Where would one order an M9?

[mjm6]

Ok, so I figure that there's very high demand for the M9 out there, and I've never been too involved in the whole business of getting in on a 'new' product, and certainly never on a Leica product so...

If I were to place an order, are there dealers in the US that are more likely to be fed by Leica than others?

I don't mind waiting a little while, but I don't want to have my name on the list right now and not get it until after the (what sounds like inevitable) price increase that is going to come at the end of the year.

My experience recently has been mostly with National Camera, and I'm happy to give them my business but I don't want to be hurting my chances of getting one by the end of the year.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,


---Michael

 

[Jack]

I think it's a good idea to develop a relationship with a local dealer. You live in Colorado, and I have no idea where the closest Leica dealer may be, but that would be a good place to start.

If you are comfortable with mail orders, I can tell you at least three Leica dealers read these forums regularly: David Farkas of Dale Photo and Digital in Florida, Monza in Texas and Sean Cranor of Camera West in California.

Cheers,

 

[Mike Hatam]

There's a third Leica dealer here on the forums - Robert Jagitsch (Monza) of Precision Camera in Texas. All three are excellent to deal with.

 

[mwalker]

+1 for Camera West...I've purchased all of my Leica equipment from them and a large format printer....I'm in Kentucky

http://www.camerawest.com/locations/

 

[bradhusick]

And one big thumbs up for Tony Rose at Popflash.com

 

[tonyroth]

I do think that you are on to something though, one has to imagine that Leica distributes back-ordered product in line with the sales volume of each dealer. Not speaking from any experience, but this would be consistent with most manufacturer practice.

 

[Scargos2]

go to the leica home site and you can look up dealers and maybe fine one near you.
I like B&H , Classicconnection and Tamarkin where I purchased My M8

 

[mjm6]

I posted yesterday, but I guess it didn't go through...

I have heard that one of the bigger deailers mentioned has a waiting list of 70 people right now. Even if they are getting 10 per week (NOT) then that is two months. It's far more likely that they might get 1-2 per week for a while.

I guess one big question is how many people have their name on multiple lists... If the average person has their name on more than two lists, then the lists will pretty rapidly collapse as the cameras begin to be delivered (with every one delivered effectively removing a person from several lists at the same time).

---Michael

 

[johnastovall]

And one big thumbs up for Tony Rose at Popflash.com

+1 I'm on Tony's lists for both an X1 and M9....

 

[johnastovall]

There's a third Leica dealer here on the forums - Robert Jagitsch (Monza) of Precision Camera in Texas. All three are excellent to deal with.

I second Monza at Precision Camera in Austin. They'll treat you with Texas Hospitality.

Unfortunately as a Texas resident, the 8.5% sales tax makes me go out of state for such a big ticket item. I save enough for a Luigi case.

 

[AGeoJO]

Tony from Popflash is top rated but too bad he is in CA and uncle Arnold needs your tax $. I bought two lenses from Tony previously and had them shipped to Texas . That's the good thing about shuttling between two places.

 

[tonyroth]

I would be very curious to know who has 70+ backordered. I spoke with B&H monday -- they are by far the largest leica dealer in the world so it would stand to reason that they have the longest list, though that may not be the case bc as I understand it they won't take your name and put it on the list unless you actually pay for the camera which i would imagine would dissuade quite a few -- and they only had 8 units on backorder, 4 black and 4 grey (or so that was what they told me).

 

[Mike Hatam]

Just curious why you think B&H is the largest Leica dealer in the world?

I'm sure they are the largest Canon / Nikon /etc dealer in the US, but I would be very surprised if they were the largest Leica dealer.

I've spent time in their store, and they don't carry much Leica gear, and don't have Leica experts on staff.

There are other, more "Leica focused" retailers even within NYC, such as Photo Village.

 

[tonyroth]

Well, simply that they told me that earlier in the week. But sounds like the rep that told me that might have made it up out of thin air? But it would make sense though, wouldn't it, given the overall distribution role they play in the industry and the overwhelming percentage of their sales that come in via internet and telphone (worldwide for that matter) rather than in-store sales? As an example, I was speaking with the rep about the 21 and 24 luxes and he checked his computer and said he had "at least 10" of each in stock. Seems like they must be doing considerable volume to stock that level of inventory, no?

 

[Mike Hatam]

Tony - yes, it's certainly possible, and you're probably right. I was just surprised by this, as I consider Leica gear to be more of a "niche" market, where local dealers with expertise would be used more than high volume internet dealers.

Thanks for the background info.

 

[johnastovall]

Tony - yes, it's certainly possible, and you're probably right. I was just surprised by this, as I consider Leica gear to be more of a "niche" market, where local dealers with expertise would be used more than high volume internet dealers.

Thanks for the background info.

I've had Tony or Alex at Popflash call me if there was question about an order and once when I put one in before they opened and another late in their afternoon. They call to tell me they were refunding the shipping on the second order because they pulled the first one before it was picked up and consolidate the orders. That won me over as a very loyal customer.

 

[monza]

B&H is not actually that big on Leica volume except maybe with point and shoots.

People get on multiple lists all the time, and whichever dealer gets the M9 first will get the order. This is unfortunate...a dealer that works hard for your business should actually *get* the business.

We have talked to Leica about registering customers, so that they actually ship to dealers with real orders. But it is unlikely they will implement such a program. Instead, they ship to whatever dealer is next in line when they have product.

It's now October 14, over a month since launch. They supposedly can build 1000 M9s a month. So where are they shipping them? Or are they...

 

[John Black]

Monza, I've wonder the same thing. On LUF somebody is mapping known purchases and the map is pretty sparse. Of course not every Leica owner belongs to LUF, so that map is not a good benchmark. But still... for all the people on-line who say they are on lists, etc., not many people seem to be getting their M9's. I really don't want to read anything into this or imply anything, but my OCD brain does ponder these things...

 

[monza]

Either they are building up a quantity of inventory so they have a buffer, and they will start shipping regularly; they are shipping the majority of product to Europe/Asia (or the Moon or Mars) or they aren't shipping.

The number I heard is 280 dealers in the USA (anyone know if that is accurate?) If they actually can build 1000/month, they could ship 28% of that to the USA and it's still only 1 per dealer per month.

 

[mjm6]

Well, since they put it in an email to me, I figure I can report that Popflash informed me that they had 70 in the list.

I'd really hate to be on the back end of a price increase simply because they couldn't delivert the cameras in due time. Or maybe that was part of the plan... get the buyers all lathered up by getting a hundred or so on the street but before actuallly delivering any real volume, push though a price increase. I think I'm not that cynical to belive that!


---Michael