I've never figured out why people pay so much for L Lenses on ebay. Sometimes I just want to email the winners and ask them what the hell they're thinking.
Can anything bad happen if you do email them? You probably wouldn't get a response, only the satisfaction of knowing that their head is banging against the wall.
This isn't an issolated incident with canon glass - I suspect Canon mark it up, and then some shops mark it back down again (or ship grey imports which I'm totally fine with). When I was after the 55mm 1.8 prime every single one (and there were perhaps 3 a day in the UK) was >£60+postage. In then end got one new for £55 all in! (and these were all the MkII version - the MKI does go higher as it's barrel is metal).
canon glass, schneider lenses speed graphics ...
people often pay more on ebay than buying either new or from a rep. dealer ... i guess they gots ebay-fever!
I've been trying for ages to get hold of a piece of toast with a picture of the Virgin Mother on it, but those newbie idiots keep running the price up to stupid levels.
Seems to be normal sometimes, uninformed buyers, of course so many of the stores list that a lens retails for a certain amount, unfortunately the amount they list is not street price, but full manufactures suggested retail price, which is always far more than it really sells for.
what's really funny is to check out what else they have bought, for instance the guy on this link that bought the lens $200 over, also recently purchased an almost $1200 portable heart defibrillator. Go figure.