Rangefinder purchase from Ebay

ss18 · 28th March 2004

Hello,
I am considering purchase of FED or Zorki RF cams from ebay. I would appreciate if anyone can share their experience in this regard. Also any particular seller that I can depend upon? Any other pitfalls that I should be aware of? I intend using my credit card. I am venturing into ebay for the first time and would appreciate any help/adv.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
SS

oteonghn · 31st March 2004

HI
I am also new to eBay but tried to bid a few times and failed.
To ascertain the "genuiness" of a seller, look for those with good feedback.
ON use of credit card, I have not tried it before, but understand that Paypal accepts payments via credit cards, and you can pay via Paypal.

Just a word of caution. There are scammers around.

I failed in getting one bid and another guy emailed to me offerring a similiar stuff but at a lower price. I was warned of such scams before and did not fall for it.

Should be safe. But who knows ?

ONG TH

darrelchia · 31st March 2004

I've bought some stuff over ebay before, and this is just my personal opinion and suggestions

1) look for sellers with good ratings. This also include looking at the history of their sales ... some start off selling low priced items to build up a credible rating, then pull a big one on you, so beware
2) as a general guideline, paying by credit card or paypal is a good idea. Western Union, Wire Transfer are bad ideas. For the first two, there is better protection for you, and u can actually recover part of, if not all of the amount, in the event you are scammed.

Watch out for
1) people who send u email saying they have a similar item for sale. It they wanna sell it, post it on ebay.
2) Encountered this once, where after i won a bid, someone else impersonates the seller saying stuff like he changed his nickname etc etc and ask u to send the money tru western union or something to him. Dun be too anxious. Wait for official communication from the seller.

On thing bad about ebay is ur buying the item blind. So you do not know the condition of the item u are buying. Photos seldom reflect the actual condition of the item. So far i haven't encountered any problems with it yet, but u do hear stories, so remember to check out the ratings.

Bearing all these in mind, decide if u wanna take the risk but i've not been disappointed so far

Cheers
Darrel

ss18 · 31st March 2004

Hello,
Many thanks to you both for sharing this info. I too keep hearing about these Ebay scams. That's why I thought it is better to ask around before I venture out. Certainly in case I do decide to go along with a purchase I will only do so with a credit card so that there will be some trail.

There is another thing that am not unclear about -- I have registered myself in the Ebay. If I were to use paypal should I register with paypal again? What are the steps involved? I mean how does the transaction actually take place?
Sorry for the trouble... Would appreciate it very much if either of you can educate me on this.

Many thanks once again
SS

Ansel · 31st March 2004

eBay and PayPal are two different companies, although they may be linked in some ways. Go to paypal website and register your account with them. Use a credit card that will be funds channel. They will first make a US$2 charge to this card, which will be refunded to you. This is to confirm that your card number is valid. Then they ask you to check your credit card bill and check a code on the charge description. Go back to paypal, sign in and use this code to activate your paypal account. It takes a couple of days for the cycle to complete, especially if you don't have on line credit card statements, and must wait for the physical bill to arrive. But this is all in the interest of security.

I personally believe PayPal is the best thing that happend to online buying, especially on eBay, because you dont have to type your credit card number all the time.

whoelse · 31st March 2004

Paypal is own by ebay. Abt FED or Zorki, remember this are at least 20-30yrs old camera and base on design made in the 30's.

I have a Kiev 4M and a Fed5b. I buy them becos they are new old stock and feb5b being one of the latest russian rangefinder. Personally, I feel they are wellmade. U may get a dog esp a very old used model not becos it's poorly made it is just becos they are too old. Many are still fantastically good in mech. condition. Regards whether it a leica or nikon, if u get a old camera 30yrs old, chances of something failing is common. That has nothing to do wif brand. Therefore, i bot new old stock and more later model even some older may be better but given age I rather have something younger

Whether reliability about russian products many have never handle one and becos they are cheap, most ppl doesn't bother to even maintain it or even illtreat it. I have a friend who as a russian made watch and out of bore he throw it on the floor to see whether it spoil. The hand came out and he concluded that it's lousy. Try that with a rolex or omega and see what happen.

U see so many of these old gear becos they are reliably made in the first place. I own some russian lens too and I love them and definately better made then CZJ in 'my' opinion. Ofcos noone has the duty to agree with me. Many bought them which are so old and maybe even older then the user and even misuse it.

I have a few watches with russian movement made in the 60's and still running strong and sometime i even have rain vapour inside them cos they are not waterproof.

