Canon eShop – an online camera store by Canon Philippines?

I was catching up on some mail and read about Canon Philippines opening a eShop online from Abe..  so had to check it out.. the first that caught my attention was that the site didnt seem prepared to launch since the site was full of photo not available.. funny if you think about a camera store launching a online store and not having photos of their own products.

Ok this is not good.. When I click on Digital SLR Cameras it brings me to Photo All-in-one Inkjet Printers which is empty.. it makes me wonder if they were told to put up a eshop.. and just put it up for presence.. if they do put the full line of canon products then they will directly compete with all their dealers (not good at all) if they put a premium on the prices then whats the use of buying online?

This site isnt ready to sell .. i decided to check out the video cameras and it still brings me to Photo All-in-One Inkjet Printers.

There seems to be only 2 items in the store.. and one of them i remember to be a giveaway in one of those high end DSLR launches… (i have 3 copies of the EF lens work III – that i gave away) The convience that an online store is ready to service your photographic needs is great but when they have added costs like the convenience charge like the one seen below, it opens up a whole lot of of questions.. what is a convenience charge? this is probably the first time i have heard of such a charge for online shopping.

as explained in Abe’ s blog, this charge is supposedly the credit card add on of 6%.. didnt they ban this already? should all items sold be inclusive of this charge?  misleading yes.. it may seem that prices may come out cheaper but get slapped a 6% surcharge when you are ready to order.

Will this fly? maybe.. but i think they were better off making an info site and point the buyers directly to the dealers..  which is funny because they do have a list of stores and dealers on the front page. – http://eshop.canon.com.ph/stores.php?page=1

Lets pay them a visit next month and see if there are new stuff and if there are any developments to the estore.