Ebay Anti-Bargains

[Pherdinand]

Inspired by a previous thread
What was your biggest buying mistake on E-bay (or similar auction sites)? Do you dare to tell us the story?😀
Mine, i think, was a 90 euro 6x9 ikonta with a coated tessar 105/3.5... looked great, but turned out to have a stuck focus ring (no grease involved) which i made even worse trying to solve the problem. 🙁

 

[Canon Junkie]

I think I have had a few.... they always state that the item works, but sold 'as is'. I would say that 50% of the time the item does not work, but the seller refuses to hear it due to the "as is" sale.... now I try to stay away from those unless its really a bargain.

But, at the same time, I bought a Canonet ql17gIII described as broken for $12 and after using the old lighter fluid trick on the shutter it was minty... works both ways with ebay.

 

[Kin Lau]

There was the 35mm & 6x6 enlarger I was trying to buy. Paid about CDN $150 via paypal, and no reply, no life from the guy. So I found the guy's telephone number, left a few messages, and finally left a message threatening to call the police, and got a call back from the guy's mother.. "you'll get your money back". And I did.

 

[childers-jk]

Neither and RF story but humours none the less.

I was buying a set of Canon AE-1 Program stuff. I spent a little more than I thought was right, but I got caught up in the fray!! I recieved the package, and the AE-1 had the horrible squeak!! Although the lenes were awesome!!

Second was my latest adventure wanting an F-1. I found a set and bid on it, didn't make the reserve, so I bid on another. Won the second, the guy with the first had the best set and sold it to me! Now I have 2 F-1's and a lot more lenes. So, I'll be selling some of that stuff soon.

Jeff

 

[doubs43]

Probably my worst experience has been the first model Iskra that I bought from a supposedly reputable dealer in the Ukraine. Hidden during the auction was the fact that it had the red window back, a certain indication that the film counter didn't work correctly. Much worse was the fact that the shutter was DOA and appeared to have been "repaired" at some point by someone with a hammer and pair of pliers.

The seller offered to replace it but I had to send it back at a substantial cost in shipping. I finally removed the shutter/lens assembly and sent it to Oleg. It came back in perfect working order about a week ago and now I just need to find the time to make sure that the rangefinder is properly aligned for focus.

The seller is on my "never do business with" list.

If you buy much from ebay, sooner or later you'll run across a "stinker". 🙁

Walker

 

[pshinkaw]

My first Contaflex purchase was based on my attempted picture ID of the camera. I was wrong. Instead of being a common run of the mill Contaflex it turned out to be an uncommon automatic version that is almost impossible to find parts for. Low production numbers does not necessarily equate with valuable, although it can equate with "paper weight".

-Paul

 

[Canon Junkie]

childers-jk,

The sqeak is a 2 minute fix. I have done it on 5 cameras with just removal of the bottom plate (2 screws) its really nothing..... the oil and blunt needle part is $3 on ebay shipped, and the instructions are on the internet.... although the ones I used were in German so I had to go by the picture. PM me if you want the info... but its an easy fix

 

[dnk512]

$150 for a "perfect" minolta autocord. Dents on most of the body's corners, coating markings on both lenses, horible focusing hood (missing spring) and non-functioning frame counter. Deadbeat seller. I am stuck with it as a spare. At least the shutter is near perfect. One FM2n black that was like "new" but no better than a 7 and a Konica S2 that was "perfect" but the lens was comming off the body (3/4 of the lens could lift 1/8" from the rest of the body) and its cosmetics were no better than an 8. Both of these when back to their sellers with my shipping refunded. One nikon 100m lens with oil on the blades, also fully refunded. One perkeo with fungus in the lens, also refunded. Several other "mint" and "like new" items that were no better than an 8, but at least the winning price was low on those.

 

[rover]

I have been very fortunate regarding the condition of the items I have bid on, but I did turn one real good deal into a fair retail price for my 50/2 Summicron.

I saw the auction almost as soon as it was posted and it is a beauty. Tabbed version, included the box, a leather Leica case, the proper Leica hood, rear Leica cap and two Leica front caps, one to fit over the hood another for just the lens. Lesson, never bid on anything with the word Leica mentioned in the description this many times. Well the lens is truely mint, perfect in every sense. I had shopped around and similar lenses were selling at dealers without the extras for over $1,000. I really wanted a 50 Summicron, and I really wanted this lens.

Well, I watched it for all 10 days, kept shopping, and couldn't find anything similar. With 15 minutes left it was bid to only around $500. I was really excited, but knew there would be snipers (besides me) out there. Figuring the prices I had seen when shopping, that I didn't want to pay, I looked at all the mint extras, the beautiful lens and said if I was in a shop I would be willing to pay $725 for all this stuff. 5 minutes left, no more bids, still around $500. 1 minute left, STILL NO MORE BIDS!!! What is wrong with the lens? I traded a few emails with the seller in the past week and was confident that I had vetted it well. 30 seconds, no action, well, I am going to win this easy. I get ready to bid, what should I offer? I type in $725 confident that it would sell somewhere in the $600s. Then I change to $727.76, I always bump up off the clean price points if I really want something. 10 seconds left, I hit enter, the page slowly reloads, the auction is over, I WON!!! for $727.76!!!!!

