A plain-English look at B&H Photo Video for American buyers: how its returns, shipping, tax card and Sabbath closures work, and the six corners of the store worth your money.
Yes, B&H is legit. The family-run New York retailer opened in 1973 as a small film shop on Warren Street in Tribeca, named after founders Blimie and Herman Schreiber, and it now ships cameras, lenses, audio, lighting and computers across the country from a New Jersey fulfilment operation. Its one physical store, on Ninth Avenue at 34th Street, is a Manhattan landmark in its own right.
What trips people up is rarely honesty. It’s the small print: a return window that starts at delivery, return postage that comes out of your pocket, a restocking fee when the box is missing, and checkout that pauses for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Learn those rules and B&H becomes one of the easiest places in the US to buy serious gear. Here are six ways to use it well.
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These three are where B&H gives an American buyer the clearest advantage over a general electronics store.
The department B&H was built on. A vast catalogue of bodies, lenses and accessories from the major brands, with specialists on phone and chat to help untangle mounts and compatibility.
Pre-owned photo, video and audio gear that B&H tests, grades and backs with a 90-day parts and labour warranty, plus a trade-in desk that buys your old kit.
B&H’s store card pays back the sales tax instantly on qualifying orders in most taxed states, or offers deferred-interest financing instead. Valuable for regular buyers who clear the balance every month.
Every option side by side, with the one thing that actually distinguishes it.
| Way to shop | Best for | Returns / terms | Key strength | Watch out for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Cameras & Lenses | A new camera body or lens | 30 days from delivery | Range and expert advice | Bundle and box rules | View |
| 2Used Department | Stretching a budget, trading up | 30 days from purchase | Tested stock plus warranty | Grading isn’t perfect | View |
| 3B&H Payboo Card | Frequent buyers in taxed states | Card terms apply | Instant tax payback | High APR, deferred interest | View |
| 4Pro Video, Audio & Lighting | Filmmakers, podcasters, studios | Several exclusions | Breadth across categories | Special orders and exclusions | View |
| 5NYC SuperStore & Store Pickup | New Yorkers and visitors | In-person returns desk | Hands-on testing | Limited opening days | View |
| 6Explora & Event Space | Beginners and the curious | Not applicable | Free, practical learning | Not an independent review | View |
← swipe the table to see all columns →
Three reasons photographers and video crews keep coming back to a single New York shop.
B&H started with film and still organises itself around creative work, with separate departments for photography, pro video, pro audio, lighting and computers. Its About page says it hires and trains product specialists to advise rather than upsell, and the sales line and live chat are staffed by people who know the difference between two lens mounts.
B&H’s shipping page says most orders above $49 qualify for free expedited delivery to the contiguous US, and that many items ship free even below that. Orders bound for Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the other territories are accepted too, and the cart shows an estimated delivery date before you pay, so there are fewer surprises at checkout.
On Trustpilot, B&H held a 4.9 rating across more than 330,000 reviews when we looked, and SmartCustomer showed 4.4 from roughly 3,800. Those numbers come with caveats, covered below, but very few retailers sustain that volume of positive feedback without fundamentally doing the basics right.
How to buy from B&H without walking into the problems that fill its negative reviews.
Store hours list Saturdays as closed and Friday trading ending early, and the store page describes online checkout as open 24/6. You can browse and fill a basket during the Sabbath, but you can’t complete the order until it ends, and the same applies on Jewish holidays such as Passover and Sukkos. Orders placed just as checkout reopens can also wait until staff are back, so leave slack before a shoot or a trip.
B&H’s return conditions require items in new condition, in the original unaltered box, with packing material, blank warranty cards, manuals and any free accessories. If something is missing, it can refuse the return or charge a minimum 15% restocking fee, and the value of free items you keep comes off your refund. Flatten the box rather than recycling it until the return window has closed.
Claims for missing pieces or transit damage must reach B&H within two business days of the delivery. Open parcels promptly, photograph damage before unpacking further, and start a return through My Account or live chat. For defective or damaged goods, B&H says it reimburses the return postage once the fault is verified, which it does not do for change-of-mind returns.
In-stock items usually arrive within one to seven business days, and B&H packs orders from Sunday to Friday, so a weekend order normally leaves the warehouse on Monday. Some listings show Special Order, which means the manufacturer ships directly, typically within about a week to ten days, and those items may not qualify for free shipping. PO box deliveries go by USPS only and are excluded from free shipping.
B&H collects and remits sales tax wherever it is required to, based on the shipping address, and on purchases collected at the New York store. Shoppers outside the US can order too: B&H ships most international parcels with DHL, though some products can’t be exported, a few countries are excluded, and duties can be prepaid only in selected regions. Shipping and customs fees are not refundable.
