Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ebay is not the place to look for extreme bargains. Too many people, essentially the online part of the world, are monitoring auctions and place a bid, before things go away too cheap. It however depends what you consider to be a bargain: 10% below average price/value or 50%. To get 50% you need either an uninformed or desperate seller who in addition does not know where to advertise his merchandise. Or the seller wants cash quickly without hassle and without spending time on proper advertising. As a buyer you need in addition patience and, at the rigth time, sufficient cash. A couple of times I scored extreme bargains outside ebay, e.g. an assortment of new Leica items (M 50/2, 21mm finder, R rightangle finder, 1:1 Elpro etc. etc.) from a photo/electronic discount store for a fraction (<30%) of the list price. They only deal in new, mainstream photo gear, they don't trade in used stuff and apparently even the manager of the photo department had no clue about 2nd values, where or how to sell. He simply wanted to get rid of some remaining old stuff. I still wonder why I wasn't arrested for plain shop lifting when I left the store. I mean he or his colleques could have purchased it for themselves and sell it for more elsewhere. So I suspect that the sales people came to the photo department by accident, rotating between household hardware, hifi, computers etc., not because of interest in photography or photo gear. On the other hand ebay is a place to conveniently buy and sell within a short period of time. If you are not into accumulating gear, you buy when you need something special for a job and sell after the job is done, minimising capital outlay, insurance etc.. Hans-Peter