I purchased the new scanner thru Ritz Camera on line, not a shop that I'd even considered as an original choice. However, the scanner was out of stock almost everywhere, and the few places that claimed to have one in stock either had poor reputations, high prices, or were offering grey market.
Ritz offered free shipping and no sales tax (a big concern for us Californians - sales tax is pretty high around these parts) even if they had a brick and mortar store in the state. Their price was $599.00, higher by about 10% than Amazon, for example, but lower than most shops when considering tax and shipping. It was a no nonsense transaction .... simple ordering, a quick confirmation, and, surprisingly, a phone call a few hours later verifying the shipping and billing address on the credit card. Ritz sent emails at every step of the way, as well, verifying receipt of the order, double checking security issues, confirming shipment, and providing a tracking number. So, check them out ... they get a good recommendation here. My only "kvetch" is that they seemed overly concerned with security, but, in fairness, it should be noted that my billing and shipping address are different (which, for some stores, means you don't get the item), and the billing address is a PO Box (another red flag). So, while it was a bit annoying to receive all the emails and the phone call, it was also very welcome in retrospect. Shel Belinkoff
