[Wombat]

I've just bought a K100D Super with basic kit lens, 18-50mm. While I'm enjoying the challenge of working within those limitations I'm itching to get some more lenses (More!More!). What has been people's experiences of buying lenses through Ebay? I'd be interested to hear how satisfied you were and how you decided on the amount you were willing to pay, type of lens to go for etc.
Cheers

[user440]

Overall, I have had pretty good luck except for this lens. One can always ask for sample photos from the lens if the auction has enough time left. Of course, getting one is probably not highly likely in most cases. Most of the eBay stuff I have bought is dirt cheap, so it's not a big deal.

[Zewrak]

Bought about 15 lenses total from ebay and alike. Only one lens was not good. It was turned into a good with some force and a screwdriver though.

[xfire]

Check the Marketplace on this website.
There are some incredible deals on lenses all the time as well as people that are extremely willing to answer your questions and very knowledgeable.

Hope this helps

Howdy Wombat, thought I would let you know that one of my first bands was called Wombat Suicide... Good times

I agree with xfire... keep an eye out on this forums marketplace, all active pentax shooters and some great deals. I have not had a bad experience here.

I have also bought quite a few from ebay and only one real bad deal... It was early on and I did not ask the right questions. On ebay it is not alway folks who use cameras so you need to ask questions sometimes to make sure they are good lenses.
For me, ebay bidding has become crazy in the last 6months so I tend to stay here in the market place...

Welcome again and good luck...

PS you did not say what length you were looking for in lenses or if you were will to go oldschool manual focus....

[Zewrak]

A tip!

Decide what lenses you want and then buy filmcameras which have them attached. Alot of times I get a lens for 5$ that comes on a camera. While the lens is worth 100$.

[Fritz]

I've had pretty good luck on e-bay. Most of the lenses exceeded my expectations. But a few have had problems. One lens needed to have some screws tightened down, another had fungus that was not mentioned. That was my bad, if the seller does not state that the lens is fungus free, assume that it does have fungus.

I would stay away from sellers that have a very short description of the lens (or no picture), or that appear to know absolutely nothing about photography. Buyer beware, or you can roll the dice and take a chance. There are some great deals to be had.

[dcmsox2004]

hi... i've been an ebay addict since 1999... i've sold my older camera equipment as i've upgraded... i currently have the k200d and have some older af lenses from my pentax zxl film days....
my recommendation... buy from sellers with at least a 99.9% feedback rating, read the reviews of those ratings.... and if buying camera equipment, try to target a seller who has had the items him/herself.... that way you have a good chance of purchasing items that have been used, cared for, and in functional condition...
even better, look for sellers which offer a 7 day or greated return policy....
also, accurate pics of what's being listed is obviously important... seeing helps believing in the seller and their respective items.....
hope this helps..... i've got a 100% feedback rating with over 900 entries....
d.c. meyers

[Zewrak]

Ratings just got worse though. Make sure you look it up properly. Because it can be a very unfair system as they changed it a few days ago.

As discussed here

By Farside on mflenses:

ebay have been fiddling about again, they've decided to retrospectively jig the feedback ratings to take into account multiple ratings from same sellers or buyers.

On a related note - the new rating system will affect your future score if you are a seller - it seems that lower percentage figures will become the norm. As an example, one small-time seller I saw today had an 80% rating - when I looked, he had one neg about 6 months ago and plenty of positives since. Under normal circumstances that seller would have had a decently high rating, more accurately reflecting his honesty. As it turned out, the neg he got looked like a revenge neg.

[pentkon52]

99% of my ebay purchases are from brick and mortar stores.

Feel safer that way,.

Dave

[Big Dave]

The new feedback changes are much better for the buyer. You no longer need to fear about giving honest feedback for the seller. In the past if you didn't give positive feedback, you would most likely receive negative feedback. This made the feed back system worthless. The percent of positive will now be for only the past year. Sellers can't give negative or neutral feedback to buyers now. I have had good luck and have bought many great lenses cheap. I only have had two issues and on one the sell gave a rebate, because the lens wasn't fully functional. No A function active. It works in manual and was a great deal. Buy high dollar lenses from camera stores or manufactures, such as Olympus etc.

Dave

Ratings just got worse though. Make sure you look it up properly. Because it can be a very unfair system as they changed it a few days ago.

As discussed here

[straightshooter]

I bought a Super Tak 28 and 105 from the same seller a couple of months ago and both lenses are beautiful. I just bought but haven't received a Super Tak 135 from someone who appears to be thinning out his Pentax collection. One thing I looked for was closeups of the lenses and especially through the lens pics showing that the optics are clear (yeah I know now days they can be touched up in about 1 minute). Along with that, I look at a sellers rating and do not do business with anyone who is not well over 99%.

[Zewrak]

Well, I have made great deals with people under 95%. I just spent time watching what the comments really were and also checked up on what rating the ones that gave bad ratings had. Many times I came to the conclusion that the one that gave bad rating was, excuse my french, an ass.

I myself got two bad ratings on the swedish version of Ebay. One was from a lady that bought a camera from me. The camera was an analog Practika with a (crap) lens. She bought it for ~10$. I got the bad rating because it would not connect to the computer.

The second bad rating I got was because I did not include a battery in a gameboy I sold. I did even in the auction say "Will not include batteries.".

So its not all black and white. And 90% is not bad if you only have 10 sales really. So use some common sense when reading the comments.

On a sidenote, I have made some great bargains from people that had no clue what they were selling. But a friend did the best one ever. There was an auction for "Takumar camera part". No pictures and the description was "Camera eye, says 49mm and <insert serial>". Thats all. It was listed under antiques or something. He thought "well its probably a super tak 50mm and she printed the filter thread".

Turns out when his (as only bidder, guess noone found it) £0.99 lens arrives its a S-M-C Macro-Takumar 50mm 1:4. And not only that, it was flawless, with caps and bag. Needless to say, we are not friends anymore and I want him dead.

[Wombat]

Lots of really excellent comment there, thanks indeed. I might give it a go.

Hey, Illigan, great title for a band, but wombats are very sociable, happy creatures and tend not to commit suicide. If they could, they'd love playing in a band. I certainly do (mandolin/mandola, Celtic/bluegrass/folk. We're called The Coathangers). Thanks for the suggestion about the forum market. I'll check that out. I'm looking for something around 300mm, don't mind if it's manual, prime or zoom.

Zewrak, I've noticed there are some amazing deals with film cameras with lens attached. Might even be worth keeping the body. You never know, when we all get bored with digital, someone might re-invent film.

[monochrome]

ebaY has been very, very good to me as a buyer and seller of fraternal memorabilia, model railroad stuff, china, silver, books and (Pentax) camera gear. I have rarely if ever been disappointed.

Just last month I bought a vintage 77mm Y2 filter from a retiring pro - turned out it was scratched. I messaged him and he replied "Send it back," and returned the $ to me literally within a minute. I was so impressed that I decided to keep the filter as a collectible, messaged him and paid again. After a few day a pristine filter appeared in my mailbox with a nice note.

I really don't think it is all that rare - the secret is to ask questions COURTEOUSLY, communicate, leave feedback religiously - in short, treat sellers and buyers as you would want to be treated if on their end of the auction.