included accessories and warranties, and have a couple minutes to haggle on the phone--I believe the price is well worth it. Yes I’ll talk with a real person for a few minutes to save around $350.00 retail. Butterfly photo really pulled through for me and despite what you may have already read (as I did) in the reviews about many of these New York retailers (reviews@Reseller Ratings, Epinions, Price grabber etc.) I’d bet those who do try Butterfly will be pleasantly surprised. Now after finally purchasing this product I feel I’ve inadvertently done more research than I cared to in the first place so I’m also hoping I can save someone else out there some time and anguish. In fact at this point If I hadn’t found Butterfly and after going through all of this, I would’ve been GLAD to simply go back to the beginning and pay full retail at the local dept. store! My faith in shopping for a fair price has been restored. And just think, next time I won’t have to go through this drama--I would definitely buy from them again! Thanks again to Bryan for staying on point--after feeling like I’ve been through hell and back, it was truly a RELIEF finally doing good business with Butterfly! Lastly I love my Sony DCR-PC350, it’s a GREAT camcorder! J from Cali."

"I ordered my Nikon Coolpix 3700 from the ButterFly Photo through the phone, and talked to a sales representative named Justin since I read good things about him on dpreview.com. I spent about 5 minutes talking to him and everything was nicely done. He even upgraded my shipping from the Ground to the Fedex Saver. His handling to my purchase was very professional and efficient. He is a nice person to talk with and I did not feel pressure at all. Three days later, I received the camera. My experience with the ButterFly Photo has been very positive so far. I highly recommend it."

"Bought a Canon S70 Digital camera from them. They had the best price for it compared to anywhere else. I placed my order online and didn't have any problems at all. I received an email asking me to call them back about my order. The CSR tried to sell me on other peripherals, which I did buy an extra battery(for travel purposes). He said that since I was a new customer, he'd give me a discounted price. I was on the computer at the moment of the phone call and searched for current prices on the battery. The price he quoted was indeed much lower than what other companies were charging. So I ended up with an extra battery. The CSR said it would ship the next day. It did and I received it a few days later. It came in good packaging. The camera works great, and the extra battery has come in handy. Overall, a very good experience."

"I found butterfly photo to have the cheapest price for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20K. I was a little worried placing the order because some of these reviews are pretty scary. Here's how it went:
I ordered online Monday evening. Tuesday, a sales rep called and later sent an email. When I called them back to verify the order and to be asked if I wanted anything extra, I was put through to a well-mannered (Mike) sales rep who offered extended batteries. I kindly declined, and he informed me that I would have to change the address on my credit card to my physical address rather than my PO box. I called up my company after talking to this nice guy for about two minutes. I was able to quickly change my address to my phyisical address and the camera shipped out that same day (Tuesday). I checked my statement and found that I was charged exactly the same price. I received an email regarding my tracking number that night. My shipping was upgraded to second day Fedex (maybe all shipping is 2nd day, and that's one way to make money?). Anyway, it is now Thursday evening and I'm holding this beautiful camera in my hands. The packaging was thorough and complete...and I have the warranty card and everything appears to be in brand new condidtion. I could not be happier."

"I purchased their Panasonic TH42PD25 Plasma TV. The price was competitive and in stock, I could not find another online retailer that had this in stock for the same price. I wanted this well before SuperBowl.

I live in a remote area and most all large freight companies won't come out here, they drop it off in town 80mi away. The deal closer was they offered 2-day delivery to my front door.

Yes, I did receive a call from Victor as others have mentioned here. He asked if I was interested in an extended warranty, and I politely replied, "No thank you." He thanked me for the purchase and promised the item would ship today. The call took less than two minutes.

I received the item two days later. It was well packaged, sealed, with a warranty card, and the packing box hardly had a scratch on it.

The only kludge was with the card verification process, in which I had to fax a copy of the card, driver's license, and a signed paper. I don't have a scanner, so I sent in a jpg of the card & license. This delayed my order from Thursday to the following week. A little disappointing, but no real problem.

I am very happy with the entire experience and would buy from them again."

"Wow! After placing the order I received an e-mail asking to confirm my order by calling 800 .. ask for J. I called and found J to be helpful. He suggested a few things, which I declined. He was courteous and asked if I needed anything else. I requested a lens filter so he looked it up and gave me a good price on it. J thanked me for the order and said he would up grade my shipping. I received it in 3days on a Sat, FedEx. Butterfly Photo made my weekend. The Canon 20D is great. Thank you."

"I had my worst shopping experience with this one. The guys there are the lamest bustards I've ever done business with. Since everybody said do not place order online for this one, I called to place an order on a Nikon coolpix 3700. The guy immediately took down my shipping and billing info and then tried to sell me some expensive batteries, which I refused. Guess what he said then? "Sorry sir, I cannot take your order now because my computer just freeze. Please order online." Have you ever heard a lamer execuse before? Then I called in again for 4 times, and all got hang up without a word as soon as I provided my shipping info. What I want to say is that those are some rude bustards and do not deal with them."

"I bought a Canon EOS 20d w/ 18-55mm lens kit from this retailer. I was first attracted to it because it was about $50 less than comparable reputable sellers, and the reviews from other review sites were higher than this one.

