Strange prices on eBay cameras

[Sirius Glass]

Depending where in relation to Calgary that Greg is, he probably is at least as far a walk from the USA as Los Angeles is from Tijuana .

But no Tequila, one must drink Crown Royal instead.

 

[GregY]

But no Tequila, one must drink Crown Royal instead.

Crown Royal is blended swill..... Artenom 1414 tequila by choice.

 

[Kino]

I just got an offer for a buy-it-now lens that I started watching that is HIGHER than the listed price on the auction.

Weird...

 

[Marcelo Paniagua]

Well, they are offering it to you. They never said it was on special price. Probably hoping you wouldn't notice . I mean, you cant blame them for trying .

 

[88E30M50]

I've had some luck on eBay. A couple of weeks back, I picked up a box of 6 parts cameras for $29. It included an FT, FX, AL-1, T50 and 2 T70s. The AL-1 and one of the T70s really are parts only. The FT is externally rough but is pristine inside. I have another FT that is externally very nice but really is rough internally with some rust evident. The T50 is probably not recoverable but does power up with batteries. One of the T70s seems to be perfectly fine. I have not put a roll of film through it yet, but by comparison to another known good T70 that I have, it seems good. The FX was a nice find I think. That camera looks like it came out of a display case as it has zero scuffs or wear normal with use. The prism needs some attention as the foam band has attacked the silvering in a couple of spots. I'll clean that up and run a roll of film through it to see how it does. Regardless of how well it performs, it will go into the display case here. If it shoots well, I'll probably put a roll a year through it for fun.

I've also had some decent deals at my local camera shop in Indy. They are who sold the 6 pack on eBay too. Locally, I've found a really nice TLb and a couple of good FTbs, FTs. The TLb was $20 and the FT/FTbs were $10 each.

 

[John Earley]

Crown Royal is blended swill..... Artenom 1414 tequila by choice.

My preference...Elijah Craig 18 Year Single Barrel Bourbon

​

 

[Chan Tran]

There's a Canon AE-1 camera w/ the usual FD 50 1.8 lens for sale on eBay for $278, a Pentax K1000 w/ a 50 lens for $268, a Canon AE-1 Program w/ a 50 1.8 lens (Rare! the ad states) for $268.....and then there's a Nikon F5 (tested, near mint) w/ no lens for $299. Does that make any sense? 3 nice but admittedly old, consumer SLRs w/ budget lenses, and then there's that F5, which is a pro camera in every way. It looks beautiful in the pics too. All priced essentially the same. Bizarre.

And that is why I am selling my Canon AE-1 with FD 50 f/1.8 which I paid $10 for and the Pentax K1000 with the 50mm f/2 lens which I got for free but I wouldn't sell my Nikon F5 bought new in 2002 for $1950.

 

[r_a_feldman]

I just got an offer for a buy-it-now lens that I started watching that is HIGHER than the listed price on the auction.

Weird...

That is standard practice for the auctions I see with both a bid price and a BIN price. The seller is hoping that you will think the the final auction price will rise above what they are offering as the BIN price, which is often the case.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That is standard practice for the auctions I see with both a bid price and a BIN price. The seller is hoping that you will think the the final auction price will rise above what they are offering as the BIN price, which is often the case.

If possible try making an offer lower than the BIN price. Often that get me in to negotiating with the seller for a price better than the BIN.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Here is a goofy one, a Retina Reflex for $1500. One photo?

Kodak Retina Reflex III 35mm Film Camera bundle | eBay

<p>Kodak Retina Reflex III 35mm Film Camera bundle. </p><br /><p>Comes with an additional wide angle lens, tripod, and 2 genuine leather cases. </p><br /><p>Vintage RARE FIND </p>

www.ebay.com

 

[MTGseattle]

My biggest recent ebay gripe is sellers who list a given item at a pretty low price (compared to other same item listings), but then have an asinine shipping price. I ship enough stuff to know what most shipping costs are going to be. If someone is charging double, that just makes me angry.

 

[MattKing]

My biggest recent ebay gripe is sellers who list a given item at a pretty low price (compared to other same item listings), but then have an asinine shipping price. I ship enough stuff to know what most shipping costs are going to be. If someone is charging double, that just makes me angry.

