Beware of Ebay seller [edited by Moderator]

[NB23]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

That's because your such a warm and wonderful person. Always right to a fault and have a great sence of humor.

 

Be honest and tell us what you would do if a customer of yours would get back at you, 46 or 50 days later for a refund.

[johnnyj]

Well NB23, personally I would take back the lens. or whatever, and consider myself remiss in not fully knowing the condition of the item that I was selling. That's the way that I am and that's the way I've treated others throughout my life.

 

You're probably thinking that I'm blowing smoke. I'd expect that. But in actuality I've had a couple of news articles written about me because my son and I (we run the business together as close friends) have not squeezed firms and clients that owe us money. We have arranged for them to pay us over time and its been to our benefit. Not because, they eventually pay us (most of the time) and they are loyal to us as clients, but because we build friendships and trust that you can't gain by being hard nosed, bitter and arrogant.

 

I live in a world were friendship and honesty is more important then making my fortune over someone else's misfortune. And I'm not a bleading heart liberal. We carry guns in my business, go through combat training most Monday afternoons, and spend our lives in confrontation with some evil or other.

 

We consider ourselves fortunate and don't believe that you have to stick to the other guy to "win".

 

I shouldn't have bothered with this, your attitude is distructive, but even though you probably are not going to understand anything that I've said, maybe someone else will. Maybe they'll take to heart that trite saying, "...and treat your neighbor as yourself". I've found that it does have value.

 

(ooooo ... I can't wait for the response to this. I've got far too much time on my hands ... I must be between jobs.)

[NB23]

Are you, by any chance, confusing a long term business relationship based on partnership to a Dealer of used goods?

Even the worldwide dealer, the leader of the industry, BHphoto, doesn't offer a 45 days "trial, no questions asked" warranty on brand new goods (without risk, by definition), much less on used goods, and here you are wondering why you bothered answering?

[gwelland]

I think that the buyer was lucky to get a 45day period to handle the return of the sale (even though he missed it). Most stores that sell used camera equipment give you a much shorter return period ...

 

I have sympathies with the buyer because nobody likes to find out these types of issues after buying a lens. However, I also have some sympathy for the seller too - 45 days is PLENTY of time to determine whether the lens was serviceable or as described.

 

I always offer a return option for equipment I sell, although if a buyer came back to me after 45 days then it would be much different conversation than if it was 10-15 days. At some point you have to have a reasonable cut off time period.

[enboe]

Out of my eleven and a half years buying on ebay, I've had two lemons.

 

The first item was a 35/2.8 Summaron, allegedly M2 version, from a very large dealer of vintage Leica equipment. When the lens arrived, it was the older M3 version, which does not pull up the right frame lines. I had to prove to the seller via researching the year of manufacture that they had misrepresented the item before they would honor the return, and then had to ask multiple times for the refund, always dealing with another excuse of why they didn't wish to refund the money. Issue was resolved after about a month and a half. I wonder how many other people have had similar problems with that seller.

 

The second item was a 90/2.8 Elmarit. Item looked perfect, but when I sent it in for 6-bit coding, it needed another $400 in repairs to be brought up to spec. It came from an individual seller, so there was no recourse.

 

I guess the bottom line is buy in person, buy via this site's Buy & Sell section, or take a gamble.

[dkCambridgeshire]

Thanks Jaap. Do you have any experience with Will?

 

I have also been recomended DAG in the states.

 

 

You could try this UK lens specialist Optical Instruments (Balham) Ltd. - Manufacturing, Servicing and Repair of all types of Optical Instruments ... Email the problem and see what they say - they rebuilt a 50mm Summicron for me - but turnround is several weeks.

 

Cheers

 

dunk