Banning the term "Minty" from used camera descriptions

[ljwest]

<blockquote>

<p>You're not safe buying off auctions anywhere, unless a dealer backs it. You have to read the full descriptions, and they often aren't correct. Most at shopgoodwill say untested...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Maybe I've just been careful, or blessed, or just plain lucky, but I haven't had any issues with anything I have bought from a Shopgoodwill auction, almost exclusively vintage Minolta cameras and lenses, and I've managed to pick up a few gems very inexpensively. No, the folks who prepare the listings are not camera experts in the slightest, but neither do they claim to be. If one is looking for a perfect example of something that can go out on a paying job as soon as you get it, this is not the place for one to be shopping!</p>

<p>Shopgoodwill is a clearing house site for all Goodwill stores and/or regions to sell their stuff under a single banner on the world wide web. Each location has different people with different knowledge of cameras (and other things!), and each sets their own shipping and handling charges. Some are better at describing cameras and gear than others are.</p>

<p>Most will say "untested", usually because it does not have the required battery. I can't blame them, as camera batteries go for anywhere from $3 to $15 each, and they can't be out there buying new ones periodically, nor know what zinc-air battery replaces what mercury battery...</p>

<p>But, if one is looking for older gear, that probably has been sitting, unused, in a closet for 20 years or more, so long as one is :</p>

<ul>

<li>patient (if it's getting too expensive, let it go. There will be another...<em>Especially</em> Minolta X-700s! :-),</li>

<li>careful (if it looks to good to be true, it is)</li>

<li>reads the entire listing (Assuming you can get past the description of a long lens that reads "HOYA UV 58mm")</li>

<li>looks at all the (often dodgy) photos</li>

<li>checks the shipping charges (considering everything they sell was donated, some centers seem to like making even more money on the shipping & handling!)</li>

<li>and doesn't get "I-gotta-have-it-itis" at the end of an auction.</li>

</ul>

<p>one can pick up a bargain or two, or at least get a good deal.</p>

<p>Shopgoodwill frequently sells items in "kits". If it all came in a bag (camera or otherwise), it may all get sold as a lot, rather than individual items. So even though the camera may have been run over, the telephoto zoom in the "kit" may be worth the bid.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>...and I still see them go for more than KEH charges for a working one, though sanity is slightly more in evidence than last year. The site finally <em>didn't</em> manage to sell a dead MD-12.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not really Goodwill's fault, though. It can happen anywhere. Maybe it's the influence of the so-called "Hipsters" with more money than knowledge looking to be "cool"...</p>

[mark_medin]

<p>They won't test a camera that requires AA batteries, either (except the store in/near Seattle, which tests them all). They also don't know what fungus looks like. I've seen enough that I'd have to have a hands-on before bidding on anything of value. I also see items bid to the moon often. The Minolta Miniflex might have been worth the $1K+ price it got, but many are fetching more than what you can get it for at a dealer. Shipping/handling prices are pretty awful at some locations, too.</p>

[mark_medin]

<p>Followup. An example of shipping/handling is the Omaha goodwill site. They charge 5% of the sale price as "handling". So a $20 lens will cost you $1 handling, and a $500 lens (yes, I've seen 'em), $25, before shipping costs.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>You are right, minty is used a lot and does really annoy me. Attention sellers...don't use minty if you want to sell me a camera! Rare is well flogged, and the word hipster is creeping in too I'm afraid.</p>

[marc_bergman1]

<p>Whenever I see a post by Rick Drawbridge I think of minty cameras. So there are exceptions to every rule.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>In my recent experiences with fairly recent "modern film cameras" I have found examples on KEH for less than the going prices on eBay, as a rule. Many of the items I have bought from KEH are graded "bargain".<br /> As a rule, these are closer to "minty" than anything I have seen on most eBay sales using the term.</p>

<p>Other Mother eBay warning signs :</p>

<ul>

<li>"I don't know anything about cameras, but ..."</li>

<li>"It works, but no return..."</li>

<li>"The shutter speeds sound about right..."</li>

<li>"Slight ding on body..."</li>

<li>"A really rare Praktica camera ..."</li>

</ul>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>JDM, I recently saw all the above in an ad for a Praktica FX2!</p>

[randyjay]

<p>To me, "Minty" best describes a Urnal Cake.</p>

[mark_medin]

<p>Ebay items have been like that since the first time I got a dud camera in '97 (a Pen-D2). Deceptive words for item from seller, a few deceptive (or fuzzy) photos. For any photo item that uses multiple batteries, also remember, if there's not a picture of the battery chamber there may be a reason for it. I got burned on an SB-15, but it cost $1+shipping, so I didn't bother with return/escalation. I managed to get it working again without much investment of time.</p>

[simon_bruxelles]

<p>My ebay experience is just the opposite. Just last week I bought a genuinely "minty" black OM1N for £14 because the only description was "camera not tested". Many sellers are genuinely ignorant and others are rightly wary because there is always some excuse an unscrupulous buyer can use to justify a charge back. Fortunately unscrupulous sellers are not always so smart. When I bought an OM2 with a non-functioning meter that had been described as in "good condition" the seller refused the return despite stating clearly in his description that he accepted them. Fortunately ebay refunded my money. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Tony, I saw what must have been the same ad -- one of the stimuli for my post :)</p>

<p>Out of several hundreds of purchases of old cameras, lenses, and such on eBay, I've only had to trigger the eBay/PayPal protection once, and I was paid promptly by them for the item and eBay paid the postage (confirmed delivery) back to the original vendor. Most people are surprisingly (to me) honest and fair - and careful examination of the offer and the record can filter out a lot of the "bad 'uns"</p>

[railphotog]

<p>I do a lot of looking on a local online flea market type site. What I see misused all the time is "brand new" (or bran new). "Brand new, only used it for three months....". And also the listings that offer a "blue Sony" camera with no other info.</p>

<p> </p>