Pentax Police On Craigslist

Nowhere Matt · 05-27-2010, 09:22 AM

Do we have any guardians of the brand here who try to be helpful or even critical with sellers of Pentax equipment on Craigslist?
I don't comment directly on their prices but when I notice listings that appear over and over and I think their price is unreasonable I suggest to them that they watch a similar eBay for a week to get a better idea of what is expected.
In my area one seller has been posting and reposting his ZX-50 with Promaster 28-80 lens for at least six months asking over $100.
Now I am not interferring or arogant enough to be one of those who posts their own public reply to the listing like I have seen a few times. I am not rude enough to post Re: ZX-50 blah, blah to Craigslist but I did finally send the seller some kindly remarks and opinions about
his listing. Today he listed it again and took $25 of his price. A ZX-50 with Promaster mini zoom and small Pentax hip holster bag can be yours for $100.
Would anyone like me to be the mediator for you on this deal?

Nowhere Matt · 05-27-2010, 09:38 AM

Also this week I went back to five or six listings I had interest in and sent the sellers friendly messages. Some of my remarks were that I thought Pentax users
are small in numbers but a few are always on the lookout for good glass. I suggested that they carefully consider their first two offers, particularly because of the lack of Pentax's presence in stores in my greater metropolitan area. I further added that if the are unsuccessful with their listing that they first consider making donations of the gear to a local school or veteran's program. Or at the very least keep my email and contact me before you throw the stuff out or give it to Good Will and I
may give you something for it and bring it here so someone can use it. This has not been successful for me of course, but worth a shot

magkelly · 05-27-2010, 10:34 AM

There is one guy on our local CL that is completely into fleecing students. The K1000 is still the "thing" in the local photography programs so this guy regularly posts low quality K1000 plus lens kits that he'd be lucky to get all of $100 for on Ebay. Several people have posted comments but he just ignores them and waits for that one sucker I guess.

Don't get me wrong I love me some Pentax vintage gear, but I've looked up his "bargains" enough times to realize that he's just insanely priced for what he's offering. But when people tell him he just gets hostile and insists that because his setup is "vintage" that it's worth anywhere from $300 on up regardless of condition and the quality of the lens.

There are some SLR cameras pre 1970 that are worth a lot regardless, real collectibles, but in my book asking $300 plus for a standard lens, on a very common Spotmatic or K-1000 body that's not even been cleaned properly is just plain ballsy.

He's clearly dreaming, and I seriously doubt that he ever sells much given his attitude and his prices, but I guess he doesn't care so long as he gets that one desperate student who's on the wire for needing their kit, and wants it NOW that's all that matters.

I wish he was the only one, but actually one of the schools is almost as bad. The only difference is their kit actually offers a decent lens or sometimes two and has been properly seen to in term of cleaning and repair. $300-350 is still a bit much IMHO for any student for a really old camera kit, but at least the school takes the effort to make sure what they sell still functions and isn't a total lemon at least.

This guy you can see the dirt on his stuff in the pics he posts. It's nasty, but he still wants prime $$$ for it, always.

Nowhere Matt · 05-27-2010, 11:44 AM

I have no intention of interfering with many of these ads. Of course if I thought someone was doing something criminally wrong or too morally corrupt I suppose I would use a little stronger language. I have only recently begun this sort of contact and have only sent messages to a handful of sellers. Far be if from me to get involved if someone hopes to sell equipment at a potentially high price. But when the same listing often appears every two weeks in my filtered search of "photo/video" on CG, I guess I get a bit cranky.
Also the other day I thought of suggesting a thread here in the Marketplace to help people find Craigslist bargains. I wondered if forum members would participate in a thread in a sub forum where a forum member might pass along interesting Craigslist sales. Forum members would post a link to a local sale and ask other members to send personal messages if anyone would be interested in the gear and be the mediator of that exchange. You know like, I may not be interested in this or that lens and may not wish to buy the lens in hopes of flipping it in our Marketplace. But on occasion if I were to see a collection of lenses I thought was a very good price and surely someone here might be interested in it, post a link for lookers and see if someone wants me to ask questions and get them on their behalf. Yes it would require a lot of trust in both parties and perhaps effort without much reward on another's part.
The other day I sent a message to a seller who listed four lenses nearly three weeks ago. In brief I asked if the lenses were still available and also included some remarks about the area's local Pentax population. Telling him among other things, if at some point he still has not had satisfaction with his listing, give me a message and perhaps we can make a deal at a lower price and I would bring them to this Pentax community in hopes someone will find use for them.
Well in short, he described them as an assortment of four K mount lenses, some with cases. Two of them were short length primes and two mid range zooms. Also two flash units. He stated he had once gone to a local camera store and they told him Pentax K mount. He said at this point he would take any reasonable offer and I offered him half of what he was asking. We met later than evening and I immediately saw they were K AR mount. He told me a few stories about listing them on ebay a few times and the questions and issues involved with that were beyond his knowledge. Plus he received no bids. He had a Nikon guy look at them once he posted to Craigslist but during the face to face inspection, the lenses would not mount to his digital. That's when he went to a camera store just across the state line and the guy suggested they were Pentax K mount.
So after I had looked at all the lenses, told him they were definitely not Pentax mount, I suggested that he search Konica for better identification. I also suggested that his target customer group just shrank even smaller. I wished him luck and apologized if his time was wasted but at least he could be on perhaps a proper path of identification and sale.

