Many of the companies that everyone has mentioned are great. I have been using Frame Destination for my 8 ply window mats and frames and everything when it comes to my framing needs. They are the best company I have ever dealt with. I have never ever had any problem in the over 6 years I have been using them. Their packing and shipping is second to none.
I see a lot of plugs for B&S here, and I have to report my only experience with them was quite negative. I ordered one of their bellows repair kits a couple of years back to fix the pinholes in my Toyo 810M. I followed the instructions to the letter. They said to leave the bellows open for at least 24 hours before closing them. I was heading out for a long weekend, so I did the repair in a Friday, left the camera on a tripod fully extended over the weekend and came back Monday night. There was no sense of tackiness, so I closed the camera up and stored it. The next weekend I figured I'd been without my baby for long enough so I took it out for a photo trip. The first time I opened the camera, the bellows were hermetically sealed together. When I called Bostick, their response was simply, "You didn't use it right." We went back and forth for quite some time. They basically treated me like an idiot, and I haven't done business with them since. I had Camera Bellows in England make me a new set and I've been happy since.
I've read enough threads about Ebay and Paypal to know they are very hard on sellers and favor buyers. Since I've only been a buyer, my experiences have been favorable. Ebay has got my money refunded on two occasions when flake sellers would not ship items, probably because they were out of these items and waiting for more to arrive. After playing tag with the sellers for over a month, I went to Ebay problem resolution and got my money back. In both cases they were high volume sellers whose supply of the items I ordered may have suddenly dried up.
Almost all the cameras, lenses, and most of the darkroom equipment I own was acquired via Ebay. If I waited for items like these to turn up locally, I'd still be waiting, and going to dealers of these items would have resulted in paying a lot more for the stuff I've bought.
Ries, Berlebach, Badger Graphic, B&H, Amazon, Bruce Wehman (unfortunately he no longer makes the Wehman 8x10).
I have had great service from all of these.
Jeff Taugner at Badger Graphic Sales, Bob Watkins at Precision Camera Works, and Gus Lazzari at TLC Camera Repair have all provided me with outstanding service.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Although I do not own one of their cameras anymore, Zhang Fuming (president of ShenHao) would always respond to my emails within a day, and was always able to provide me with answers (I guess it could of been a proxy typing on his behalf but none the less great customer service, and nice cameras).
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