B&H runs separate phone lines for customer service and sales advice, plus live chat and email, and staff reply publicly to many negative Trustpilot reviews. Bear in mind that its Trustpilot profile is claimed and on a paid subscription, which usually means the company invites buyers to review it, so the headline score reflects a lot of routine, happy orders.
The one-star reviews from summer and autumn 2026 cluster around a few themes: return postage and a restocking charge when an original box was missing; exchanges allowed only for the identical item; a used projector screen whose condition didn’t match its grade, with a slow response to the return request; a laptop sold as new that turned out to be previously enrolled to another company; and checkout trouble with PayPal.
Ranked by how well each one delivers on what it promises, not by price.
If a lens exists for your mount, the chances are B&H lists it, and someone there can tell you whether it actually fits.
Photography is B&H’s home ground. The site splits its photo department into bodies, lenses, flashes, tripods, bags, memory cards and filters, and its About page talks of nearly half a million items in stock. That matters most when you need the unglamorous parts of a kit, such as the right battery grip, a step-up ring or a specific cable, because they tend to sit alongside the headline cameras rather than in a separate marketplace. Free expedited shipping on most orders over the threshold means a lens ordered early in the week often arrives within a couple of days.
The catch is bundles. Camera kits often include free extras, and B&H’s return policy says you must send back every one of them, or the retail value of anything kept is deducted from your refund. Change-of-mind returns also leave postage to you, and the 30-day window begins at delivery. Reviewers who had a smooth experience usually knew exactly what they wanted, so do your comparison before checkout, and use live chat if you are unsure whether a lens covers a full-frame sensor or needs an adaptor. Keep the invoice with the box, too.
Buying used from B&H costs a little more effort than buying new, but it removes most of the risk of a private sale.
B&H says it sells only used equipment that its evaluators have tested for function and appearance, and every item carries a limited 90-day parts and labour warranty covering faults in normal use. You can return used purchases within 30 days, and condition ratings on each listing help you trade cosmetic wear against price. The department also buys gear: get an online quote, ship it with a free prepaid label within the lower 48, or visit the trade-in counter on West 34th Street, and choose payment by check, store credit or gift card.
Grading isn’t infallible. In a summer 2026 Trustpilot review, a buyer said a highly rated used projector screen arrived with a broken, knotted cable that had torn the fabric, and that the used customer service team was slow to respond. Note too that the used return window counts from the purchase date, not delivery, and returns need an RMA from the used team before you post anything. Inspect the item the day it lands, test every function, and raise any issue straight away so you stay inside the window. The warranty helps later, but a return is quicker.
Payboo is the closest thing B&H has to a permanent discount, as long as you never carry a balance on it.
Payboo gives cardholders a choice on each order. Save the Tax refunds the sales tax at checkout, in B&H’s words paying you back instantly, on qualifying purchases shipped to most states where it collects tax. Alternatively, you can pick a 6- or 12-month deferred-interest plan, subject to minimum spends, and B&H sometimes adds longer financing on selected brands. There’s no annual fee, a soft-inquiry prequalification check won’t affect your credit score, and B&H says new cardholders can use the account straight away for a first purchase. Account management runs through the Bread Financial app.
Read the terms closely. The tax benefit doesn’t apply to orders shipped to Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon or Puerto Rico, nor to gift cards or tax-exempt purchases, and the full amount must go on the card. You can’t combine it with financing. Deferred interest is the bigger trap: if the promotional balance isn’t cleared in time, interest is charged back to the purchase date, at a purchase APR B&H listed as 35.99% for new accounts in November 2026. Paper statements can also cost $2.99 a month, so switch to paperless.
Few retailers let you buy a cinema camera, the mics, the lights and the editing machine from the same people in one basket.
Beyond stills, B&H runs separate Pro Video, Pro Audio and Lighting departments, along with computers for editing. That breadth is the point: a small production team or a podcaster can assemble camera, audio interface, microphones, lights, stands and storage in one checkout, and ask a specialist who understands how they connect. Oversized items that need freight can still ship free within the contiguous US, and B&H offers a threshold delivery service for bulky items on request. Its Explora site also publishes regular news and hands-on coverage for these categories, which helps when comparing unfamiliar brands.
Production gear brings more exclusions. Opened software can’t be returned, nor can computers built or modified to your specification, nor certain special-order items marked as non-returnable. Special-order products ship directly from the manufacturer, can take around seven to ten days, and may not qualify for free shipping. Large purchases can also be delivered in several parcels on different days. If you are kitting out for a fixed shoot date, confirm stock status on each item, not just the headline camera, and order with plenty of margin. Splitting an order is free if one item is delayed.
