...anyone got dooped on buying cameras from russia?...

[err]

Hey everyone.. i am feeling like a sucker right now. I have not

recived the camera i bought from ebay yet. Its comming from the

former USSR. Freakin A! anyone else had this problem before?

[anthony_bez]

"Freakin A! anyone else had this problem before" I don't know Gregg what are the symptoms?

[err]

well, they said it will take up to 2 weeks. its already been 3. and i did not pay through paypal. its through another site like paypal (i hope)

[SCL]

Contact the seller and check when and how it was sent and whether there is tracking. The process isn't that hard. Recognize that international postal systems for parcels aren't Fedex.

[anthony_bez]

Gregg, My joke missed?

 

Seriously, I live in England and have bought ebay items from Russia and had no problems. Bear in mind delivery can take 5 or 6 weeks. I have purchased from America and items can often take this long also.

 

Is the seller responding to your emails? If not you should contact ebay? If he does not reply you can claim your money back from them. There is a limit depending on the listing.

 

It looks like you paid with your credit card you can also make a claim from them if necessary.

 

Anyway good luck, I hope it works out for you.

[vuk_vuksanovic]

i'm in canada and have made almost as many russian purchases as american ones over the past couple of years. no trouble with the russians; 2 problems with americans.

[james_lai]

Keep track of ebay's and the payment site's time limits for filing a complaint. Depending on the price of the camera you bought, their dispute resolution processes may not be of any use to you (they have deductibles), but as a last resort you have 90 days to post negative feedback.

 

I had one bad experience where the seller waited over a month to ship the camera, then sent me a dented one that had obviously been dropped. The seller ignored me until I posted a negative feedback for him. Be prepared though, you may end up with the seller's retaliatory feedback on your record.

[rs1]

I agree with James and Stephen. On one of my items, the two weeks turned out to be two months but it arrived in good shape. I guess sometimes delays like that happen, so contact the seller but don't give up hope on it just yet. I have bought a total of four times from Russia/Ukraine and only once did I have a delay.

[err]

Rajiv, how long was the regular shipping time besides the one that took 2 months?

[Brian]

I bought once from the FSU on eBay, and the delivery time was about 3 weeks. I got a good deal from the seller. If you apply the same criteria to Russian eBayers as to any others, you will be OK. There are plenty of crooks on eBay, but they're not particularly in one geographic location.

[stemked]

I have never had an issue purchasing camera equipment from Russians or other former USSR countries. I can't say that about other parts of the world, including the US (where I live), South Africa, and Australia.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Before 9/11 Once I got a Russian body lens and case in 7 business days, the money was sent in a letter. The mean time then was say 2 weeks for the Yak string box to arrive, In a couple of cases it took 3 weeks, once 5 weeks. Just after 9/11 postal rates went up due to security, and many times the transit times got longer. With my last transaction last summer, it took 3 weeks. <BR><BR>In sending Ebay items from the USA to Canada by USPS, sometimes th packages fall into a black hole in Canada, like they are out hunting, or playing hockey. The USPS iste may say 5 to 7 days, we usually double this time with our messages to customers. Sometimes the packages get their 2 months later, mostly the transit time is 3 days to 30 days, all over the map. With UPS the page gets there way quicker, but the Canadian gets stuck with a huge duty sometimes, even where it should'nt have been applied.,<BR><BR>In one instance before 9/11; I bought a Russian lens on Sunday night from a chap in Texas, and used Paypal, with a positive balance. The same night I bought another zorki 3C with Jupiter-8 and case for 12 bucks from the Ukraine; and mailed of a 20 dollar bill monday morning. Shipping was 6 bucks back then, the 2 extra a tip basically. I got the camera the wednesday after the next wednesday in California, 7 business days, a rocket transaction. I got the bad jupiter-9 from the Texas chap one week later. He said he had to allow paypal to clear, abit bogus<BR><BR>The Zorki3c came with a free lighmeter, I bought alot from the same person.<BR><BR>

[dan flanders]

Despite a lot of bitching to the contrary PapPal is the only on-line payment facility that offers any manner of protection to the buyer. BankCard is sencond. Other systems including International MO allow the seller to claim the funds as soon as he receives the chit. I have used PayPal with the FSU sellers and have had excellent results except for frequent long waits.

[leicaglow]

I bought a piece of equipment from Canada and it took almost 3 weeks to recieve, and I know they shipped it right away. Other times I've received stuff in two days. I hear that receipt of foreign goods is one of the major reasons for negative feedback on ebay.

[josphy]

You might email the seller and just double-check that they sent it to you, but it can definitely take what seems like forever to get packages from the former USSR in my experience. I wouldn't freak out for at least a couple more weeks.

[err]

Did you pay through paypal (for canada)? or did you send the a chashier's check?

[rs1]

Gregg,<br>

All the other items took between 14-18 days to reach.

[waite_watson]

I've bought lots of stuff from the FSU through eBay.I've had no problems.I've waited up to 6 weeks for one to arrive though.I wouldn't worry just yet.Be patient.

[err]

guess am just too excited..

[graham john miles]

I'm sure it will be fine. I've no doubt you might also be able to purchase a variety of post-cold war weapons of mass destruction and a nuclear sub or two. Are they on ebay yet?

[err]

nah. not YET. i would love how to get one of those MIGs thou. Traffic and gas prices lately are just ridiculous..

[kelly_flanigan1]

When I bought most of my Russian LTM cameras on Ebay; Paypal didnt work with any of these Russia or former Russian federation countries. The really bizzare thing was getting a US postal office international money order required a travel to a bigger city, <b>and it cost as much as the camera I was buying.</b>; assuming the wear on teh car was nothing, and gasoline free! The gambit is you pay the local BIG postoffice the cost of the transaction plus MO fee, and fill out a mess of forms. Then you pray they transcribe it to another form correctly, and electronically forward the info to saint louis Missori, that then prints out money order, that THEY mail away to the seller. The address of the ebay seller wouldnt even fit on their lifer dinky form, so I abandoneded this plan after traveling 20 miles to a big post office who would actually take an order for an international money order. This whole gambit seemed like a convolved jackass waste of time, with a doubling of the items cost, so here I just use cash for stuff under say 60 bucks, more for folks I have delt with before.