FYI: Leica X1 is now in stock @ Adorama.
Amazon has it in stock as well, but overpriced (again) through Willoughby's.
The Leica SIS in Palm Beach also has the X1 and S2 in stock.
Amazon has overpriced Leica M9 in stock (from $7,495.00 - $8,495.00).
Related posts:
7 Comments
What is with Willoughby’s price gouging? The are a primary dealer, do MSRP prices not pertain to them? Can someone at Leica (presumably the same person responsible for gifting Willoughby’s the Leica Boutique) put an end to this inflated price scam.
Demand dictates pricing. It is a basic concept.
If your presuming you should probably remain quiet. Amazon Charges Dealers 8% of every transaction, so on high demand items dealers will try to recoup that fee. Also Dealers have to pay money to have a leica boutique. It is FAR from “gifted to them”.
Unless your in the “know” and have some facts, please restrain yourself from spewing false information in the future.
Thank You.
The person that is spending $2000 on a point and shoot. That extra $100 is not gonna make a serious purchaser think twice if its in stock and available.
MSRP dictates price, not demand when someone is a primary dealer. Secondary market dealers are allowed to set their own prices, often double the market value.
No presuming on my part. Without naming names, a few of the Leica dealers in the city have some eye rolling comments to make about listing marked up Leica items on Amazon. While many of them use online resources like Amazon or Ebay, they are not (unethically) marking up gear. Unfortunately Willoughby’s already has a bad reputation in the NY camera market, especially among Leica buyers. Wonder why you are so defensive of a store that would be happy to charge customers more than they could pay at other stores.
All the facts were not publicly shared to protect the sources who gifted them to me. Enjoy over paying for your gear on Amazon.
I agree with Adam. Regardless of whether Willoughby’s needed to pay extra to Amazon or to Leica for the “gift”of the Leica store, it’s a cost of business to become an authorized Leica seller and it’s something Willoughby chose to do, not forced upon them. It does not change the fact that, to my knowledge, Willoughby’s is the only “Leica store” that marks up the price of the highly-demanded items above MSRP. That said, this is a free market and no one has a right to tell Willoughby what to charge or not to charge. As John said supply/demand will dictatethe pricing, it’s just that many consumers take additional considerations into account. For me, even if Willoughby’s is the only store who has the X1 or M9 or whatever to sell, they would not be the first place I look to purchase my Leica equipment.
On a more relevant note, I was in Hong Kong last weekend and visited both of the new Leica stores (one in the IFC mall in Central, and the other one in Times Sqare mall in Causeway Bay). Both stores are relatively small (though I guess about average footprint for a camera store given HK retail space availability). Neither store had much stock to sell (though both had demo equipment on hand); this was mostly because the mainlanders (visitors from China) typically come into the store and pretty much buy up whatever is remotely in demand. It was a mixed blessing for them, I suppose, to be constantly running out of stock. I played with the X1 for a while, compared it with my M9 that I had on hand. The first thing I noticed about the X1 is how light it is given its size (about the same weight as the new Panasonic LX5, but much larger than the Lx5). I’ve owned about three dozen or so compact cameras in my life and this has to rank amongst the top in terms of feel. Unfortuantely, it’s just not compact enough to fit into a pocket. If you carry a purse then I don’t see any problems with the size; but if you want something you can slip into your shorts pocket, it’s a problem unless you are wearing REI cargo pants.
The lack of video is also a bummer, as is the lack of a bulb feature. The sensor and the ability to shoot DNG is clearly the advantage here. If you do not own a M8 or M9 and wish to have something that will render picture quality above all others in its class; this is a good choice but not a cheap choice. If you have the M system and are looking for a sidekick for when you are climbing that rock wall, hiking through the rain forest, nightclubbing, etc., I would skip this and get something more durable and has video.