Question about eBay purchasing

[liuhao]

hi i have question regarding my current eBay purchasing of a Canon EF len, which is a EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM. maybe let me describe the whole story first.

the seller is from US with eBay membership since 2001. he has 37 100% positive feedback reviews since then. he said he is a professional photographer.

he just sold a same len on eBay. he told me he has another two same lens. if i want, he can sell one of them to me directly without going through eBay. the len is brand new but without box. he sells it bcos "I took it out of the box, put my camera in a suitcase and my lenses in a lens case. My camera was destroyed, so I'm selling the lenses. I didn't keep the box because I wasn't planning on selling it."

i ask him why he has 3 same lens. his reply is "The reason I have three is simple. I have five sets of lenses. One for fashion, wildlife, landscapes, abstract, and portrait. I have this same lens in the fashion, abstract, and portrait sets. I have one lens, a f2.0, in four of these sets. Like I said, I'm a professional."

he has given me the serial number of the len. he said he didnt wanna give me bcos the serial number can protentially be used by scammers.

he does not accept credit card (bcos it could be a stolen one as he said), only accepts cashier check.

i think he is now a bit out of patient bcos i keep asking him about the details. so what you guys think of this deal?

thank you very much.

 

[Bato]

Dealing out of Ebay is so dangerous, you no protection at all.

I have some bad exepriences in Ebay, maximum amount you can get for any item is around $200 dollars for their Fraud Claim.

Up until now I am still trying to get my refund to the fake items that was shipped to me, which was describe as 100% authentic by a 100+ positive seller rating.


It is a big gamble dude for that very expensive Item. I might bear the cost localy rather letting my money fly with out security that I can get the Item I want.

$10-$100 I can transact in Ebay other than that.. NO EBAY for me.

Well thats my opinion..

 

[Bato]

sorry I type so fast.. wrong grammar again... 2nd time for this day.

 

[hongsien]

You said he doesn't credit cards, does that include Paypal? If he accepts paypal, use that! You can always do a chargeback through your CC company if the item is not as described or not arriving. Alternatively, you can sent a wire transfer (TT or telegraphic transfer as it is called here), and in the case of not receiving the goods, you can try to do a withdrawal o fthe funds through wire (believe this is possible from the US, although some banks there have different codes for withdrawals and inserting funds, this is not possible for Europe as the bank laws there don't allow withdrawals). Recently there was one person who managed to withdraw his money back from a US bank after the good didn't arrive.

Or go to the international trading board of eBay and put your question there:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jsp?forum=31

Hong Sien

 

[liuhao]

nvm. your advise is very helpful. i feel it's a bit risky too, especially there are questions like why he has 3 same lens and box missing. maybe i can suggest him to use escrow, although i need to $15 for the service. if he doesnt accept then not deal.

thank you very much.

Originally posted by Bato
sorry I type so fast.. wrong grammar again... 2nd time for this day.

 

[liuhao]

he does not accept paypal, though i am not convinced why he does not. telegraphic transfer is interesting. let me take a look...

Originally posted by hongsien
You said he doesn't credit cards, does that include Paypal? If he accepts paypal, use that! You can always do a chargeback through your CC company if the item is not as described or not arriving. Alternatively, you can sent a wire transfer (TT or telegraphic transfer as it is called here), and in the case of not receiving the goods, you can try to do a withdrawal o fthe funds through wire (believe this is possible from the US, although some banks there have different codes for withdrawals and inserting funds, this is not possible for Europe as the bank laws there don't allow withdrawals). Recently there was one person who managed to withdraw his money back from a US bank after the good didn't arrive.

Or go to the international trading board of eBay and put your question there:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jsp?forum=31

Hong Sien

 

[hongsien]

Check this link too:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

As for the withdrawal through your bank (after you TT the funds) better check with your bank first.

Hong Sien

 

[liuhao]

thank you very much. i will ask the seller if he accepts TT.

by the way, what's the nature of cashier check? is there any protection for it?

Originally posted by hongsien
Check this link too:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

As for the withdrawal through your bank (after you TT the funds) better check with your bank first.

Hong Sien

 

[Retro]

There are charges for TT ... use Paypal or someother middle-man company.

Doesn't sound all that great to me when people only insist on cashier's cheque ... there is no protection for you (if I am not wrong)

Ditch the deal ... my 2 cents

 

[klsss]

here is some of my experience on ebay:

1 if the seller have good feedback but have not acess the account for a long time (6month or more) dont buy

2 Ask if could get fedex to pick up the lens direct ask seller to provide address n phone shippin quotation

3 try to use escrow service provided by ebay only

4 never send by western union money order

5 never trade outside ebay

6 keep all email

7 n pray hard u got a clean lens

recently i just brought a AFS 300f2.8 beautiful lens like new , n half the price in singapore

 

[hongsien]

klsss is right.

Check the feedback history, if it hasn't gotten feedback for the last 6 months or so, the account may have been hacked into.

Another thing you can do is to ask him to put the lens that you want to sell on eBay with a buy it now option, after which you will use the buy it now option to stop the auction, tell him that this way both of you are somewhat protected under eBay rules. Better to have some protection than nothing at all.

Don't think praying for it will help, but thats my personal opinion......

HS

 

[liuhao]

his feedback history is fine. last transaction is during May.

yes it's a very good idea to ask him to put the len on eBay with "buy it now". i just send him an email about this.

thank you very much.

