That's it; I'm done selling cameras

[Field]

Fred,

If the payment is not fully refundable through Paypal without a lot of effort to get back the Paypal fees, make one offer to return the amount sent minus the receiving fee, and state there were no conditions agreed upon so he sent a subjective payment without conditions that you are not even required to return, but rather he may contact Paypal to reverse the payment himself; come what may for him. If he does not comply with your conditions of returning the money minus the fee (which he will lose some of due to receiving fee on his end), and will not challenge Paypal to reverse the transaction, keep the money.

He may learn something from it, but it is not your job to teach him, just hold your own and keep personal investment to a manageable amount of tolerance that you would expend for someone in person.

He sent money without any kind of an agreement, so there is no expectation from you. You can not force money upon someone and expect them to pony up what you want. You can say no, and tell him that the interaction has become a burden on you in which he is committing bribery, all of which are not in the original conditions of the sale of the item; if the original conditions are not being acted upon and there is no agreement you are not liable for anything.

 

[Matthew Runkel]

If you can't avoid being dismayed by what the next owner chooses to do with your former possessions, it would be wise not to sell them in the first place.

 

[mathomas]

I had a frustrating experience from a different direction a few months ago. I was looking for a CY-mount 37-70mm lens and found one locally, at a good price on Craigslist. I wrote the buyer and he said he had a buyer in front of me who would let him know in a few days whether he buy the lens (I'm sitting here with $$). So, I wait the few days, and contact the seller again and he says "yeah, sorry, the guy bought it".

Disappointed, I started looking around for a lens on eBay again. I find a 35-70mm for sale, with a seller location the same as the craigslist seller. The price was quite a bit more than the craigslist seller was asking. Purely out of curiosity, I contacted the craigslist seller and sent him the link to the ebay listing, and asked "does this lens look familiar"? "Yeah", he says, "and the guy is vastly overstating the condition of the lens".

Bummed me out, because I wanted to use the lens, and had ready money. The other guy just bought it to resell 🙁.

Oh well...

 

[barnwulf]

I buy and sell some cameras and lenses on ebay and have had good experiences. I only buy from sellers with 99.5% positive feedback or higher and that offer a return option for at least 7 days. I sell things as a "Buy It Now" item with instant payment required and offer free shipping. I only accept Paypal payment and only to US buyers. I just want to reduce the frustration or chance of complications with international buyers if any issues come up. I usually sell at or a little below market value to get things sold quickly. I have bought a couple of things from UK sellers with good results. The most pleasant transactions I have every had were when I bought a Nikon S3 and a Leica M4-P here on RFF. Two great sellers and great guys. I know some people just have to get the highest price for their cameras but if I get a fair price I am satisfied. Jim