One thing abt these old design RF, unlike electronics, it uses spring tension to control the shutter which inheritated from Contax/Leica old design. Must like cocking a hand gun, u have to **** the shutter before setting the correct shutter speed. This is the only thing u need to practise religiously. A few time is ok, u only stress the gear inside. If u keep doing this, it will go haywire. I broke on myself and I've seen the interior how it works. These are leica design but 30's design methods. They are build like this that is why they are classic design and hence fun to play

U cant be thinking to use it to shoot sport and be serious like pro. comparing them using $100K equipments. Their ricebowl depends on them.

About integrity of thr Russian I find they are reliable too. I order 1 len and i've not receive it 4 weeks after. I email the seller, he immediately assume the responsibility to refund me and send me another len. I received the second len and after 2 weeks, I received the 1st lens too after 3 months and I check the date it was send the day I paid him. I guess it get lose sitting somewhere in the transist and was found later. Another incident I bought a watch and becos of being a forum group members the watch itself is 20% off and after the seller know I purchase it a day before my ROM, he sold me the watch for almost nothing. I just enjoy dealing with them but ofcos I believee there are some bad one. Even Singapore being a modern and respectable country, do we dare say most of us are honest?

Keltzar · 2nd April 2004

Parlin is the best person to ask. He knows them best, and will probably suggest that "you get what you pay for". Some of the more expensive sellers are better because they test/calibarate the stuff before it goes out.

I have dealt with many over the years myself. I would say that 90% of them are ok... and yes, do read the feedbacks. Don't look only at % of positive, but at how many ACTUAL negative feedbacks and if they originate from one or many persons.

Also make some allowance for language barrier i.e. use very simple english in your emails, and be conscious of the fact you may have to work through linguistic misunderstandings sometimes.

Interestinly, I just made a payment this morning for 4 lenses from a russian seller. Will probably be my last purchase for some time. I was intrigued by a rare early chrome jupiter 85/2 that he was selling in m42 screwmount.

aosis · 2nd April 2004

I've bought a lot from Ebay using Bidpay and Paypal. One of the funny deal is i bought a Yashica GSN but delivered to me faulty. So i wrote to the seller claiming refund and she replied she sent me the wrong set. One for parts for repair and the one i bid was the working one. She sent me the camera and i get to keep the faulty one with no additional charges. Cant remember who was the seller though ...

One seller with good ratings and keeps excellent stuff is cupog. May it be helpful to you.
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sort=3&rows=50

28th March 2004	#1
ss18 Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 218	Rangefinder purchase from Ebay Hello, I am considering purchase of FED or Zorki RF cams from ebay. I would appreciate if anyone can share their experience in this regard. Also any particular seller that I can depend upon? Any other pitfalls that I should be aware of? I intend using my credit card. I am venturing into ebay for the first time and would appreciate any help/adv. Thanks in advance. Cheers, SS

31st March 2004	#3
darrelchia Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 419	I've bought some stuff over ebay before, and this is just my personal opinion and suggestions 1) look for sellers with good ratings. This also include looking at the history of their sales ... some start off selling low priced items to build up a credible rating, then pull a big one on you, so beware 2) as a general guideline, paying by credit card or paypal is a good idea. Western Union, Wire Transfer are bad ideas. For the first two, there is better protection for you, and u can actually recover part of, if not all of the amount, in the event you are scammed. Watch out for 1) people who send u email saying they have a similar item for sale. It they wanna sell it, post it on ebay. 2) Encountered this once, where after i won a bid, someone else impersonates the seller saying stuff like he changed his nickname etc etc and ask u to send the money tru western union or something to him. Dun be too anxious. Wait for official communication from the seller. On thing bad about ebay is ur buying the item blind. So you do not know the condition of the item u are buying. Photos seldom reflect the actual condition of the item. So far i haven't encountered any problems with it yet, but u do hear stories, so remember to check out the ratings. Bearing all these in mind, decide if u wanna take the risk but i've not been disappointed so far Cheers Darrel __________________ my website :: my blog

2nd April 2004	#8
aosis Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 572	I've bought a lot from Ebay using Bidpay and Paypal. One of the funny deal is i bought a Yashica GSN but delivered to me faulty. So i wrote to the seller claiming refund and she replied she sent me the wrong set. One for parts for repair and the one i bid was the working one. She sent me the camera and i get to keep the faulty one with no additional charges. Cant remember who was the seller though ... One seller with good ratings and keeps excellent stuff is cupog. May it be helpful to you. http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sort=3&rows=50 __________________ My Shutterstock Images