Our best local source for reasonably priced packing solutions - boxes, protective packing material, printable labels, durable tape - has recently closed down. Costs for that sort of thing are not cheap! Not to mention how much time involved.
If you are going to evaluate what people are charging for shipping and handling, it would be only fair to at least notionally factor those in.

 

[wiltw]

Crown Royal is blended swill..... Artenom 1414 tequila by choice.

Only reposado? why not anejo?

 

[Craig]

My biggest recent ebay gripe is sellers who list a given item at a pretty low price (compared to other same item listings), but then have an asinine shipping price.

I saw a copper sealing washer for AC systems on ebay. It's about the size of a quarter and weighs less. Would fit in a regular letter envelope no problem. The buy it now price was 99 cents, shipping was $98.

 

[GregY]

Only reposado? why not anejo?

Whichever is in stock! Speaking of which...if i could i'd buy stocks in the company!

 

[wiltw]

I saw a copper sealing washer for AC systems on ebay. It's about the size of a quarter and weighs less. Would fit in a regular letter envelope no problem. The buy it now price was 99 cents, shipping was $98.

...so the buyer could brag, "I found this for only a buck!"

 

[reddesert]

Sellers used to inflate the shipping price because ebay charged fees as a percentage of the sale price, but not shipping. This annoyed buyers and cut into ebay's margins, so they cracked down somewhat on the practice. I do not know if they also changed their fee structure. Anyway, it is still considered an attempt to game ebay's listings and search; you can flag the item for this, if you like.

 

[kl122002]

I always ignore these over-priced listings . It gives me a feeling that they are possible of doing money-laundering or something. Just like I read from some seller's profiles they sell odd tea leaves to gain high positive % feedback profile, they are sooo dam suspicious.

 

[MattKing]

I saw a copper sealing washer for AC systems on ebay. It's about the size of a quarter and weighs less. Would fit in a regular letter envelope no problem. The buy it now price was 99 cents, shipping was $98.

If you sort your eBay sort results on price, low to high, that washer will be right at the top of the list!
Or if someone is browsing and paying attention mostly to the BIN price, they will be most likely to click on that listing.
In both cases, the tactic will have served its marketing purpose.

 

[mshchem]

Some of the sellers in Japan use warehouses for photography, climate controlled storage and shipping. I can have an item that's a couple hundred dollars shipped FedEx global priority for 35-40 dollars.
If I as an innocent citizen go to my post office, it would cost me that much to ship it 200 miles and probably take a couple days longer. It's hard to make any money on shipping as Ebay often sells the seller the shipping label as well

 

[Dan Fromm]

Some of the sellers in Japan use warehouses for photography, climate controlled storage and shipping. I can have an item that's a couple hundred dollars shipped FedEx global priority for 35-40 dollars.
If I as an innocent citizen go to my post office, it would cost me that much to ship it 200 miles and probably take a couple days longer. It's hard to make any money on shipping as Ebay often sells the seller the shipping label as well

I just checked. USPS' price for a large flat rate box (domestic) is $22.80. Lower charges for medium and small flat rate boxes.

When I was selling on eBay, I charged my buyers for shipping at cost. I treated handling costs -- packing materials, mainly, sometimes also a trip to the PO -- as a cost of doing business. Always listed my items with an opening bid that was the least I'd take and a realistic BIN price. All this was before eBay started to offer shipping. I b'lieve that eBay charges considerably more for international shipping than USPS.

I never used couriers (FedEx, UPS) for international shipments. They charged recipients customs brokerage fees, postal services usually don't.

 

[kl122002]

Postal services are actually fine. And tbh sometimes I prefer postal over couriers since postal has better understanding in my address than the courier.

And what troubles me a lot from the couriers would be the complicated import declaration form. Been there for few times, and honestly I don't know how which codex I should put into the form for a "used", "for parts or service" or even "antique" photographic gear.

 

[lxdude]

But no Tequila, one must drink Crown Royal instead.

I drink Royal Crown.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The US government through the Post Office subsidizes certain postal costs from Japan and China which is why some items you buy from there are so cheap when they are shipped from there through San Francisco to your home. I;m not sure if its still being done or what the arrangements are.

 

[aw614]

Tried to sell a lens lot last week, winning bidder didn't pay after sending an invoice for 5 straight days. Relist the item and he is the first bidder again for it. grr. I should have waited and look up how to block people before I listed it again.