alohadave · 05-27-2010, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Forum members would post a link to a local sale and ask other members to send personal messages if anyone would be interested in the gear and be the mediator of that exchange. You know like, I may not be interested in this or that lens and may not wish to buy the lens in hopes of flipping it in our Marketplace. But on occasion if I were to see a collection of lenses I thought was a very good price and surely someone here might be interested in it, post a link for lookers and see if someone wants me to ask questions and get them on their behalf. Yes it would require a lot of trust in both parties and perhaps effort without much reward on another's part.

If people want something on CL, there are ways to search other areas. I've had people across the country inquiring about my listings.

Nowhere Matt · 05-27-2010, 09:40 PM

Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number?

Blue · 05-27-2010, 09:54 PM

Originally posted by Nowhere Matt

Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number?

The PayPal account is an email address and she could only send money too it.

On the OP, I saw a local ZX-50 and lens for $250.

I don't see much local Pentax on CL so I don't worry about it.

alohadave · 05-27-2010, 10:51 PM

Originally posted by Nowhere Matt

Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number?

No, I mean legitimate buyers using PayPal buying for themselves.

Ed n Georgia · 05-29-2010, 11:55 AM

Originally posted by Nowhere Matt

Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number?

Oh, I know her. I sold her a lens for cash and local pick up. She informed me that she had made a payment to my paypal account and could I kindly ship the lens to somewhere in Africa.

The payment, she claimed to have made, was sent to an e-mail address that I use exclusively for CL.

I sent her back a note and told her that I had sold the lens to someone else and it was no longer available. She insisted that I mail her a check in refund of her payment. I told her to file a claim with PayPal.

Never heard from her(?) again.

05-27-2010, 09:22 AM	#1
Nowhere Matt Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Nowhere Land Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,362	Pentax Police On Craigslist Do we have any guardians of the brand here who try to be helpful or even critical with sellers of Pentax equipment on Craigslist? I don't comment directly on their prices but when I notice listings that appear over and over and I think their price is unreasonable I suggest to them that they watch a similar eBay for a week to get a better idea of what is expected. In my area one seller has been posting and reposting his ZX-50 with Promaster 28-80 lens for at least six months asking over $100. Now I am not interferring or arogant enough to be one of those who posts their own public reply to the listing like I have seen a few times. I am not rude enough to post Re: ZX-50 blah, blah to Craigslist but I did finally send the seller some kindly remarks and opinions about his listing. Today he listed it again and took $25 of his price. A ZX-50 with Promaster mini zoom and small Pentax hip holster bag can be yours for $100. Would anyone like me to be the mediator for you on this deal?

