Your Worse Ebay Nightmare?

[carl_klitzke]

It could be worse. You could have bid on this roll of ektacolor paper:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170129717836&sspagename=ADME:B:RTQ:US:1

 

One of my co-workers was practically rolling on the floor this afternoon when I showed it to him.

 

CRK

[mark_satola1]

"Apparently, replecement parts for that lens don't exist anymore, without cannibalizing

another one."

 

Sounds like you got a "chrome" lens. The newer "black" lenses can still be serviced by

Mamiya at their factory.

 

The sad thing is that so much of what we used to find in used camera departments, etc.,

has now disappeared from the display cases and is available only online. Just try and hunt

down anything Graflex without resorting to eBay.

 

My own experiences have been mixed. A 4x5 Crown Graphic I got at a more than

reasonable price turns out to have been shipped from the factory (way back in the late

1950s) without a rangefinder ever having been installed. Everything else works fine, and I

have what is basically a lightweight field camera, though that was not my initial desire.

 

I also got a Rapid-Omega 200 outfit with three lenses and two backs from a photographer

in California for about $500, and it's a pristine beauty, performing well now for 2 years.

Smaller things have been fine, mostly, but now I find myself gravitating toward dealers

like KEH for vintage gear, or occasionally finding things in refurbished shape (usually

abandoned by the owner) at camera repair places, which are often willing to sell at a good

price just to move it off the premises. That's how I got my Mamiya C330S; which, coupled

with a 55mm lens from KEH, is getting a lot of use these days.

[jeffpolaski]

eBay is the ultimate free marketplace.

[William Kahn]

"The newer "black" lenses can still be serviced by Mamiya at their factory."

 

Nope, it's a black lens, and it was the folks at Mamiya who told me no parts were available.....

[hjoseph7]

Worst experience with eBay ? I think I only had a couple which I can't blame on an over excited index finger. I made some purchases without reading the description of the item therefore I got burned.

 

Other than that one item which the seller described as refurbished was actually a peice of junk(JOBO CPE2) that probably the seller glued together so that it would appear to be functional. It fell appart in a bout 2 weeks, glue and all.

 

Another item I purchased from eBay was a 'photography business plan' selling for about $19. The seller did nothing but cut and paste some articles which he got from a book in the library.

 

One more item wich I will never forget was a book on Cibachrome processing which took about a month and a half to arrive. My over excited index finger got the best of me on that purchase also, in that the seller had a bunch of recent negative feedbacks.

 

When I finally got in contact with the seller inquiring about my book she kept giving me excuses such as her 9 year old was sick with the flue, her car broke down, her husband borrowed the car and never came back etc etc.

[tonybeach]

"...her husband borrowed the car and never came back"

 

No kidding, wouldn't you?

[joemig]

I bought a Tamrac camera bag through Ebay. The description said "Everything included", but when I got it, the bag was empty. No dividers inside, which pretty much made it useless as a camera bag. I contacted the seller to ask if he had the dividers and he immediately was antagonistic and said basically that it was my own fault for not asking him in advance if the dividers were missing. I said that "everything included" usually means, well, you know.. EVERYTHING is included. He refused to refund me, or help me in any way, and then left ME bad feedback even though he got the money and all I got was a fairly expensive but useless empty bag.