M9, sealed or handled?

[downstairs]

When you buy a rare instrument such as an M9, do you accept it handled and reboxed or do you insist on a sealed box and eventualy check the contents infront of the shopkeeper? Perhaps Leica boxes don't come sealed. Would you expect to pay less for a camera that has been on demo for a week or so?

 

[ruby.monkey]

A rare instrument? It's a camera, a tool, nothing more and nothing less. As long as it's in the appropriate condition I don't care whether or not it's been handled before I got it.

 

[250swb]

It would be nice if somebody in the shop would open the box and put the battery on charge for me before I go and pick mine up (whenever it arrives). I'm not bothered about things like sealed boxes, so long as its all there.

Steve

 

[thrice]

I personally prefer to be the first to open something I've bought new. Probably the child-at-christmas thing at play.

I'm happy to let people at the dealership have a look/play once I've opened it though. Putting the screen protector on a factory fresh LCD cover and putting on my camera strap/case is nice too. I tend to leave everything except camera/battery/charger sealed in the box and put the box away in the cupboard.

 

[ZeissFan]

Thrice, I sort of agree with you. There's a fun factor involved in opening a new camera.

Plus, if you're spending that kind of money, no reason that other people should be handling it before you.

 

[zeezea]

Horses for Courses

Horses for Courses

When you buy a rare instrument such as an M9, do you accept it handled and reboxed or do you insist on a sealed box and eventualy check the contents infront of the shopkeeper? Perhaps Leica boxes don't come sealed. Would you expect to pay less for a camera that has been on demo for a week or so?

I would expect to pay less for a demo. Considering that I am not a
professional photographer, I`ll take the (seemingly heretical) liberty
of regarding a $7000 USD camera body a "rare instrument". Perhaps
it`s just a case of differing expectations 😉.
In either case, good luck with your possible purchase.

Regards,
Al

 

[Roger Hicks]

I would expect to pay less for a demo. .

Same here. Not just 'child at Christmas', either. I don't know how much it's been banged about, whether the battery was initially fully- or half-charged, or whatever.

Cheers,

R .

 

[Tuolumne]

Items that have been opened make me suspicious of why they have been opened. They may be repackaged returns, for all you know. I have spoken with people who work for electronics retailers who say the stores are capable of repackaging open goods so that you can never tell they have been opened. (I'm not saying that any Leica dealers do this.) Now, I'm suspicious of even packaged goods.

/T

 

[jaapv]

When you buy a rare instrument such as an M9, do you accept it handled and reboxed or do you insist on a sealed box and eventualy check the contents infront of the shopkeeper? Perhaps Leica boxes don't come sealed. Would you expect to pay less for a camera that has been on demo for a week or so?

Yes, the M9 comes in an sealed plain outer box.

 

[downstairs]

A rare instrument? It's a camera, a tool, nothing more and nothing less. As long as it's in the appropriate condition I don't care whether or not it's been handled before I got it.

Rare in the sense that there seem to be no boxes on the shelf and the tool I handled was already sold to an buyer coming in tomorrow.
The shopkeeper said that buyers were not fussy about mechanical cameras and should have the same attitude to digital cameras. I disagreed - but it seems like we are going to have lump the fingerprints for now.

 

[jaapv]

Not really, I had to cut open the box today🙂:angel:🙂

 

[JNewell]

Rare in the sense that there seem to be no boxes on the shelf and the tool I handled was already sold to an buyer coming in tomorrow.
The shopkeeper said that buyers were not fussy about mechanical cameras and should have the same attitude to digital cameras. I disagreed - but it seems like we are going to have lump the fingerprints for now.

There's a difference between a demo that's kept out for demonstration purposes and a new camera that's been opened. For a demo, which may show definite marks of handling, yes, I'd certainly expect to pay less (although I've had dealers in various goods insist on full retail, and I've usually gone somewhere else). For a new camera that has been opened before to show someone but shows no sights of use whatsoever, I'd neither ask for nor expect a discount.

(You didn't say either way, but if having someone else touch your new camera would bother you, was it right to be handling one that was already sold to some poor unsuspecting buyer???)

 

[ernesto]

The facts:

A Sealed Box is the proof of a brand new item.
If you trust the seller, you could accept an opened box.
If you don´t, you should ask for a sealed box.
If you do not care, buy a used item, which will be cheaper.

E

 

[mwooten]

When I bought my rd1s from Robert White a few years ago, I asked them to open the box and check-out the camera before they shipped it. If I was getting an m9, I reckon I'd want a sealed box to open. I always liked openning apple stuff because of the packageing.

 

[swoop]

When I was considering an M8 I went to two small shops. One out in Amytiville Long Island, and another Just South of Milwaukee, WI. Both were selling the M8's that they had in the display cases. That people would come in and fondle.

I ended up getting mine from Adorama because I knew it would be a sealed box.

I'm very particular about that sort of thing. New is new. Something that people came in and handled and shot 4-5 frames with is a demo. And I'm not going to pay full price for it. Have you ever seen people handle display models? They have no regard, and if they were to buy one they'd want it in a sealed box as well.

I remember once seeing a floor model at best buy with fingerprints on the sensor. Gross.

 

[dimitris]

Come on guys lets be realistic. Its a camera. If they opened the box to show to someone who cares? If its clearly used then that's another story. Soon people with start posting threads on what glove they use with their M9...

 

[uhligfd]

I personally only accept brand new, newly printed dollar bills from my bank. I do not want anyone to have handled them, not when I have to pay full price for them at the bank of my choice. And I do get a discount when they have to give me a few old used bills whenever they don't have enough brand new sealed ones. Their cost of doing business ...

And my bank knows that. Or I would not be their customer.

So, I sympathize readily with the poster's preference of sealed box merchandise.

 

[erik]

glove, why anti static sequined silk of course. doesn't everybody?

 

[Al Kaplan]

I still have a nearly full case of old stock latex genuine Leitz Examination Gloves!

Seriously, whatever happened to the concept of camera shop display cases with the boxes stored underneath the shelves where you could get to them from the rear. Customers like to handle stuff before scanning their credit card. There's no way that a small town shop could maintain a stock of demo equipment just so people could feel exactly what it's like to fondle the stuff.

 

[Roger Hicks]

When I was considering an M8 I went to two small shops. One out in Amytiville Long Island, and another Just South of Milwaukee, WI. Both were selling the M8's that they had in the display cases. That people would come in and fondle.

I ended up getting mine from Adorama because I knew it would be a sealed box.

I'm very particular about that sort of thing. New is new. Something that people came in and handled and shot 4-5 frames with is a demo. And I'm not going to pay full price for it. Have you ever seen people handle display models? They have no regard, and if they were to buy one they'd want it in a sealed box as well.

I remember once seeing a floor model at best buy with fingerprints on the sensor. Gross.

That was a pretty unpleasant thing to do, wasn't it? You wasted the time (and money) of two stores, who let customers examine the goods, then bought somewhere else. How long will those two stores stay in business with 'customers' like you? And why should they bother?

R.