Ordering was fine, easy process on-line. However, my fears started to accumulate when I recieved a message stating I had to "call the company back for confirmation". It sounded like it was going to be a bait and switch company, where the price seems too good to be true, but then they tell you that it is only for the body, and the cords, manuals, batteries, etc are extra and try to scam you. Butterflyphoto.com wasn't this bad, but specifically I didn't care for the phone call confirmation because it wasn't necessary, just a ploy to try and up-sell you. If my shipping address had been different from my billing address that would be understandable.

Once on the phone, the service rep tried to tell me the battery in the box was for like 30 minutes or some ridiculous statistic (not like it goes by minutes anyway). I told him I didn't want the upgrade, or anything else, and he said OK, it would go out the next day.

It did ship the next day, arriving two days later (what I paid extra for), in satisfactory condition. I wish these companies would spend a few more cents and pack high end electronics better, it was just in a box a little bigger than the camera box, with two plastic airpillows sitting with it. It could rattle around, and blows to the side of the box would be unprotected.

Overall I'm pretty happy, I didn't care for the cheap tactics, but the slightly lower price was nice and everything turned out fine."

"I purchased the Canon 20D from Butterfly Photo. I can describe my experience with Butterfly Photo as OUTSTANDING!

The salesman was helpful. Jeff offered the extended warranty (as he should), He explained the benefits but when I declined he did not push the matter.

I ordered it later on Thursday afternoon via Next Day Air. Jeff imediately advised me that I had missed their ship cut off time by two hours but I would see it Monday. Even with that said, my camera arrived on Friday! Thanks!

Great Service.
Lighting Fast Shipping!
Reasonable shipping charges.

Will definitely be purchasing from here again."

"I ordered the Nikon Coolpix 5400 camera and the Epson Stylus R200 printer with $246.93 total after rebates.

A representative called me the same day that I placed the order online and offer to sell me accessories but no pressure at all after I was not interested.

The package was not shipped until a couple days later however, my card was not charged until they shipped and it was shipped with 2 day Federal Express even though I only paid for Ground. This impresses me.

I highly recommend this vendor!

The only con that I found is their website still showed my order status as new even after I already received the item.

Update 4/7/2005:
I have received the Nikon $200 rebate and the $100 rebate status for the Epson R200 printer shows "processed" from Epson website.

Update 6/2/2005:
I have now received the Epson R200 rebate. Everything is now good."

"I purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ15K and am thoroughly pleased with the service, order process, price and shipping from Butterfly Photo. I will order more at the first opportunity."

"+Great Service+

For a week I searched online for the best price possible on the Panasonic DMC-FZ15. Most places were $400 and up, yet I only had $390 to spend including shipping. PriceWatch found that ButterFly photo had the best over all cost, and I decided to check it out. The first place I came to was Reseller Ratings to research customer satisfaction, and service. Heard a few horror stories, and some great ones perhaps 60:40 were satisfied/happy customers.

Thus I placed my order at Butterfly Photo around 9AM on February 1st. The total included "standard" shipping. Recived an e-mail to contact Victor who was a Sales Rep. He asked if I wanted a memory card which I kindly declined, an extra battery, and also last a UV lens filter. After declining both the battery and the UV lens he kindly let me know that my order was processed and would be shipped the same day! He said thank you for shopping with us, and I said thank you too before ending the conversation. That night I recieved an e-mail with my FedEX tracking number, also that the shipping was upgraded to "2 Day FedEX"! This was at no charge! I recieved the camera today which is February 3rd at 12PM. I was expecting to find an item or two missing from the box, but it was in untouched condition and included the warranty card! Everything worked smoothly and I am extremely happy with this purchase and company.

Summary:
Quick processing.
Polite and unpushy sales rep.
Shipping upgrade at no charge.
All items untouched and new.
Better price than most online stores.

I can say that if I need to purchase another digital camera. I would buy from Butterfly Photo!"

"Bought a Nikon 3700 the price is great, shipping was prompt and the rebate is valid."

"Had a really bad experience concerning the Cannon Digital Rebel rebate. In fact, never was able to successfully file the rebate, ButterflyPhoto being at fault.

The package did not contain cannon USA warranty card.

First, called the ButterflyPhoto customer service number and got a response that the warranty card is not needed and Cannon can simply give rebate based on serial number.

Second, trusting the customer service, filed all the information for Cannon. Received a notice from Cannon that information is incomplete since USA warranty card is not included.

Third, called the customer service again. Was given an invalid Cannon contact number. After finding the number, contacted Cannon and they couldn't help since warranty card serves as a proof of legitimate purchase.

THE WORST PART: When called customer care at ButterflyPhoto which supposed to look at my case and try to help, the call WAS DROPPED 3 TIMES AFTER BEING ON HOLD from 15 to 20 minutes. This is ABSOLULTELY UNACCEPTIBLE. I felt completely cheated and started to suspect that warranty card wasn't there on purpose.

In the end I gave up deciding that my time and additional stress is not worth the $100 I supposed to get out of the deal."