Buying Gear on Ebay

[loves_guitar]

Hey guys,

Since this is my first post, I must begin with a 'hey' to all.

I've just seriously got into photography in the last year, and I'm wanting to amass a collection of good gear.

What is your opinion of buying gear through Ebay? What would you not be scared of buying there? What would you be scared of buying? How about overseas sellers (I'm in Canada, eh.).

Thanks, and I look forward to posting more often.

 

[SonicME64]

Welcome, I'm rather new myself.

I've had good experiences buying gear from eBay, but it can be a crapshoot. I've bought two camera bodies, one lens, and some filters. The two camera bodies and the lens were just as described and have worked flawlessly for me thus far. The filters were kind of so so, a couple of them were pretty beat up (it was a lot of 7 filters), but the ones I wanted in the first place were in decent condition.

I dunno, I guess all I can say, is ask questions... be informed as to the equipment you're looking to purchase, and know what condition you're willing to accept. Also, keh.com sells used equipment for really decent prices (depending on what you're looking for of course... a Leica is going to be expensive any way you slice it, etc.).

I've had little experience with overseas sellers, but the ones I have dealt with have been pleasant.

Hope that answers most of your questions, and welcome!

 

[bjames]

Hi there, and welcome to the forums. I've bought several camera accessories on ebay (including a telephoto lens), but no cameras. I've had a good experience with my purchases, but it's always a good idea to look over customer ratings and reviews before buying from a particular seller. If they have a 98, 99%+ customer rating, I don't think you have much to worry about.

 

[eddiesimages]

I agree. I haven't bought much camera equipment, but I have bought a good bit of other things on ebay. I always look at the customer rating, how many items the person has sold, the feed back given by others and then pay with pay pal.

 

[niccig]

I've bought an SLR, digital p&s, lens, bulk film loader as well as some other stuff on ebay. The only problem I has was with the SLR - the shutter didn't fire (understandable, it was an old minolta x700), but the seller accepted the return and refunded the price of the camera and shipping. Like people have said in other posts, just be sure to check the seller feedback and ask questions. If the seller doesn't respond to my questions, I don't bid, cause I figure they'll be annoying to deal with when the transaction is made. I also tend to avoid those businesses that sell people's stuff on ebay for them, since they rarely know much about photo equipment or if it works properly.

 

[Squirt]

I have purchased a few things on ebay and would agree with Bjames CHECK the sellers RATING I got ripped off once on ebay from some one without a lot of good ratings(the item was not as described and poorly packaged). It turned out through paypal I got my money back but was stuck with the return shipping. Other than that I'd say there's some good deals on ebay.

 

[ksmattfish]

I've bought a bunch of photo gear off Ebay, and only ever had one problem. I always check the ratings, and rarely purchase items from outside the country.

Ironically the one time I did have a problem it was with a Canadian seller. He had great ratings (99.2% positive), but misidentified a camera accessory in his auction. When I got it, and realized it wasn't the part they said it was, I assumed that they just made a mistake, and weren't trying to rip me off. I tried to work something out, but they were a complete asshole about it, and refused to accept any responsibility or work anything out. I tried to get some help from Ebay, but apparently all they can do is send emails, and that accomplishes nothing. It was never resolved, and eventually I just had to forget it.

By the way, that seller's ID was "the phoenix hut". Buyer beware; either he doesn't know much about photo gear, or he deliberately scammed me.