Originally posted by hongsien
klsss is right.

Check the feedback history, if it hasn't gotten feedback for the last 6 months or so, the account may have been hacked into.

Another thing you can do is to ask him to put the lens that you want to sell on eBay with a buy it now option, after which you will use the buy it now option to stop the auction, tell him that this way both of you are somewhat protected under eBay rules. Better to have some protection than nothing at all.

Don't think praying for it will help, but thats my personal opinion......

HS

 

[rapidmax]

My two cents' worth:


You deal overseas only if you are sure about the other party. I would have no problem to trust B&H or Amazon but when it comes to individuals who do not have an established reputation then I would think twice.

You are right to ask it here so that people can feedback to you. If I were you, I would not deal. Anyway postage is sooooooooooo expensive or the time you gonna wait is soooooooooooo frustrating for cheap postage, why don't you just get a lens locally? It makes transactions more sure and it makes you going back to the seller so much convenient, trackable and easy. Besides, you are not even sure of the condition and as someone said, you do not even know what he is sending you in the end...

Come on, don't look for trouble, ditch that deal and buy local...

 

[Retro]

It is wise to ask about this matter in the CS forum, it shows that you also have some doubts and want to be sure. Just curious mate ... how much are you actually saving in terms of $ by getting this deal? (assuming everything works out fine)

I feel that if you can get it here, but have to pay a bit more, then get it locally. Really ain't worth all the hassle to get it from abroad.

Just my 2 cents ... you don't know the condition of the prodcut, you are paying with cashier's order (which is as good as cash), and you do not know the seller. You are not in control ... basically, you have no control over this transaction. Really really advise you against it ...

If you are really so hard-up to get one (no offence), then go ahead ..... but you should also be mentally prepared in case this turns out to be a con job.

 

[liuhao]

thank you very much for all of your advices.

the len he is selling is S$720. brand new with two years US warranty. free shipping. i travel to US quite frequently so the warranty makes sense to me. local shop in SG is selling $980 without gst. therefore overall quite attractive for me.

anyway he has just refused the last solution which i can acceptut it on eBay and let me "buy it now". so, he does not accept credit card, TT, escrow, paypal or eBay. only accepts cashier check directly mailing to him. there are also some questions he can not answer well, like why he got 3 same lens, why the box is missing. very possible, he could be a scamer, his perfect eBay record wont prevent him to be one. or if not, he is at least a very bad seller.

your advise make me awared of the (big) protential risk. i have decided to skip the deal.

 

[jiaxin]

personally, i had bad experience before. and if you travel over often, why not just go and pick it up, i think can bargain the price a bit, and much much more safe.

 

[fruitybix]

Originally posted by liuhao
thank you very much for all of your advices.

the len he is selling is S$720. brand new with two years US warranty. free shipping. i travel to US quite frequently so the warranty makes sense to me. local shop in SG is selling $980 without gst. therefore overall quite attractive for me.

anyway he has just refused the last solution which i can acceptut it on eBay and let me "buy it now". so, he does not accept credit card, TT, escrow, paypal or eBay. only accepts cashier check directly mailing to him. there are also some questions he can not answer well, like why he got 3 same lens, why the box is missing. very possible, he could be a scamer, his perfect eBay record wont prevent him to be one. or if not, he is at least a very bad seller.

your advise make me awared of the (big) protential risk. i have decided to skip the deal.

Yep, skip this, it is not worth it. I personally find 2 things very reprehensible about this seller, fake or real.

Even before you hand over any money, he is already exhibiting impatience. That to me is just plain lousy attitude. I could get that kind of lousy attitude here in sunny Singapore, from any of the guys at SLS, so no need to pay good money to get that from a dodgy guy halfway across the globe.

Secondly, his methods are WAY unusual. Paypal protects BOTH the seller and buyer. To opt for something like cashier's check reeks of scam.

 

[klsss]

Originally posted by fruitybix
Yep, skip this, it is not worth it. I personally find 2 things very reprehensible about this seller, fake or real.

Even before you hand over any money, he is already exhibiting impatience. That to me is just plain lousy attitude. I could get that kind of lousy attitude here in sunny Singapore, from any of the guys at SLS, so no need to pay good money to get that from a dodgy guy halfway across the globe.

Secondly, his methods are WAY unusual. Paypal protects BOTH the seller and buyer. To opt for something like cashier's check reeks of scam.

well for the impatience part , i think i could understand . to him it just a simple "yes or no" deal, if buyer show indecisive, ding dong here n there ,moreover at the end of the day recevied " i dont want to buy" i will do the same thing .

Y no paypal? for a buyer he had nothing to lose, for the seller , if buyer pay by cards through paypal , he will have to lose 6 -10% of the amount as comission . oh another thing paypal does not provide protection to either side .

buyin used staff on ebay there is alway a risk , likewise could happen in local. u must do your home work . i brought a used nikon af 300f2.8 for 1k , add some cleaning cost the lens only cost me total 1.6 including shipping the same lens sold at TCW for 4k used new 5k+

well , there still good bargain n good people in ebay just look carefully . happy hunting .

 

[hongsien]

Originally posted by klsss
oh another thing paypal does not provide protection to either side

Yes, Paypal (well not really them) provides some protection for the BUYER: buyer can (through VISA or Mastercard) do a chargeback (within 30 days)........the seller can't do anything about this.

Hong Sien