31st March 2004	#2
oteonghn New Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 50	HI I am also new to eBay but tried to bid a few times and failed. To ascertain the "genuiness" of a seller, look for those with good feedback. ON use of credit card, I have not tried it before, but understand that Paypal accepts payments via credit cards, and you can pay via Paypal. Just a word of caution. There are scammers around. I failed in getting one bid and another guy emailed to me offerring a similiar stuff but at a lower price. I was warned of such scams before and did not fall for it. Should be safe. But who knows ? ONG TH

31st March 2004	#5
Ansel Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Land Downunder Posts: 2,069	eBay and PayPal are two different companies, although they may be linked in some ways. Go to paypal website and register your account with them. Use a credit card that will be funds channel. They will first make a US$2 charge to this card, which will be refunded to you. This is to confirm that your card number is valid. Then they ask you to check your credit card bill and check a code on the charge description. Go back to paypal, sign in and use this code to activate your paypal account. It takes a couple of days for the cycle to complete, especially if you don't have on line credit card statements, and must wait for the physical bill to arrive. But this is all in the interest of security. I personally believe PayPal is the best thing that happend to online buying, especially on eBay, because you dont have to type your credit card number all the time.

31st March 2004	#6
whoelse Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,227	Paypal is own by ebay. Abt FED or Zorki, remember this are at least 20-30yrs old camera and base on design made in the 30's. I have a Kiev 4M and a Fed5b. I buy them becos they are new old stock and feb5b being one of the latest russian rangefinder. Personally, I feel they are wellmade. U may get a dog esp a very old used model not becos it's poorly made it is just becos they are too old. Many are still fantastically good in mech. condition. Regards whether it a leica or nikon, if u get a old camera 30yrs old, chances of something failing is common. That has nothing to do wif brand. Therefore, i bot new old stock and more later model even some older may be better but given age I rather have something younger Whether reliability about russian products many have never handle one and becos they are cheap, most ppl doesn't bother to even maintain it or even illtreat it. I have a friend who as a russian made watch and out of bore he throw it on the floor to see whether it spoil. The hand came out and he concluded that it's lousy. Try that with a rolex or omega and see what happen. U see so many of these old gear becos they are reliably made in the first place. I own some russian lens too and I love them and definately better made then CZJ in 'my' opinion. Ofcos noone has the duty to agree with me. Many bought them which are so old and maybe even older then the user and even misuse it. I have a few watches with russian movement made in the 60's and still running strong and sometime i even have rain vapour inside them cos they are not waterproof. One thing abt these old design RF, unlike electronics, it uses spring tension to control the shutter which inheritated from Contax/Leica old design. Must like cocking a hand gun, u have to **** the shutter before setting the correct shutter speed. This is the only thing u need to practise religiously. A few time is ok, u only stress the gear inside. If u keep doing this, it will go haywire. I broke on myself and I've seen the interior how it works. These are leica design but 30's design methods. They are build like this that is why they are classic design and hence fun to play U cant be thinking to use it to shoot sport and be serious like pro. comparing them using $100K equipments. Their ricebowl depends on them. About integrity of thr Russian I find they are reliable too. I order 1 len and i've not receive it 4 weeks after. I email the seller, he immediately assume the responsibility to refund me and send me another len. I received the second len and after 2 weeks, I received the 1st lens too after 3 months and I check the date it was send the day I paid him. I guess it get lose sitting somewhere in the transist and was found later. Another incident I bought a watch and becos of being a forum group members the watch itself is 20% off and after the seller know I purchase it a day before my ROM, he sold me the watch for almost nothing. I just enjoy dealing with them but ofcos I believee there are some bad one. Even Singapore being a modern and respectable country, do we dare say most of us are honest?

2nd April 2004	#7
Keltzar Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: West Posts: 3,161	Parlin is the best person to ask. He knows them best, and will probably suggest that "you get what you pay for". Some of the more expensive sellers are better because they test/calibarate the stuff before it goes out. I have dealt with many over the years myself. I would say that 90% of them are ok... and yes, do read the feedbacks. Don't look only at % of positive, but at how many ACTUAL negative feedbacks and if they originate from one or many persons. Also make some allowance for language barrier i.e. use very simple english in your emails, and be conscious of the fact you may have to work through linguistic misunderstandings sometimes. Interestinly, I just made a payment this morning for 4 lenses from a russian seller. Will probably be my last purchase for some time. I was intrigued by a rare early chrome jupiter 85/2 that he was selling in m42 screwmount.