ebay for lenses.

ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe

Joe wrote:
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe

I've bought several secondhand lenses (only low end of the market,
though) from private (UK) sellers with no problems. Despite all the
stories that make the news, the vast majority of eBay sellers are
honest and helpful. However, I should say that I've never e-bought
anything really expensive where fraud is possibly more tempting.

Chris

"Joe" wrote in message
...
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe


I'd avoid sellers who claim to be selling it on behalf of a friend or
relative, and who know nothing about photography themselves. Those types of
sellers are most likely to be trying to put some distance between themselves
and deficient products.

I also avoid all lenses that have dented filter threads--especially the ones
where the seller says that it should have no effect on the images. Such
lenses were probably dropped, and there is a good chance that the elements
may have been decentered.

Finally I avoid lenses with the word "mint" in their headline, and then
there are comments in the text portion that describe flaws. If a lens is
"mint" or close to it, there should be no fine print to the contrary.

I've bought some excellent lenses on eBay, with one exception, and I've
saved a lot of money, even with the "dud." Just use common sense, be on the
lookout for inconsistencies in the descriptions, and pay attention to how
long the seller has been a member, and what his feedback looks like. And be
prepared for an occasional disappointment. If you are the kind of person
that would lose sleep over something like that, you'd be better off going
with a retailer, paying the fair market value, and getting a warranty or
trial period.

Remember, you're buying used gear, and even honest sellers may not always be
aware of hidden deficiencies in the merchandise.

Hello All,

I bid on a Nikkor lens was not successful, but received an e-mail saying
that I had a "second chance". I pursued the SC and got to the point of
sending the money, it turned out to be a weekend and finding a place to
"western union" using my credit card was not possible. So I called WU and
was told in no uncertain terms, that even though the seller said he had to
do such and such a thing to guarantee shipping of the lens, WU told me all a
person has to do is produce ID at the counter, nothing else is required to
receive money.

I was advised to call E-Bay security, which I did, and both of the persons I
talked to on the phone said the transaction sounded like fraud to them. So
I forwarded all the e-mail traffic I had received from the seller to the
e-bay fraud e-mail account , turned out it was fraud, and only researching
it all out did I save myself loosing one thousand dollars.

It's buyer beware on e-bay. The only recourse you have is using their
pay-pal service and paying extra for the "insurance part of the
transaction". Don't get me wrong, I have purchased on e-Bay before and
gotten what I won, I however, will never do a "second chance" because the
odds are it's a rip-off.

There is a local free group in many cities called "Craigslist". I posted
the type of Nikkor lens I wanted and received an e-mail the next day from
someone who had the lens. I agreed to meet him after he sent me pictures of
the lens, and the serial number. I paid his price once I met him and saw
the lens. It has turned out to be a great lens, and my purchase and his
sale worked out for both of us.

I would try that avenue if at all possible. www.craigslist.com should get
you there.

MontyX


"Joe" wrote in message
...
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe

"Joe" wrote in message
...
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe

Some people pay far more than retail out of ignorance I suppose. Others get
good bargains. Still others get products which don't work. It all
depends..
Jim

I have bought and sold $1000s of stuff on eBay, including my complete camera
setup, which I bought 1 piece at a time. I've had 1 bad transaction out of
400-450 in which I lost money for a $40 item. Yeah it sucks any time you get
ripped off, but overall eBay has been very good for me both buying and
selling.

There are a couple red flags for eBay though, NEVER send money by Western
Union! Like Monty said, there is no traceability, and Western Union assumes
no liability for lost money due to these scam transactions. If someone
doesn't take the time to set up a PayPal account to sell on eBay, then they
don't want to sell their item, or they are scamming. It is as simple as
that. I realize there are several countries that are not able to set up
PayPal accounts, but do you really want to buy your $500 lens, or whatever,
from a person in a country where they get paid $3 a day? I'm not saying this
to be mean to the people of these countries, but for the vast majority of
cases, these people can not afford these high dollar items, and they are
most likely scams.

That said, there are a lot of good sellers on eBay, and some crappy ones
too. Just be careful buying no name, or off brand items. There is a lot of
junk getting moved on eBay, but there are also a lot of very respectable
sellers who also have store fronts.

