Digital Cameras - a price comparison

Friday 5th December, 2008

We decided to search both eBay and Amazon using the StoreMinator and compare the prices of several popular models of digital camera. This is not supposed to be some complicated bit of research, just a sample of prices that you might find while using the StoreMinator to compare digital cameras.

We took 5 digital cameras at random, of different brands, and used the StoreMinator to find the best price we could both on eBay and Amazon, just by browsing for a few minutes, like a typical customer might. We ensured that the cameras were a fair comparison, i.e. identical models with no bundled accessories. For eBay items, we made sure we chose brand new cameras, mostly on sale from professional eBay sellers, not private individuals - not second-hand, that would be a quite different type of comparison. Of course, items vary in price on eBay, so we tried to settle on what, after a few minutes searching, looked like the best price. Shipping was mostly mostly free to mainland US, but we included this where applicable.

Without further ado, here are the digital cameras we compared on eBay and Amazon, and the prices we found (prices are changing ALL the time, so they are only provided as an example - they were correct at the time the research was conducted):

Nikon Coolpix S60
eBay price: $346.00 (shipping free)
Amazon price: $295.00 (shipping free)

Canon SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera
eBay price: $199.99 (shipping free)
Amazon price: $171.30 (shipping free)

Canon EOS 40D SLR camera
eBay price: $1149.00 (shipping free)
Amazon price: $1069.95 (shipping free)

Sony Cyber-shot DSCT300 digital camera
eBay price: $265.30 (shipping free)
Amazon price: $271.63 (shipping free)

Olympus SP-570 UZ
eBay price:$330.00 (shipping free)
Amazon price: $351.62 + $9 shipping = $360.62

(this item since out of stock - links refer to value bundle with flash, charger, case etc. included)

Remember, these prices may well have changed by the time you read this! But that's not what we're getting at - rather, we want to see which online shop is cheaper for digital cameras when taking a general average. So what have we found?

Imagine the situation (OK, it's just for analysis' sake!) that you had bought all five of these cameras through eBay. Well, in that case you would have paid a total of $2,290.29.

If you had bought the same 5 digital cameras from Amazon, you would have paid a total of... $2,168.50!

In other words, you would have saved $121.79, around 5%, if you had bought the cameras through Amazon!

Maybe you think that an extra 5% extra discount is not worth comparison shopping for. Well, fair enough, but in these troubled economic times there are probably many of us who would make that extra bit of effort to find a 5% discount. Again, this research was not done by some scientific statistical method, nor do we guarantee that you will find all your digital cameras cheaper on Amazon than on eBay! But hopefully if you are under the impression that "everything is cheaper on eBay", you will think again! The fact is that great bargains can certainly be found on eBay, else we wouldn't include them in our comparison engine! But Amazon is not to be ignored either - so make sure that when you are buying your next digital camera you make full use of the StoreMinator!