Ordering through RED or a dealer? Faster dealers than others?

[gabrielB]

Hey guys, so I’m ready to order a S-W and was wondering where to order it from.

I called a few dealers to ask for an estimated timeframe and they all told me the same thing: "We have a really good relationship with RED and they allocate our orders faster than others."
By the third call I was cracking up.

Anyways I have read on the forum people saying ordering directly from RED usually takes longer for your order to be fulfilled, true?

Also are there indeed dealers who have a “better relationship with RED” that would potentially be able to allocate your order faster than others?

Peace!
Gabriel

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

in the US I would say Abelcine or Maxxdigital

 

[Michael Ferguson]

The dealers job is too get the order. Sounds like the don't know what the delivery time is. Pick a dealer you trust. When you go to lay down your money get them to give you a delivery estimate and hold them too it Michael

 

[Les Hillis]

It's all supposed to be based on when the order was placed, regardless of whether you're a dealer or individual.

There may be some dealers who have a better relationship with RED than others, but I don't think that would extend so far as to being able to help you get a camera quicker than some other dealer.

The only way you'd get one quicker through a particular dealer than ordering one yourself now, is if they ordered multiple cameras all at the same time (before you did), then when they got all theirs delivered they had one sort of left over that they could sell to you. Which imo isn't very likely to happen with demand outstripping supply like it has been (and probably will be for a while).

But if you just go to a dealer and get them to basically order a camera for you from RED, you shouldn't get it any quicker than if you ordered it direct from RED yourself.

On the bright side, if you order one yourself or from a dealer today, you probably won't end up waiting as long as people have been waiting already, as the first big rush of orders is currently being worked on, leaving a progressively smaller amount of cameras-per-time-of-order to get through.

Edit - Just to add, I have no idea how the dealers manage their stock/inventory. It may well be that some of them ordered months ago more cameras than they had/have direct customers for, anticipating the demand and gambling that they'd be able to sell whatever they get in. But how you would find that out from one dealer to the next, I don't know.

 

[gabrielB]

Thanks for chipping in guys.
Yes it's a US purchase, although I would be open to order it in Canada or Europe or other if it would mean I would get the camera faster !
Besides Abelcine or Maxxdigital, any other dealer recommendations? (thanks Steve !)

It's all supposed to be based on when the order was placed, regardless of whether you're a dealer or individual.

That was my thinking too, assuming RED would want things to be fair, but it appears there's a lot of comments how ordering direct from RED might mean a longer wait.
Unless words on the streets dealers can get cameras faster is a myth born out from dealers trying to get the sale?

Edit - Just to add, I have no idea how the dealers manage their stock/inventory. It may well be that some of them ordered months ago more cameras than they had/have direct customers for, anticipating the demand and gambling that they'd be able to sell whatever they get in. But how you would find that out from one dealer to the next, I don't know.

Yes that's the reason why I was calling a bunch of dealers, to see if by any chance they would have ordered more and had some of those orders available for me to grab. But Alas no.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

I ordered my Weapon from Abelcine in late February and received the camera in May-which seemed to be faster then people who ordered directly from RED. I'm sure RED like every other manufacturer is required to send their distributors "X" amount of cameras per month to fulfill orders. And since more people order straight from RED there's a better chance of getting a camera from outside venders faster. I'm sure the Scarlet W's are much more back ordered though.

Abelcine is awesome! And definitely recommend them if you choose not to order straight from RED.

 

[gabrielB]

Yeah makes sense.

I hear one of the factor causing delays is the fact that the yield for the Dragon sensor is still very low, like in the 5% range. People seem to be getting their higher end cameras faster than the Scarlet-W (like yourself Chris), pointing to the possibility that they take priority over less expensive cameras.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I called a few dealers to ask for an estimated timeframe and they all told me the same thing: "We have a really good relationship with RED and they allocate our orders faster than others." By the third call I was cracking up.

It's no different from Apple. Often, you can buy products and get them faster from Apple dealers than you can from Apple directly. It all depends on what's in the supply chain.