Chris

"Monty X" wrote in message
...
Hello All,

I bid on a Nikkor lens was not successful, but received an e-mail saying
that I had a "second chance". I pursued the SC and got to the point of
sending the money, it turned out to be a weekend and finding a place to
"western union" using my credit card was not possible. So I called WU and
was told in no uncertain terms, that even though the seller said he had to
do such and such a thing to guarantee shipping of the lens, WU told me all
a
person has to do is produce ID at the counter, nothing else is required to
receive money.

I was advised to call E-Bay security, which I did, and both of the persons
I
talked to on the phone said the transaction sounded like fraud to them.
So
I forwarded all the e-mail traffic I had received from the seller to the
e-bay fraud e-mail account , turned out it was fraud, and only researching
it all out did I save myself loosing one thousand dollars.

It's buyer beware on e-bay. The only recourse you have is using their
pay-pal service and paying extra for the "insurance part of the
transaction". Don't get me wrong, I have purchased on e-Bay before and
gotten what I won, I however, will never do a "second chance" because the
odds are it's a rip-off.

There is a local free group in many cities called "Craigslist". I posted
the type of Nikkor lens I wanted and received an e-mail the next day from
someone who had the lens. I agreed to meet him after he sent me pictures
of
the lens, and the serial number. I paid his price once I met him and saw
the lens. It has turned out to be a great lens, and my purchase and his
sale worked out for both of us.

I would try that avenue if at all possible. www.craigslist.com should get
you there.

MontyX


"Joe" wrote in message
...
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.

Joe

I have just opened a new camera store at http://dhcameras.com We also
sell accessories.

Lenses have not yet been listed but if you can provide me the details
of the type you are looking for I would be happy to send you a quote,
for a new one.

Hope this helps.

Doug Hogue
http://www.dhcameras.com

"Joe" wrote in message
...
ebay for lenses.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail. There are
plenty available, that's for sure. I expect there is a cost to buying
on ebay. No warrantee as well as not knowing if you are getting
someone else's broken or damaged stuff.

How has your results been purchasing lenses from ebay

I have only bought books from sellers on ebay, nothing else.



As others have indicated, you need to do a lot of research. Especially if
you are spending upwards of $1000, watch prices for a few months and decide
what you want to pay and stick to it.

I just did a little surfing over on ebay for lenses and it appears
that they can be had at a bit of a discount to retail.

Really? For "marque" lenses (Canon, Nikon) a lens in good condition seems
to go for very nearly what you can buy a brand-new lens with warrantee for.
Sigmas and other third-party lenses are a bit different.

steve

"Rita Ä Berkowitz" ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote:

The *ONLY* way to get a great deal on eBay is to seek out newly listed
improperly priced "Buy It Now" auctions. These auctions generally don't
last more than a few moments after being shown in the search results when
eBay updates the search engine since they get bought up really fast. A good
time saving technique is to bookmark your search results so you can get up
to the second results with just a click. If you participate in auctions
that go full term you will *ALWAYS* pay too much for the item.

If the item is in high demand, looking for new listings is
indeed productive. But many odd items don't even sell, and
virtually *any* bid would be the high bid. On some occasions
there simply is no demand for an item that would have fetched an
obscene price two weeks ago.

Search *both* newly listed, and ending soonest.

And searching itself is an art form! Finding items that are
listed incorrectly (wrong category, mispelt names, etc) can be
very productive because the item simply won't be seen by
interested buyers.

The next step is the most crucial. Do your research and find out what the
....

Next, formulate a "delivered to your door" price that is what you are
comfortable paying and *NEVER* stray above that price. Our magic number is

*EXCELLENT* advice!

And once your own top price is known, *do not* place a bid until
the last few seconds before the listing closes. Sometimes
people get "auction fever", and keep bidding until they "win" by
having the highest bid. That is crazy.

Do *not* provide a target price for other bidders.

Place bids ~15 seconds before closing; you either have the high
bid... or it goes for too much money and you don't want it. In
either case, the idea is to prevent anyone from seeing that your
price is the highest and bidding higher just because if it is
worth that to you it must be worth a dollar more to them.

Always pay with a credit card or a credit card funded PayPal payment. If
the seller doesn't accept credit card funded payments *DON'T bid and stay
away! By all means *NEVER* send a money order, cash, or Western Union.

USPS Money Orders are not in the same league with cash and WU.

There are some extremely great deals on eBay if you don't get excited and
take your time to find them. Research and patience is the secret to these
deals. Good luck.

That pretty much nails it! Research and patience.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)