[Leica] Interesting 50mm variation (eBay shame?)

[ausdlk at swbell.net (David Keenan)]

>How does one shop safely there? Is there a way to pretty much ?
>guarantee safe transactions?

I have done nearly 400 transactions on eBay, both buying and selling, and 
have not had a single totally awful experience.

There were a handful of fussy buyers some of which I made some kind of 
adjustment. By adhering to the "customer is always right (even when they are 
wrong)" philosophy I have an almost perfect feedback score. (One malcontent 
decided to punish me with a negative feedback early in my eBay "career".)

That therein lies the "secret". Check the seller's feedback. Avoid doing any 
business with someone that is not deeply established, i.e., a feedback score 
no lower than 50 or even 100. And read some of the feedback -- check for the 
item(s) sold and make sure that the seller isn't padding his score with $.01 
items.

When selling, I've found that feedback scores are somewhat less important. 
But I will now not allow a bid from someone for anything expensive (like a 
camera or lens) with a low feedback score. It's unlikely that I can get 
screwed monetarily by such people -- rather it is often a bitch to get them 
to pay.

Finally, use Paypal.

Dave.
-- 
David Keenan, ausdlk@swbell.net on 8/3/2006