The hell is this guy smoking?

domaz · Feb 22, 2009

I always wondered if people sold illegal items through Ebay by selling the items as way overpriced common items. It would seem like an obvious way to do it. Post your auction number and description of the illegal item somewhere else and then list it on Ebay as something common and overpriced.

Dennis S · Feb 22, 2009

Don't blame the Canadians for this gross collection of stupidity.

Poisson Du Jour · Feb 22, 2009

I noticed an Olympus XAII (XA2) for sale from this fellow. C.$265.00 sounds quite extreme, as several specimens of this camera sans flash have been seen locally in 2H windows for AUD$145.00. A quick conversion to C.$ brings the total to C.$117.40; that sounds like a tidy profit. This guy undoubtedly has more twists in him than a corkscrew. Avoid.

Anscojohn · Feb 22, 2009

Nicholas Lindan said:
Probably suffers from OCD,

What, prithee tell, is OCD?

chriscrawfordphoto · Feb 22, 2009

Obsessive-Complusive Disorder. It is a psychiatric condition.

eric · Feb 22, 2009

This is more entertaining than the guy who sold photo paper...that he took out of the box to photograph!

walter23 · Feb 23, 2009

domaz said:
I always wondered if people sold illegal items through Ebay by selling the items as way overpriced common items. It would seem like an obvious way to do it. Post your auction number and description of the illegal item somewhere else and then list it on Ebay as something common and overpriced.

I guess it would provide a cover for the paypal transaction.

I was wondering if it might be something odd like that, but the volume of actual sales is too low. I can't see anyone going to that much trouble to obfuscate $500 worth of illicit transactions.

walter23 · Feb 23, 2009

david b said:
Has anyone checked his completed auctions?

I don't get them either but I have been watching "photo-arsenal" list stuff over and over with never a bite because of the ridiculous prices.

Yeah, but at least photo-arsenal carries a lot of really unusual and rare stuff. This guy's crap is just crap.

This was recently listed by photo-arsenal and if it were a normal low starting-bid auction I probably would have paid an obscene amount of money for it (although nothing like the $4,000 buy it now):

The thing is pretty damned cool looking. But not $4,000 cool looking (not that I have $4000 anyway).

nemo999 · Feb 23, 2009

Sjixxxy said:
I'm guessing he shops at Dead Link Removed

Be fair! Firstly, the Lubitel is reduced from $350, and secondly, the seller openly states his goods are targeted at:
People who are open-minded, enthusiastic, free with their ideas, philanthropic, endlessly curious, always travelling, constantly documenting, and completely awestruck by the enduring power of analog photographs.

"Philanthropic" surely means, among other things, "willing to hand over vast sums of cash without thought of personal gain"?

Mark Antony · Feb 23, 2009

chriscrawfordphoto said:
Obsessive-Complusive Disorder. It is a psychiatric condition.

I think we can wash our hands of this guy.. then wash them again just to be sure...

Mind you I have seen some crazy prices for Lubitel 166
Dead Link Removed

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/594707-REG/Lomography_580_Lubitel_166_35mm_Medium_Format.html

For a camera I bought in 1984 for £12- maybe we should buy up some S/H ones for a few quid and put them on the bay? Makes £200-400 for a used Rollei look a bargain

eclarke · Feb 23, 2009

walter23 said:
http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/tuaupe

$289 for a Lubitel.... $300 for a useless old Kodak folder... the list goes on and on. These are $20 cameras he's listing for hundreds!

Bizarre. Money laundering front or something?

This might be money rinsing, I think laundering requires a lot more money..EC

Q.G. · Feb 23, 2009

What also reeks quite rank is what some sellers charge for postage and packing.

If you would, for instance, think $4,95 is not too much to pay for a 8 1/4" square, 17 page brochure (never mind whether it is too much or not - take note that it is a small brochure, something not requiring a crate or heavy goods vehicles), and not check for insane postage before you bid, you'll get quite a shock to find that you will be charged $55.45 to have it stuck in an envelope and posted to you across the Pond. (Bay 260363382667)

Now some sellers perhaps do not offer realistic rates by accident.
Others certainly use this as a ploy to rip people off.

JMC1969 · Feb 23, 2009

Don't worry about the shipping price. I think I am going to pick up these 2 wooden Graphic 4x5 holders for $153.00usd http://cgi.ebay.ca/Graphic-4x5-Film-holder_W0QQitemZ350130736004QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item350130736004&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318when I stop by the broken down school bus and pick up my meth for the weekend.

Chazzy · Feb 23, 2009

Moopheus said:
I got a couple of good boxes of Fuji quickloads for cheap that way. And a box of only slightly fogged Super-XX!

Often the sheet film ads on eBay come from an Australian seller. Maybe it is hard to find sheet film down there?

walter23 · Feb 23, 2009

The lomography shop charges something absurd for a lubitel, too.