Spending an hour in the SuperStore answers questions that a week of reading spec sheets online can’t.
B&H describes its store at Ninth Avenue and 34th Street as more than 70,000 square feet with as many as 10,000 demo products on the shelves. There’s a Mic Room for comparing microphones and preamps, a Sound Room for speakers, a Tech Corner offering one-to-one help with gear you already own, no purchase required, and a separate trade-in counter for used equipment. Choose Store Pickup at checkout and most in-stock items are ready in as little as 30 minutes, with eligible stock from the New Jersey warehouse transferred over the same day.
The trade-offs are about timing. The store is closed on Saturdays, shuts early on Fridays and is closed for several Jewish holidays, so check the published calendar before you travel. Store Pickup only works if nothing else in the order is being shipped, and B&H holds an order for up to five business days before cancelling it. You’ll need your order number and government-issued photo ID, or a named proxy with theirs. Parking at the customer lot around the corner is free for a limited time only above a minimum spend.
Explora is a decent place to learn what to buy, as long as you remember who is publishing it.
Explora is B&H’s content arm, covering photography, video, pro audio, computers, lighting and consumer tech with news, buying guides, hands-on reviews, videos and podcasts. Recent pieces range from approaches to buying used cameras and lenses to gift guides for emerging filmmakers, and the writing is generally practical rather than breathless. Alongside it, the Event Space inside the New York store hosts free tutorials, photo walks and portfolio reviews, and B&H has run its free Bild Expo trade show at the Javits Center, most recently in 2025, with talks, exhibitors and hands-on sessions.
The limitation is independence. Explora is published by the shop selling the products it covers, so treat it as a well-informed starting point, not a neutral verdict, and cross-check with independent reviews before a big purchase. The in-person events only help if you can get to Manhattan, and popular sessions can fill up. Still, for a beginner trying to work out which accessories a new camera actually needs, it is free, current and far more detailed than most product pages. Search it before you ask the sales team, and your questions will be sharper.
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Yes. B&H has traded since 1973, runs a large physical store in Manhattan, publishes its returns, shipping and warranty terms in full, and sells through mainstream payment methods. Hundreds of thousands of customer reviews on Trustpilot are positive, and the complaints that do appear are mostly about returns friction and service tone rather than counterfeit stock or vanished orders.
Its history isn’t spotless. B&H settled federal discrimination claims involving warehouse workers in 2007 and again in 2017, the latter without admitting wrongdoing. None of that affects whether your order arrives, but it is part of the record.
B&H’s owners are observant Jews, and the business keeps the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. The website stays up so you can browse and add items to your basket, but online checkout pauses from Friday evening until Saturday evening, New York time, and over holidays. The NYC store is closed on Saturdays and closes early on Fridays.
B&H publishes its holiday calendar on the store information page, including multi-day closures for Passover, Shavuos, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkos. Check it before a deadline, because orders that pile up during a closure can take a little longer to leave the warehouse when it reopens.
For new items, you get 30 days from the delivery date to return for any reason, provided the item is in new condition with its original box, packing, manuals and any free extras. Return shipping is your cost unless the item was defective or damaged, and refunds cover the original price only, not shipping. For the 2026 holiday season, B&H has extended returns on purchases made from November 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027 until February 1, 2027.
Some things can’t go back once opened, including software, consumables such as film and ink, and TVs or monitors 37 inches and larger. Computers built or modified to your specification, submerged underwater gear and electronic downloads are excluded outright. Used gear has its own 30-day policy, counted from the purchase date rather than delivery.
Payboo is B&H’s store credit card, issued by Comenity Capital Bank. Its Save the Tax benefit pays you back the sales tax instantly at checkout on qualifying purchases shipped to most states where B&H collects tax. It doesn’t apply to orders shipped to Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon or Puerto Rico, or to gift cards, and the whole transaction must go on the card.
You choose either Save the Tax or a deferred-interest financing plan on each purchase, not both. B&H’s terms listed a purchase APR of 35.99% for new accounts in November 2026, with no annual fee. You can check whether you prequalify with a soft inquiry before a full application.
For most American photographers, filmmakers and audio buyers, yes. The range is deep, delivery is fast and usually free, and the used department is unusually well run. Just treat packaging as part of the product, factor in return postage, and avoid leaving an urgent order until Friday afternoon.
Shop B&H Policies checked on B&H’s help pages in November 2026. Terms, holiday dates and card offers change, so confirm them at checkout.
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