At 01:42 PM 7/8/01 -0400, Johnny Johnson wrote:
At 09:53 AM 7/8/01 -0700, Gary Reese wrote:
I use the lens
anyways. Beats writing a frighteningly revealing condition description
on eBay and taking pennies on the dollar.
What's with the sellers of photo equipment on eBay anyway?
[snip]
Am I just on a run of bad luck or is this typical of eBay photo purchases?
While I'm no "booster" of eB*y, it sounds more like a run of bad luck than
anything. In a number of cases where I've not been satisfied with either
the descriptions or further e-mail communication, I've requested the
seller's phone number so that I can talk to them "live," as it were. If
they sound at all evasive or uncertain on the phone, or worse, if they
simply refuse to reveal their phone number to me, I don't bid, regardless
of how badly I think I want the item. There's no substitute for a tingling
"spidey-sense" when talking to a potential seller, and I've had my
spidey-sense tingle a couple of times, that's for sure. And the few
dollars you'll probably spend on long-distance is a lot better than the
hundreds you can spend on a dud deal. Got some of my best deals after
talking to people on the phone -- 90/2.0 and 21/2.0, for example, both in
fabulous condition and for prices I couldn't hope to touch in the local
market (or from KEH, for that matter).
I settled on this technique after purchasing a 200/4.0 Zuiko from a seller
in Montreal, Canada, who described the item as "flawless" and
"perfect." (This was my first eB*y purchase, by the way.) Either he had
very bad eyesight, was incredibly lazy in trying to determine the lens'
condition, or he was lying through his teeth. It came with the front and
rear elements covered in a thick layer of dust, and when carefully cleaned
off using canned air and methanol, revealed severe delamination of the
coating on the rear element and a 1mm wide physical pit (from a point
impact) on the front element. It was also an SC silver-nosed version, when
he specifically stated that it was MC and black-nosed.
Needless to say, I was pissed, and the seller's attitude towards me in
e-mail was "tough sh*t, pal." I re-sold it on eB*y with an honest
description and took a bath on it (over $100.00 U.S. loss). I also
blacklisted the seller, who has been active ever since, selling a variety
of camera equipment. I suspect he's flipping equipment that he finds at
garage sales, flea markets, etc.
**HEAVY SIGH** Live and learn...
Garth
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|