Mark Antony said:
I think we can wash our hands of this guy.. then wash them again just to be sure...

Mind you I have seen some crazy prices for Lubitel 166
Dead Link Removed

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/594707-REG/Lomography_580_Lubitel_166_35mm_Medium_Format.html

For a camera I bought in 1984 for £12- maybe we should buy up some S/H ones for a few quid and put them on the bay? Makes £200-400 for a used Rollei look a bargain

Ralph Javins · Feb 23, 2009

Good morning;

Yes, those prices are "interesting." I have no suggestions on why.

I can say that I am very fortunate to have a local camera shop I have dealt with for a number of years. Recently they had a box under the counter with some 4 by 5 sheet film holders with tags saying "$5.00." I bought a dozen of them at a final price of $2.00 each. A true "quantity discount."

In spite of the internet and the "large auction sites," there is merit in working with your local camera shop people. No, I do not get offers like this every time, but often enough to make me feel that they would like to keep me coming in their door rather than me using my computer and RF modem at home.

By the way, my score percentage on getting something that I could truly use from the "on-line auction site" is running about 20 %. But, then again, my parts supply has really grown . . .

bobwysiwyg · Feb 23, 2009

In spite of the internet and the "large auction sites," there is merit in working with your local camera shop people.

I agree. I doubt my purchases alone will keep my local cam shop open, but I try. I needed a step up ring recently, and even though it might cost a bit more I gave them a call. I needed a 52mm-54mm ring, but they did not have it, though they offered to order it.

Q.G. · Feb 24, 2009

And that's the trouble with - and for - many smaller stores: they have to offer to order stuff too often.
You can do that yourself quite easily. And people do.

And when you do, you get what you want for (often much) less money too.

So there is not a big incentive for people to work with their local camera store.

The result is that shops have changed, and now only offer thingies they know will be in enough demand to sell in numbers. Consumer goods.
Digital P&S, batteries, picture frames, small camera bags, memory cards, and not much more. Anything else has to be ordered.

They can't offer advice about anything than these consumer thingies anymore: it's a fulltime job to keep track of the many different models of digital P&Ss alone, know what battery they take, etc. It doesn't pay to keep someone posted about what happens outside the consumer segment.

So if you do not know how to put a memory card into a particular camera, or how to make the images on that card appear on your television set, they are the ones to turn to.
Want to see a decent tripod, or need advice about developers, all they can do is recite catalogues and sales brochures.

But that's what the market forced them to change into.

What really bothers me is when they keep asking $1000 for second hand gear that goes for $200 in the Bay and elsewehere. When i see stuff they are trying to flog sitting on shelves for 10+ years.

Pupfish · Feb 24, 2009

The expensive second-hand gear shelf in a store that primarily offers new gear at retail, might yet exist there as some kind of dis-incentive to buy used (perhaps even suggesting that if you buy new, your gear will hold it's value a long time!)

fschifano · Feb 24, 2009

Why all the outrage? You'd think this seller was going around killing babies by the tone of some of the reactions I've read. He has ridiculously high prices on his listed items. So what? You don't like it, don't buy it. If some idiot does think it's a fair price, that's his problem. The seller isn't twisting anyone's arm, nor does he have his hand in the buyer's pocket.

dracblau · Feb 24, 2009

It's not always Ebay; I was at a local antique store the other day, and they were selling an old worn Zeiss Ikon 120 folder for $350, marked down from $745!!!

I had to laugh.

archphoto · Feb 24, 2009

The same here in Brazil in Pirenopolis, a small town in the hills: 2 camera's that I would not want for free, in that bad shape, for a price that was verry unrealistic, I laught and went away...

JMC1969 · Feb 24, 2009

dracblau said:
It's not always Ebay; I was at a local antique store the other day, and they were selling an old worn Zeiss Ikon 120 folder for $350, marked down from $745!!!

I had to laugh.

That's because it is listed with "Antique" behind it. It's like adding the words "Art Supplies" or "Motion Picture" to it. I saw not too long ago where someone was selling a bag of 25 C-47's for $30 on their web site. Hilarious! I wish I could remember where that was.

jmolligo · Feb 24, 2009

Ebay has become a horrible thing. It use to be a nice place for regular people to sell gear or find good bargains. Now it's become a Greed Mall.

JMC1969 · Feb 24, 2009

jmolligo said:
Ebay has become a horrible thing. It use to be a nice place for regular people to sell gear or find good bargains. Now it's become a Greed Mall.

It certainly seems to be going the way of the flea market. Used to be people got a little booth there and sold their own personal stuff instead of having a yard/garage sale (extra people flow). Now it's all little mini-marts with over priced crap.

The hell is this guy smoking?

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