Hi and hello to you all, I am new here but I wanted to bring attention to some trend I am seeing pop up on ebay as I am in search for another body. (before we get in the debate about ebay/used gear I am comfortable buying used gear as I've worked in a rental cage/store etc) moving on. So it will be a great deal IE EOS r5 for 2500 +/-. I recently saw a seller, selling R5c's for 2500. As you inspect the sellers history you will see they've never sold any camera gear which isn't an huge red flag but most of these accounts sell make-up or clothes. There is an astronomical long shipping time. There are no actual photos of the camera or serial number. They are all stock images. The seller description is cut and paste. i am not sure if they've found a loop hole which is strange as you are protected thru ebay/paypal or what game they are trying to play. One of the Neg comments I did see for a seller was that the seller never shipped the item and took a very long time to get the money back. I've attached photos of a recent one I've seen. Screen Shot 2022-10-26 At 10.09.06 PM by C.J. posted Oct 26, 2022 at 10:27 PM Screen Shot 2022-10-26 At 10.09.19 PM by C.J. posted Oct 26, 2022 at 10:27 PM Screen Shot 2022-10-26 At 10.09.34 PM by C.J. posted Oct 26, 2022 at 10:27 PM Screen Shot 2022-10-26 At 10.09.42 PM by C.J. posted Oct 26, 2022 at 10:27 PM
Hello and welcome to the forum CJ... I have bought from both individuals with little history and large retailers with 1000's of transactions. I have occasionally been burnt on Ebay, not so much on camera purchases but on other items. I actually consider the seller history to be a hug red flag.... If the user is selling as new with stock photos then they should be a dealer in some fashion and have hundreds of camera / gear sales to refer to. It is quite common for peoples accounts to get hacked and used for a number of bogus listings that are too good to be true, they get flagged and removed after some people report them. Regardless the listings you see if its a new camera in box or used no one is actually selling for 30-50% off the retail. My recommendation on used gear: --Buyer beware, buying used at a discount is great, but find an account that actually shows the used item in their home with good photos, ask them questions and then decide to buy the discounted item. You will see any good seller will price it fair market value for its condition. I have found some wonderful used gear, most of mine being film medium format over the last 25 years and I don't see a problem saving a bit and buying something someone else does not use at a discount. But ask questions about the gear and why they are selling and gauge the credibility, scams have been around since the 90's and stock photos at basement prices is beyond a red flag.
I should add i bought much on ebay the last 5 years, but the couple of refunds I never got came from the account they received payment on being closed by the time they tried to process a refund. Seemed like they went through a number of steps to verify if they could reach the person and then went to process refund and they could not reverse the transaction. I've been pretty careful so i have only had a few situations to even reference personally.
Hey Johnsey Thanks for welcoming me, agreed most of my kit is all used gear I am just seeing this pop up more and more and curious if they've found a loop hole. I recently sold and expensive item on ebay only to have the buyer pull a bunch of games to get a refund after getting the postal service and ebay involved it finally went in the right direction. Id just hate for someone to bid and be out that amount of money