At the same exact time another person had entered $725, surely confident that he would win. Had I entered $725 and had hit the enter key just a fraction of a second after the other guy did, I wouldn't have the lens. It arrived in perfect condition a few days later, and I have to say I am happy. It would have been nice to have paid $600 for the lens, but now I have all these nice extras.

Anyone want to buy a leather lens case that is overpriced because it says Leica on it?

 

[Rob]

I have had about 3 deadbeat bidders and one that took over 30 days to finally pay me in about 200 of my sales auctions. I always assume that anything I buy is sure to need repair. One thing I am trying to avoid is items from florida or the gulf coast states, items will likely be rusted.
Rob

 

[bmattock]

Mine was as a seller. I tried to sell a fairly rare Spiratone (made by Hama) 35mm bellows unit that has movements (shift, rise, tilt, etc). They were called the "Bellows-Master" or something like that. I thought it was in pretty good shape, but it was missing a set-screw, which I described. Lots and lots of hi-rez IN FOCUS photos, too.

Buyer got into a bidding war, final price was over $300. He paid, I packed and shipped. He got unit, thanked me for good packing.

Few days later, he complained that the unit did not lock up tight like a drum, so it was obviously not perfect. He complained about dust and cat hair on the unit. He said I had misled him. He wanted his money back.

I said fine, ship it to me and I'll refund your money.

He said, no, wait - how about you give me a $150 or so refund instead?

Ah hah. What he wanted to do was negotiate, not return the unit. He didn't want to refund, he wanted to buy it for a much lower price than he won the auction for. Very clever. We both had 100% perfect feedback, but mine goes back to 1996, his was a year or so old. I told him to go pound sand and rescinded my refund offer.

He filed a complaint with Paypal. Said it was 'not as described.' Of course, I had ALSO said 'as-is' and 'no returns' but guess what? That means nothing to Paypal.

Next thing I knew, my account was locked tight as a drum. I could RECEIVE payments, but could not move the money out of the account or pay for auctions with it.

Investigation, they say, takes a week to ten days. TRY TWO MONTHS.

During which time, buyer took the device to a local camera shop who pronounced it unrepairable. This all because the buyer said it would not 'lock up' when used as intended.

Eventually, Paypal ordered the guy to send it back to me, and sucked the money out of my account to give back to him. They left my Paypal account locked up for another two months AFTER that just to kind of punish me, I guess. I had to beg to get my account unlocked. All this for one complaint by a buyer.

Anyway, I got the thing back. The buyer was right - it didn't 'lock up' tight as a drum. But it was a design flaw, not the unit itself. It was a "Spiratone" brand and all that implies. Low price, innovative, and not built all that well.

Lesson learned - most buyers and most sellers are honest. But the ones that are not honest will ruin your whole day. As a seller, I risked a lot more than a buyer does, so I don't sell on eBay any more. Never again.

And Paypal are crooks - and I'll say that to their faces.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[oftheherd]

There was the 35mm & 6x6 enlarger I was trying to buy. Paid about CDN $150 via paypal, and no reply, no life from the guy. So I found the guy's telephone number, left a few messages, and finally left a message threatening to call the police, and got a call back from the guy's mother.. "you'll get your money back". And I did.

About 18 months ago I bought a Calumet 4x5 with two lenses for the hard to believe price of $125.00. I bought it, but I didn't get it. No answer to emails either. Well, net-surfing to the rescue. I found another web site the seller was on, and emailed there some without results. Then found some apparent relative's phone numbers (the seller didn't show any listings anywhere). After a few phone calls, I got a good camera and two wide lenses for $125 in cash (edit: I didn't mean I sent cash, just that it was $125 of my money). I spent more in time though, but I just wasn't going to let $125 go easy. 😡

 

[oftheherd]

...

But, at the same time, I bought a Canonet ql17gIII described as broken for $12 and after using the old lighter fluid trick on the shutter it was minty... works both ways with ebay.

I once got lucky with an SLR the seller stated wouldn't wind. I thought for $15 I would take a chance it had something stuck in the wind mechanism that I could free up. Otherwise I would have a parts camera. When I got it, I put in a battery to check the electronics, and have been using it for the last three years. It was one like many, that die when the battery dies. Obviously the seller didn't know and based on the description, I hadn't thought to ask. You get lucky sometimes. 🙂

 

[bmattock]

Well done on getting your money back!

I 'won' an action on eBoy for a photography book recently. Some very low price, something like $8. Seller never sent me an invoice with the shipping included. He had a 94% positive feedback - most people loved him, but some he just would not complete the deal on - I guess I was one of them.

I emailed him maybe a half-dozen times, then I just paid the $8 via Paypal to complete MY end of the deal. Nothing.

