Well, if you take a look at the availability, it should tell you. For instance, if you go to the Amazon web page and do a search for hasselblad h3d, you'll see the availability near the top that it's sold by, and ships from Adorama, and it could be yours for just $34,000 dollars. No, that's NOT a typo. You pay a lot for a 39 megapixel camera, especially one by Hasselblad. Oh, and I believe that's for JUST THE BODY: No lens. Figure on adding several thousand dollars for a lens.
On the other hand, if you search for a Nikon D300, you'll see that according to the availability, it ships from and is sold by Amazon. Oh, and the fact that Amazon offers a factory mail in rebate means that they are an authorized Nikon dealer, and Nikon will honor the factory warranty.
You might also check with the manufacturer to see if Amazon is an authorized dealer. BTW, if you're looking for video, two reputable mail order dealers are B&H and Adorama. If nothing else, they can give you prices to compare.
From many posts here, Amazon seems to be highly regarded and reputable. While I've never bought any electronics from them, I do know that in the 2 times that I bought DVDs that came in defective (out of countless CDs and DVDs that I've bought from them), Amazon didn't hesitate in giving me postage paid mailing labels to ship them back, and Amazon cross-shipped replacements.
Mark
Would that I were in the market for a Hasselblad; times would be good indeed. :)
In post 43 the person checked out my item and said it’s at Amazon’s Fulfillment Center. I just bought it and will get it Weds. It seems like it’s worth the risk with all these Freepers pretty happy with their purchases. Plus I can then order the telephoto from somewhere else (Amazon doesn’t sell it) and have it be “almost free.”
And of course now I need some kind of editing software - I read that Pinnacle Studio will work for AVCHD.