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Ordering Lens from Ukraine?


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I got a Kiev body from a Ukraine eBay seller  back in January.  It took a few weeks but it came and was in good shape, but I couldn't guarantee the same results for you.

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You should be right, Russia and Ukraine have agreements on certain things, mail delivery is probably one of them, grain shipments is another.

Random missiles would be a concern, but it's unlikely one would fall on your Jupiter lens. I received one of those Optec extinction light meters in late March, ordered in early March. It seemed a normal Ebay transaction to me, no problems with it.

Make sure the item has tracking, and generally cover yourself and your purchase.

 

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I'll give it a go. I was curious about mail delays and custom delays. I would think more scrutiny would be given to packages coming out of a war zone. Sending the family jewels to safety in America! By the way, I got a Cannon lens from Japan last week. Ordered at 1030pm our time in Virginia on Tuesday night. It arrived by 3pm Thursday. According to Fedex Tracking it was on their plante bound to Memphis within 9 hours of me buying it on Ebay.  $29 shipping from Japan vs $19 for regular UPS from stuff I get from KEH in Atlanta.  Of course I am sure the selling price of the lens included a cushion to cover any cost over the $29 they put on shipping.  Lens was as described so I was very happy. 

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I did twice recently and both experience good. You do need to be patient and wait for like 3-4 weeks. But if you buy from reputable vendors (with a lot of feedbacks and close to 100% positive), you should be fine.

1) Jan 2023: Contax RF to Nikon Z focusing helicoid adapter with a free Jupiter-8M throw in. Took almost 4 weeks, arrived in excellent condition. I'm still using it happily today. 

2) October 2022: Kiev 4A + Jupiter -8M 50/2 lens in black. Shipping time was about 3 weeks. I found the shutter was not working properly, although the lens was fine. Asked for a refund, it was promptly issued, And I only need to return the kit to their New Jersey depot.

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I bought a 16.5 cm f/4.5 Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar on ebay from a highly rated seller in Ukraine. Ordered on March 28 with understanding that delivery would be about April 27. It arrived early, April 22. It's a nice example and I'm happy. Tracking number was provided. Tracking seemed to show that much of its travel time was, understandably, spent getting out of Ukraine.

David

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I'd imagine a seller from Ukraine is as dependent on their eBay reputation as any seller, and would be interested aligning shipping expectations to avoid bad ratings.

I think the seller would be the best person to ask - he or she probably knows exactly what is happening.

Early during the war, I heard mail was routed by ground transport to Poland, to avoid the risk of using planes. That would cause some delays, but I don't know the situation is now.

Niels
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On 5/2/2023 at 11:41 AM, kmac said:

received one of those Optec extinction light meters in late March, ordered in early March. It seemed a normal Ebay transaction to me, no problems with it.

I forgot that I have another item in the mail at the moment from Ukraine, ordered on the 25th April. The tracking shows "In transit" (which can mean anything, but it at least tells me that the seller received a tracking number and the package was sent, and just maybe it has exited Ukraine already.) It's a box of 18cm x 24cm B&W film sheets I'll be cutting into three's for my 3A combination back, 3 1/4" x 5 1/2"

I'll message again to update about the time it took to arrive. Presently, I'm suffering more problems with items from Japan than anywhere else.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/7/2023 at 2:35 PM, kmac said:

I'll message again to update about the time it took to arrive.

Package arrived today, took about 20 days, not bad. Again, it was a trouble free transaction and delivery from Ukraine

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