Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]One significant thing about e-Bay is that it has brought a lot of stuff into the marketplace which weren't available before. Even nicer is the fact that such items are often mis-labelled or mis-described, a somewhat rarer factor when a dealer handles a similar item. Thus, doing a search for "Lieca" often turns up some plum items which have been overlooked by those Big-Bucks Collectors. I buy and sell on e-Bay. When I list an item, I go out of the way to have as much information as possible (exact markings, serial numbers, manufacturer's order number or codeword, and the like). Thus, I often buy an item one week and sell it two or three weeks later for three or four times what I paid for it. Many items have fallen significantly in price thanks to e-Bay. Those Carl Zeiss 8x30B monoculars which could be used as an auxiliary telephoto lens on Contaflex, Contarex, and Icarex cameras used to always be uniformly priced, seemingly regardless of condition, at $400 or so. Thanks to e-Bay, they are now regularly trading at $200, give or take, and I bought one for under $100. And, of course, many items have also gone up in price. Probably the most heavily produced binocular in history was the Carl Zeiss Jena/Docter Optic Technologies 8x30 DELTRINTEM/IS glasses. These guys are so common that they used to routinely sell for $50. Thanks to e-Bay -- and thanks to vendors who always list these glasses, regardless of provenance, as "LQQK! RARE ZEISS TANK COMMANDERS BINOCULARS!!!!" -- they are selling for over $100. You pays your money and you takes your choice. But, all in all, I am quite happy with e-Bay. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +276/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html