NEX-5 Caps Arrive

They arrived today - two soft grey caps for my Sony NEX-5 - about four weeks from Hong Kong through the Christmas season. And they fit correctly. While third-party as expected, the caps are marked "for SONY" with the "for" in a very small font size. And they fit (Did I mention that?). Imagine, the caps cost me far less than buying the official Sony models, including shipping half-way around the world. IF Sony Canada had offered the real McCoy for $5.99 - the same as Sony USA - and not the terribly inflated $11.99, I would have the black authentic rear cap on my lens instead of this neat grey third-party cap from China.

Thoughts on Marketing

Some companies seem unaware of Google and the Web as tool for the consumer. This December, body and rear lens caps for the E-mount (used by the popular NEX cameras and lenses) arrived at the North American Sony stores. Sony.com advertised the caps at a price of $5.99 US each while Sony.ca offered them for $11.99 each - TWICE the price in spite of our dollar being at PARITY with the greenback over the past 12 plus months!

Think of it - our Canadian branch of Sony feels it is necessary to sell the same bit of “made in China” plastic for DOUBLE the US price to make a profit.

I wrote Sony Canada Customer Service an email and received a very polite personal response. Unfortunately, it offered the usual bromides about the cost of doing business in Canada - high taxes, small market, regulations, rental costs, lower volume than the American Sony, hence smaller price breaks, etc., etc. I considered suggesting it is time for Sony to reorganize and eliminate the various geographic fiefdoms. In the end, I decided it was not worthwhile to get into a debate with customer service at this level.

Instead, I went online, Googled “NEX body caps”, and bought TWO caps from FotoForEasy in Hong Kong at a price of $7.21 Canadian including shipping...