Trying to buy a VF on ebay - my God

I find that if I am looking for something that seems to have a large audience on USA eBay, I will look on other eBay sites. Many times I can find the same item, often listed poorly somewhere else, one that the seller ships to the USA but the item does not show up on USA eBay searches, and that will be priced much less than if I had to buy it on USA eBay. Obviously depending on the size and/or weight of something, it may not be worth it because of shipping costs, but a lot of times for me it does end up being less expensive than getting caught up in USA eBay bidding wars. As an example, I just did a quick search on some of the other eBay sites and found 3 SBOOI finders (that take paypal as payment and ship to the USA) that did not show up on my "worldwide" search through USA eBay.
By the way, I was the first bidder on the SBOOI that went for $260. I did not bid very much ($20) because I knew the price was gonna get out there because it looked immaculate and had the box. On the other hand, sometimes an early low bid does win, just not this time.
 
JonWNC said:
I find that if I am looking for something that seems to have a large audience on USA eBay, I will look on other eBay sites. Many times I can find the same item, often listed poorly somewhere else, one that the seller ships to the USA but the item does not show up on USA eBay searches, and that will be priced much less than if I had to buy it on USA eBay. Obviously depending on the size and/or weight of something, it may not be worth it because of shipping costs, but a lot of times for me it does end up being less expensive than getting caught up in USA eBay bidding wars. As an example, I just did a quick search on some of the other eBay sites and found 3 SBOOI finders (that take paypal as payment and ship to the USA) that did not show up on my "worldwide" search through USA eBay.
By the way, I was the first bidder on the SBOOI that went for $260. I did not bid very much ($20) because I knew the price was gonna get out there because it looked immaculate and had the box. On the other hand, sometimes an early low bid does win, just not this time.
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That's good advice, next time I will consider looking on overseas sites directly.

As it is, I have now purchased an SBOOI that looks good from an RFFer for a decent price, which makes me feel much better than dealing with eBay.

I also have the funny Kontur finder on the way, which Michael has informed me may not work on the IIIf. If I decide not to keep it, I will sell it in our classifieds, not on ebay.

Randy
 
zauhar said:
So last week I broke my lovely little SBOOI 5cm VF when I dropped my coat with IIIf inside (it landed on the VF). According to YouXin there is no hope of reattaching the leg that cracked off.

I bid for three of these on ebay -

1) One was in truly pristine condition - I stopped bidding when it went over $150. The final price was $266 - unbelievable. My IIIf did not cost much more than that!

2) The second was a crummy looking example with a crack in the glass, covered by a piece of tape in the photo. I put a small bid on it anyway. Suddenly it was 'sold', even though the auction showed several days remaining, and it went for a few dollars over my small initial bid!

3) The last one I bid on, a true 'user' (glass looks OK but outside is rusted and crappy looking) is suddenly climbing steadily, my bid of $130 won't fly.

I don't do much on eBay, I can see why most of you deride it. I had looked in the classifieds here, did not see a VF like this.

I guess I don't have a question here, I am just puzzled that one item went for such an insane price, while the other disappeared for a pittance, and didn't even stay up as long as it should have. Is eBay always this weird?

Randy

P.S. To tide me over, I did find a funny Kontur VF on ebay that you don't actually look through, rather you keep both eyes open and see the frame in your field of vision. Since I like to shoot this way, I will give that a try. I picked it up for $50, seems like no one was especially interested in this one.
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You might try contacting Sherry Krauter at http://www.sherrykrauter.com/
She often has odds and ends...worth a try.
 
sebastel said:
as you already got one, what a wonderful finder that is!

:)

cheers,
s.
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Thanks anyway sebastel. As it is I now have the SBOOI replacement on the way, plus the Kontur finder I just received. To my relief, the Kontur does work on the IIIf, just a little bulky. I think it will suit me well. (Michael must have run into a different model, his would not allow the speeds dial to raise.)

Randy
 
zauhar said:
Thanks anyway sebastel. As it is I now have the SBOOI replacement on the way, plus the Kontur finder I just received. To my relief, the Kontur does work on the IIIf, just a little bulky. I think it will suit me well. (Michael must have run into a different model, his would not allow the speeds dial to raise.)

Randy
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Being a Nikon rangefinder guy, I'd never heard of the finder you were referring to and had to look it up on ebay to see what it looks like.
Yes, they are expensive, but I'll bet yours could have been repaired by removing the old foot or at least filing what was left of it away and then attaching a block of epoxy to the bottom and shaping it with small files or a dremmel to the correct shape.
Now that would be a fun project.
 
JonWNC said:
I find that if I am looking for something that seems to have a large audience on USA eBay, I will look on other eBay sites....
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I'm in Australia, and my ebay searches were, through no deliberate choice that I can remember, here and the USA. Then I tried world wide and found that there are lots of nice things for sale in Germany. I got my Leica finder there after having to send one grossly misdescribed back to the USA (even though the vendor has 63350 feedbacks at 99.6% positive.)

You might have to include in your search the German word for what you're looking for. In this case, viewfinder = Sucher.
 
rbsinto said:
Being a Nikon rangefinder guy, I'd never heard of the finder you were referring to and had to look it up on ebay to see what it looks like.
Yes, they are expensive, but I'll bet yours could have been repaired by removing the old foot or at least filing what was left of it away and then attaching a block of epoxy to the bottom and shaping it with small files or a dremmel to the correct shape.
Now that would be a fun project.
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My plan was to see if a jeweler can solder/braze the foot back on. I had offered it to YouXin, but he said it was not even useful for parts.

Thanks!

Randy
 
A quick note relative to this discussion:

Several folks have mentioned that they can sell items for higher prices on the Bay than here on RFF classifieds. That may be, but my plan is to do as much transaction (buy or sell) on RFF or my not-so-local rangefinder-friendly camera shop. I've noticed we (RFFers) are really not that big of a crowd -- worldwide! I really like the idea of keeping gear amongst us and if I purchased an item for a reasonable price, why not keep that "benefit" in our community if I decide to sell it? Just an opinion (and perhaps a philosophy).

Not anti-Bay, just community minded. Besides, 3 out of the 5 Bay purchases I've made over the last few years have been serious disappointments. In a few words: they were NOT "in great condition" or "everything works great" or my favorite: "in mint condition".
 
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