Hi, Julia,

Ask questions if you're not sure about everything.  If it just says "seems
to work well", or something vague like that, write the vendor and ask
specifically if the meter works, for instance.  Ask if all the shutter
speeds work, how many rolls he's put through the camera, if it was his, or
if he's "selling for a friend".  If his answer is vague, or not forthcoming,
beware!  Ask if the lenses have fungus, or spots or haze on them.  Not that
all vendors are trying to screw you, but many people selling camera
equipment don't know much about them, for instance, if they are selling from
an estate or something.

Know what you're bidding for, what the value is, and don't get sucked into
bidding wars.  If you don't get what you want, another one will come up
sooner or later.

Check the guy's feedback.  Not that you should never buy from anyone with
negative feedback, or no feedback at all, but at least know what you're
getting into, and adjust your maximum bid accordingly.

Personally, I don't buy anything expensive on eBay - so far my biggest
purchase has been around $60US.  Remember, eBay is Caveat Emptor.  If you
get screwed, your remedies are limited - yeah, you can give the guy bad
feedback, complain to eBay and get them removed as a vender (so they can log
on as a different user, and sell some more).  At least if you don't spend
much, you can't lose much, either.

That being said, you can get some great bargains there - I have, and so have
many others on this list.

regards,
frank

"J. Gerace" wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> Really enjoying the conversations here. Just reading a lot right now.
>  But....you all got me thinking about buying lenses and stuff, so I've
> been checking out E-Bay.  There's a couple of K1000 packages that come
> with a few lenses (that seem nice to me) and a SP1000 with a few as
> well.  Would it be reasonable to try for one of these? Probably the K's,
> because of the lens mount...plus, then I'll have a spare body.....
>
> I was wondering too if you all wind up bidding against eachother? : )
> Oh, and I saw an LX body for sale too......
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julia
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fears it is true." -J. Robert
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