[LargeFormat] Buying and selling on ebay

[Marco Milazzo]

Since we're off the subject of G Clarons, I changed the topic to "Buying and
selling on eBay."

I sell regularly on eBay (309 positive feedbacks), and love most
international buyers.  The majority pay quickly, and often in cash (!).
However, there are the few who ask you to falsify customs forms, or who
simply don't realize that shipping overseas is expensive and balk at the
final price.

I also buy things on eBay, and in general, I've been satisfied.  But my "Red
Flag" goes up immediately when I read weasel-words like "As far as I know,
everything works," or "The guy I bought it from said it works," etc.  Or
almost anything but a simple, declarative sentence like "It works good."
With weasel-words, if it doesn't work, they've already dug their
escape-tunnel.

My advice to buyers: browse early, when there's time to ask questions.  You
don't have to bid til the end, but know what you're bidding on.  Many
sellers don't want to mention "refund" because it invites buyer's remorse,
but many (like me) stand behind whatever they sell -- they just don't want
to say so until there's a problem.

Timing is everything.  I've gotten my best deals early Sunday afternoon, but
I won't buy on Sunday night because traffic is the heaviest and competition
is stiff.  Too many people surfing with a drink in their hands, working up
to courage to face another week.

More to the point: I had a Canadian buyer this week who asked me to mark the
customs form: "Photographic gear manufactured in USA."  He said that
Canadians do not have to pay customs duty on such gear.  Is this true?  Is
it true for any other nations?

Marco



----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph O'Neil" <joneil@multiboard.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 7:44 AM
Subject: RE: [LargeFormat] G-Claron 210mm for 8x10?


>
> >The most practical way to buy these kinds if things is used, on ebay.
The
> >G-Claron in barrel is a particular bargain.
>
> -snip-
>
>          I love ebay, shop & sell there all the time myself.  Been burnt a
> couple times on minor items (usually non-paying bidders), but if you do
> your homework,a nd trust your instincts, you do okay.
>
>          My big beef is the majority of Ebay sellers are "Ship to USA
> only."  The amount of large format items on Ebay Canada is pretty
> slim.   Every once in a while I see something I really like in the LF
> section of Ebay, I contact the seller, offer to pay in US funds, pay extra
> for shipping, and never hear back.   Even when I point out that the USA &
> Canadain post offices have reciprocal agreements to honour each other's
> money orders (so in effect, you can cash a Cdn postal money order at any
US
> Post Office in US dollars with zero hassle), I still get no reply to my
> offer to bid.
>
>          So I can imagine, if I have that much trouble, and I live only an
> hour's drive from the US boarder, what is it like for LF shooters in
> Europe, Asia, South America, etc, etc, who cannot find what they need at
> all locally, see exactly what they want on ebay, but are stymied?    While
> I realize this is mostly a USA dominated list, it can be a real problem
> outside the USA to get good equipment.  And as I said before, I am an
> hour's drive from the USA boarder, I live two hours drive form the largest
> city in Canada, and my company has a commercial UPS account, and i have my
> own customs broker, and even with that setup, whereas I should be sitting
> pretty, I run into walls all the time.  Must be a real pain in the butt
for
> many other people too.
> anytime
> joe
>
>
>
> www.oneilphoto.on.ca
> www.multiboard.com/~joneil
>
>
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