Did your Ebay camera Work out of the Box?

Did your Ebay camera Work out of the Box?

  • YES! It worked Perfectly

    Votes: 425 70.7%

  • No. Did not work. It's a Paperweight.

    Votes: 45 7.5%

  • Required a minor Repair, Fixed it Myself

    Votes: 112 18.6%

  • Required a Major Repair: Paid to have the work Done.

    Votes: 73 12.1%

  • Requested a Refund.

    Votes: 46 7.7%
  • Total voters
    601
Lilserenity said:
I almost got stung a week or two back on another OM2n, all black body and it was listed as returns accepted. It was local so I asked before hand if I could collect it and test it + return it if necessary. THey said it was fine, I made the 20 mile trip and took some batteries, they refused to let me test them in the camera and I said that they had confirmed returns were accepted so why not test it now to save the hassle of me taking it away and then maybe having to return it for a refund. They wouldn't relent so I left it. The camera must have been a bad egg. Maybe I was unreasonable but I think given the seller had confirmed returns were acceptable, and if they were legit, what is the difference between me testing the camera before parting with money, than me buying the camera, popping the batteries in in the car, finding it doesn't work and then knocking on the door 30 seconds later saying it's broken and I want to return it and have a refund!

Vicky
Click to expand...


Hi Vicky,

Sounds almost dodgy to me that they wouldn't let you test the product! They should let you test it if they truly stand behind their item 100%, so it seems that there may be an underlying problem. Shady, luckily you walked away on this one.

Who know's they might not accept returns at all.

Shawn
 
M2. Got it about 10 days ago. Works perfectly (better than I do, anyway). One little tiny missing piece of vulcanite that was noted or shown in the listing. It's now growing. No biggie. Not sure whether I'm capable enough as a DIY'er or should send it to cameraleather to do for me. But that's for another thread. Burned on eBay? Not with camera equipment. Of course, there was that 31-foot sailboat though. Sold it for half what I paid three years later; used the proceeds towards my M8.
 
I just got a Retina IIa that works well, even the slow speeds, the Xenon is perfect. I also got a Fucica 35 ML that looks unused. :)

I stay away from cameras with anything more electronic than an onboard meter. I enjoy mechanical repairs so I have also gotten some cameras that I knew would need repair and would be a project.

Steve
 
What's up with those sellers?

What's up with those sellers?

Like many here, I'm ready to work on mechanical cameras, especially when bought cheap as "for parts or repair". Once I won hi-speed dual-grip motorwinder for Ricoh advertised as working. It's rare stuff compared to other makes so I were about to win and did so.

After contacting seller if he really tested winder before listing it as working and repeating this after a week to give him time (sometimes sellers travel and what else) I submitted claim. No response. After timeout ran out I left negative feedback (my first and only neg) and guess what? On next day seller commented in feedback that buyer has to learn using sophisticated gear. Needless to say that I tried using it on several bodies (to exclude body factor) and even read manual (do it when anything else fails).

I simply don't get why he couldn't ask me same question in PM before. Nevertheless, his tiny feedback score were destroyed and I did feel kind of satisfaction. To note, I've left positive feedback in cases when seller refunds for incorrectly listed items at least partly and has answered fast. I get idea that world isn't perfect though when seller goes mute and stealth, it drove me crazy.
 
I've been lucky once and got a great camera that worked straight from the seller. Even included the repair receipt along with the great camera.

Other ebay purchases... some work needed. Never a paperweight but needed some work to get them in good shape. I usually ended up paying about the same for a camera that was in perfect working condition.

Next time I'll drop the shiny coin to get a good one.
 
The last eBay purchase was a Minox B, the shutter seems perfect and the meter works as well as my sekonic. Still waiting on my first roll though.

Only things I can think of not working were a Leningrad, which broke after one roll, the seller was kind enough to give me a refund, and a Konica standard I got had sticky slow speeds (took half an hour to fix...)
 
bargains come in all flavors

bargains come in all flavors

All but the two Kievs were in working order. One Minolta 7000i had
LCD problems, but I knew that when I bid on it. The Kievs were Parts cameras and I am repairing one of the. One out of two isn't a bad average.

It is light meters and Flash guns that sting me, but then one must expect that the more complicated the electronics the more likely the problems. I did make one interesting discovery, that was that the Nikon SB-22s flash gun has a design flaw. One of the battery compartment solder joints is under stress and is easily broken. It is an easy fix, if you can get the case apart. So a "for repair or parts" $5.00 flash has been used for several years on my Contax G1 in Auto mode with excellent results. Bargains do come in many flavors.
 
Hi,

The only camera I've bought off the famed auction site was a refurbished Nikon D 60. It was for my first venture into digital photography. Bought a used 55 to 200 mm VR zoom lens, three filters, a camera bag for my Rolleiflex, and a lenshood from other sellers. Have been pleased with all my transactions so far.
Cheers,
JustPllainBill
 
I've had good luck with cameras on Ebay, for the most part.

-Beautiful Nikon F2 needed the frame counter repaired. Simple enough to do myself.
-2 Nikon FE bodies, from a dealer in Torono, listed as needing repair, didn't need repair. Very nice too. ($35.00)
-Assorted vintage cameras like Super Ikontas, Weltas etc. pretty well all needed attention, but I was told that.
-Super Ikonta from Vancouver, listed as great condition, wasn't. Kept for parts.

I find that feedback and number of transactions is the best indicator.
 
I've only started shooting seriously in the last 2 years or so, and had amassed my collection through the auction site. So far, the experience has been good:

Mamiya 6 with 50mm lens --> ugly user condition, but works great!
Fujica GL690 with 100mm lens --> well used, but works great!
Leica M3 --> needs CLA
Nikkor 105mm macro lens and 16mm fisheye lens, both works great out of the box
Graflex Speedgraphic --> has shutter issues but still usable since I tripod it and use the "B" setting with a cable release.

So slightly around 50% success rate for me, but I don't know much about cameras myself since I'm still learning, I'd assume that this is due to my inexperience as well.
 
I bought a 1952/53 Leica IIIf from a lady in Ohio on eBay. It came complete with a carrying case, three lenses and some other goodies, including a viewfinder and a self timer. Also included were three light meters, two of which were no longer functional (surprise, surprise!).

Her late father had owned this equipment and he had instructed her to fire off the camera at frequent intervals and not to let it sit neglected on some dusty shelf. Good advice.

The camera, lenses and all the bits and pieces (except the light meters) were all received in first class working condition. An excellent buy and at a very good price.
 
In my experiences, 85% of them were in working condition. I mean fully functional.
Out of all that were in 100% working condition, 95% of them needed a basic CLA.
Your chances are a lot better if you buy from a person with 100% feedback, but make sure he or she's got at least 100 transactions under their belt.
 
I voted YES, but that is excluding every single Russian camera I have ever bought. I've bought too many cameras off ebay... a few cheap ones had an issue or something and I either ended up keeping them for free or renegociated the price and felt fine with the purchase.
 
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