I could have let it go, but I remembered what happened when someone complained on ME to Paypal - so I filed a complaint.

He emailed me and tried to play that "Why didn't you respond to any of my emails" bit. I didn't go for that, so then he tried the "I'm sorry, I'll get you a shipping price right away" but he didn't follow through. Then he wrote and cursed me and told me that he could not sell the book for $8, he was losing his shirt. Right, that's my problem how?

He lost his Paypal account - his account was locked up like mine had been. I was sent an email by Paypal telling me that I was getting a refund - but I never got it. Paypal are crooks.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[oftheherd]

My stories above were where things worked out. I am currently trying to find out what happened to about $35 of my money or an IR filter. I think something must have happened to the seller, as things were going well with the feedback, then went bad fast. Still, I will pursue it. Ebay also can't seem to get a response. I guess I should have know better that to buy from someone who touted IR filters for being able to see through bathing suits. :bang:

Btw, not what I wanted it for, it was just that this seller's price was a little better than most for IR. Well, it seemed like it at the time anyway. Now it's off to net surfing again I guess. 😡

Bill, I feel for you. I have heard others say the same thing. Sad. In fact, enough have bad-mouthed them I won't use them even for paying.

 

[jdos2]

Um...

My worst goof was the 9GB SCSI drive for $50. No picture, described as "used, but pulled froma working server."

It was as perfectly described, and everyone knew better than me. An old "shoebox" 12 platter MONSTER 9GB that wouldn't fit in my RS/6000 with anything short of a sledge. I had no idea these existed...

So I learned. Drive did indeed work, though it was slow.

Then I sold a ham radio and a last minute bidding war brought the price to over what I had paid for the thing. The bidding closed with me smiling. The buyer and I e-mailed each other, and as far as I knew, I was about to owe PayPal too much money for a simple money transfer.
Alas- the buyer wrote to tell me that there was NO WAY he was going to be able to pay for the thing, some other transaction in his life, some emergency, made him immediately poor. He was sorry, and graciously accepted the negative criticism, while providing me positive. I had to give him a negative so I could relist the item...

IN 2 WEEKS!? BUT I'M GOING TO EUROPE IN 3 AND NEED THE MONEY NOW!

As if e-Bay gives a rat's behind.

Feh. I try not to use the Bay. They are Bad for Business, as far as I'm concerned, but the fair last resort catch all. I just have to remember to keep VERY LOW expectations about them, and I'm usually rewarded. When I have a couple cameras for sale, I'd rather sell them in other places, even if for a bit less.

 

[bmattock]

Well, I use Paypal for paying, but I've disconnected my major credit cards and just maintain a checking account in a bank where I do no other business, and I fund it with my $50 per month allowance (plus what I make from selling stories and photos - more on that later). That way, even if they lock the account, they can't 'hurt' me. I use Paypal for paying because it is quick, easy and USUALLY works right.

And with 400+ positive experiences since 1996, I'd say that OVERALL, I'm very happy with eBoy. But I won't sell there again. Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks. They want a bargain AND they want it to be better than it was when it was new. Not breast-fed as children, I'm guessing.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Kin Lau]

About 18 months ago I bought a Calumet 4x5 with two lenses for the hard to believe price of $125.00. I bought it, but I didn't get it. No answer to emails either. Well, net-surfing to the rescue. I found another web site the seller was on, and emailed there some without results. Then found some apparent relative's phone numbers (the seller didn't show any listings anywhere). After a few phone calls, I got a good camera and two wide lenses for $125 in cash (edit: I didn't mean I sent cash, just that it was $125 of my money). I spent more in time though, but I just wasn't going to let $125 go easy. 😡

Not Ebay, and not an anti-bargain. But I was helping a friend of mine get rid of some photography equipment of her husband's that he can't use anymore (alzheimers). There was a Calumet 4x5 w/ a 210 & a 150 and also a Minolta X-700 system. The dealer was a well recommended guy (Harry's Pro Sho for the Torontonians here), who looked over the stuff and said $150-. My friend thought about it, and decided to give it to me instead. I'll talk about what was in the X-700 kit some other time 🙂

 

[mac_wt]

I bought a jupiter-8 (early model, to go with my zorki 3) from russcameras1111, but it turned out to be in very bad shape. When I revisited the auction page, I realized that you could see the defects on the pics. I didn't complain to the seller, I just decided that 1) I would never buy again without investigating all pics very closely and 2) I would never buy from that seller again (not easy, as he has a lot of auctions for interesting stuff).
I bought a complete set of Minolta SLR-gear (camera, 3 lenses, teleconverter, macro-bellows and stand,...) from someone I visited because he was selling a Yashica RF. He had a moving story of is ill father buying the camera to photograph the birds in the yard... I simply couldn't tell him that the SLR-stuff didn't interest me. I replaced all the seals on the camera, but I still haven't put a roll of film trough it.

Wim

 

[Nikon Bob]

OK, what is ebay? Just kidding, never use it so no bad experiences.

Bob