profpb Loc: Venice, Florida

Thank you, I love to learn. Sometimes I get a bonus. While coming here to learn photography I discover much more than I ever knew about ebay. Learning has made me wealthy. And the trip goes on. Someday I may be able to afford to bid on photo gear on ebay. In the mean time I only shop at B&H and Adorama. And I only sell on ebay. I love getting rich almost as much as I love photography.

jimmix7 Loc: England

I have been watching the Nikon 70-200 vrII for weeks and some are selling for just a few hundred pounds less than brand new,, I think I would so much rather buy brand new and know its life history, I really do not trust Ebay with expensive items,, So I bought a new lens ,, then I can be sure its a good one,, Its peace of mind for me,,its worth the extra I think..
Jimmy

Grand Loc: Lebanon, Pa

I have the d3100, i didnt pay that, n mine was a new camera, go somewhere else.

2 Dog Don Loc: Virginia Beach VA

The best bet in the long run is to look at Amazon they sell a lot of "refurbrished" equipment fro B&H as well as Adorama. This stuff may just have been used as a demo or put on display at a trade show. It is really new but cannot be sold as new because the box has been opened. Example I bought a 70 to 400 Sony G (professional) lens for $1350 from Adorama via Amazon, when the new Price was $1995. It came with a very nice Case Logic case and I still got the one year warranty from Adorama. Prices on ebay for used ranged from 1500 to 1900

Calsnap Loc: Seattle/Montana/San Diego

You probably aren't going to see any more action on this one. It's possible that two people each decided they want this one at any cost and both bid $500 but it seems unlikely. I did have a girlfriend who was trying to finish out a china pattern and she would bid $500 for a $40 dish because she wanted it at any cost. She never got burned but she could have. And these guys did it within 8 minutes of each other. All 4 of the top bidders have two or zero feedbacks but checking other "body only" auctions shows a lot of low or zero feedback bidders. Seems pretty suspect though since you can do a BIN for a new one with a warranty for $250. Too bad there's no way to follow up and know the truth of the matter, or as Paul Harvey used to say ...

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

I buy a lot from Ebay, usually Buy it Now, and have gotten many good deals. I did bid on a Canon 28-135 ultrasonic lens that I wanted, I put my maximum bid at $200.00 at got it for 180.00. The lens is like new and works great, it
sells for $479 online. Just saying, sometimes Ebay works.

frankeieio Loc: Bend, Oregon

I, out of necessity (wanting to keep my marriage intact) have had to purchase most of my equipment off of ebay, the rest I got locally off of Craigslist. I have done this for camera gear, TV parts, and auto parts, only getting stiffed once on a pair of struts. Ebay reimbursed me, but I lost some time with the vehicle sitting in out driveway for an extra couple od weeks. On any item's search page, on the left hand column one can research what that item has previously sold for. I find this very helpful in determining what to bid. I also have strategies that I won't disclose here, but has resulted in me picking up a pretty much unused quality ball head for 80% of the going price, exactly one penny above a would be sniper from a KEH auction. Not that I'm Mr. Competitive or anything, but I was real tempted to send a message to the would be winner of my newly one ball head, asking if they would take a penny for their thoughts. :lol:

Kuzano

Only one way the bid could possibly jump by a huge amount like that would be if the seller had a $500 reserve on the item and some idiot actually bid the reserve, or the seller placed a "shill" bid at his own reserve.

Normally bids cannot increase in large amounts because of the incremental bid protections scheme, or two people stairstep the bid in incremental amounts from the $225 to $500 on auction pricing. That would involve a very high number of bids to show on the auction.

Suggesting here, the seller had a $500 reserve and somebody went there in one bid.

jerrylh Loc: Texas

I have bought a number of items on Ebay over the past 15 years. But I had to develop a set of "rules" to follow to not get screwed. One rule is to NEVER bid on an item when a new to ebay bidder is bidding. Many of them are not there to get a good price, just to win and in the end, price does not mean much to them. I just looked at two SX50 cameras. On one, out of 30 bids, one bidder that has only 17 transactions on ebay, has bid 11 times. His bid is now the highest. On another, a bidder that has only 11 transactions has bid 12 times out of a 25 bids. When I see this kind of pattern, I leave that item alone. Bet if I got back on these two, these low time bidders will be the winners. You can see the bidding by clicking "bids". I've never bought a camera on Ebay and think that risky. I do not sell either.

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

I would agree with this statement and take it one step further. If you look at the number of feedback on the last two bidders in Jerry's example, one had none and the other has two. When I first started in eBay, I got caught up in the bidding a time or two. I believe that is what happened here. Also ended up with multiples of an item because I didn't think I would win an auction and ended up winning both. Expensive lesson for sure. Cheers.

Kuzano

I have bought and sold, and currently have near 500 feedback at 100%. Well over 75% of my items bought or sold have been camera's with about a dozen digital and the rest film camera's.

Haven't lost a dime or a camera over a decade.

I do have some stringent requirements before buying from someone. No less than 100 feedback and nothing less than 97% positive, with a look at all the negative posts.

Selling, always with a $1 start price, a reserve for my protection, and often a very fair Buy It Now.

Love eBay enough to teach a community ed class on it.

Very good money... Film camera prices are rising for high end, and particularly Medium and Large Format.

Many career sellers on eBay with massive numbers of good feedback. That's a key to success. Money is lost by leaving people with bad feedback on your bid list-you can remove them if you like. Easy to do, just pay attention to the auction details.

Reviewing completed listings is a good price research tool.

Treat it like a business, and it pays off.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

I have been selling on EBay since the start, when I listed my first item there were total 186 photographic items listed, there were no categories yet. Since that time I have listed about 5,000 photographic items and have close to 3,000 feedbacks. I must say that the stuff I sell is more in the vintage category; I might list a mint Nikon F but nothing newer. I list all my item internationally it is 40 cents more but it is well worth it as the present day market is overseas even with the high shipping cost. It is a little more work with the customs forms. I give you an example, recently I listed a 20/4 non ai Nikkor lens for $160 and forgot to mark it internationally I had no bidders, relisted internationally and got $286. 8x10 film holders sell here around $45 in Europe over $100. There are risks, sold an antique brass lens to a customer to China for $800. it got smashed in transit, he sent me 10 JPG and it was a total loss. Since I had it fully insured I refunded the money and filled a claim at my local postal office. The first reply was this has nothing to do with us since this happened in China it had to be filed there, Chinas response was the item was insured in the USA and the insurance fee was paid there so they are not responsible, with which I agree. Anyway to make it short I got denied without any explanation why, I filled three appeals with all the bills and paper works required and all I got was “Claim denied”. So paying insurance does not pay off, I lost $800. On buying newer camera stuff I myself rely on B&H or Adorama or Cameta.

mel Loc: Jacksonville, Florida

Ebay does not allow you to bid on your own items.

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

When I shopped for a Nikon D7000 body only, I went to NikonUSA web site and looked up the authorized dealer list. I was surprised to find that Adorama was an authorized dealer. I could return the item to them for factory repairs should the need arise. The warranty was good there also.
They don't have the lowest price for the item, but they did give the best deal for a factory warrantied, US product. They are reputable.
Another source for supplies from a reputable dealer is B&H Photo in NY city. They are also dealers in several brand names. Their an older company with a reputation for dependability with the pros.
You can find it cheaper on ebay, but buyer beware! Every manner of trick can be used to get you to buy off shore products that some factories won't warranty or repair.
On entry level, low cost photo equipment, you may wish to take your chances for the value. With better quality more expensive cameras and lenses costing several thousand dollars, you may want to look at the security you have for a few dollars more.