Originally posted by jayman_1975 4 of the others have had issues not disclosed by the seller. Some minor but others quite noticeable and functionally altering the lens. The last one I bought the lens hood mount on both the hood and the lens are broken and neither were mentioned prior!! The seller even had the lenses inspected by a quite reputable retailer of pentax gear. I was told by them the lens looked brand new! What??
Firstly I have to say that I had my share of the same experiences. Lenses bought with fungus, not focusing to infinity, oily aperture or sticky/gritty focusing - just to name few. Main component of all those purchases was 'bargain' - that's it , I tried fish up something really good for much less than normally available from dealers or reputable sellers for a buy it now price. So I went for auctions of those old 'my late fathers camera' , or from 'I don't know much about photography' sellers - and the results were nearly 9 out of 10 an utter disappointement. Finally after few years of such mistakes I simple started deciding and researching what is good and they I simple bought those, not trying to fish a bargain but to buy what I want to use. 9 out of 10 - success. Items are as described, no issues , etc. sometime an odd case of something being not as decribed but usually very minor or easilly solvable with seller. My advice is - decide what you need and then just buy it - but go for reputable sellers with 100% feedback, and no exception there - in case an odd negative or neutral - research WHY - see the comment, perhaps it was a mistake resolved. Also - VERY IMPORTANT - check how many REVISED feedback seller has - I prefer those with ZERO - that means there was no negatives or neutral comments revised , which translates basically to 'seller never tried to hide a fault and everybody was happy'. One or two revised feedbacks are acceptable, but some sellers have like 10 , 20 or more - those I simple avoid .
Good luck hunting for those lucky buys where everything goes smoothly !