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05-27-2010, 09:38 AM	#2
Nowhere Matt Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Nowhere Land Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,362 Original Poster	Also this week I went back to five or six listings I had interest in and sent the sellers friendly messages. Some of my remarks were that I thought Pentax users are small in numbers but a few are always on the lookout for good glass. I suggested that they carefully consider their first two offers, particularly because of the lack of Pentax's presence in stores in my greater metropolitan area. I further added that if the are unsuccessful with their listing that they first consider making donations of the gear to a local school or veteran's program. Or at the very least keep my email and contact me before you throw the stuff out or give it to Good Will and I may give you something for it and bring it here so someone can use it. This has not been successful for me of course, but worth a shot

05-27-2010, 10:34 AM	#3
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901	There is one guy on our local CL that is completely into fleecing students. The K1000 is still the "thing" in the local photography programs so this guy regularly posts low quality K1000 plus lens kits that he'd be lucky to get all of $100 for on Ebay. Several people have posted comments but he just ignores them and waits for that one sucker I guess. Don't get me wrong I love me some Pentax vintage gear, but I've looked up his "bargains" enough times to realize that he's just insanely priced for what he's offering. But when people tell him he just gets hostile and insists that because his setup is "vintage" that it's worth anywhere from $300 on up regardless of condition and the quality of the lens. There are some SLR cameras pre 1970 that are worth a lot regardless, real collectibles, but in my book asking $300 plus for a standard lens, on a very common Spotmatic or K-1000 body that's not even been cleaned properly is just plain ballsy. He's clearly dreaming, and I seriously doubt that he ever sells much given his attitude and his prices, but I guess he doesn't care so long as he gets that one desperate student who's on the wire for needing their kit, and wants it NOW that's all that matters. I wish he was the only one, but actually one of the schools is almost as bad. The only difference is their kit actually offers a decent lens or sometimes two and has been properly seen to in term of cleaning and repair. $300-350 is still a bit much IMHO for any student for a really old camera kit, but at least the school takes the effort to make sure what they sell still functions and isn't a total lemon at least. This guy you can see the dirt on his stuff in the pics he posts. It's nasty, but he still wants prime $$$ for it, always.

05-27-2010, 11:44 AM	#4
Nowhere Matt Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Nowhere Land Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,362 Original Poster	I have no intention of interfering with many of these ads. Of course if I thought someone was doing something criminally wrong or too morally corrupt I suppose I would use a little stronger language. I have only recently begun this sort of contact and have only sent messages to a handful of sellers. Far be if from me to get involved if someone hopes to sell equipment at a potentially high price. But when the same listing often appears every two weeks in my filtered search of "photo/video" on CG, I guess I get a bit cranky. Also the other day I thought of suggesting a thread here in the Marketplace to help people find Craigslist bargains. I wondered if forum members would participate in a thread in a sub forum where a forum member might pass along interesting Craigslist sales. Forum members would post a link to a local sale and ask other members to send personal messages if anyone would be interested in the gear and be the mediator of that exchange. You know like, I may not be interested in this or that lens and may not wish to buy the lens in hopes of flipping it in our Marketplace. But on occasion if I were to see a collection of lenses I thought was a very good price and surely someone here might be interested in it, post a link for lookers and see if someone wants me to ask questions and get them on their behalf. Yes it would require a lot of trust in both parties and perhaps effort without much reward on another's part. The other day I sent a message to a seller who listed four lenses nearly three weeks ago. In brief I asked if the lenses were still available and also included some remarks about the area's local Pentax population. Telling him among other things, if at some point he still has not had satisfaction with his listing, give me a message and perhaps we can make a deal at a lower price and I would bring them to this Pentax community in hopes someone will find use for them. Well in short, he described them as an assortment of four K mount lenses, some with cases. Two of them were short length primes and two mid range zooms. Also two flash units. He stated he had once gone to a local camera store and they told him Pentax K mount. He said at this point he would take any reasonable offer and I offered him half of what he was asking. We met later than evening and I immediately saw they were K AR mount. He told me a few stories about listing them on ebay a few times and the questions and issues involved with that were beyond his knowledge. Plus he received no bids. He had a Nikon guy look at them once he posted to Craigslist but during the face to face inspection, the lenses would not mount to his digital. That's when he went to a camera store just across the state line and the guy suggested they were Pentax K mount. So after I had looked at all the lenses, told him they were definitely not Pentax mount, I suggested that he search Konica for better identification. I also suggested that his target customer group just shrank even smaller. I wished him luck and apologized if his time was wasted but at least he could be on perhaps a proper path of identification and sale.

05-27-2010, 04:29 PM	#5
alohadave Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Quincy, MA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,024	Quote: Forum members would post a link to a local sale and ask other members to send personal messages if anyone would be interested in the gear and be the mediator of that exchange. You know like, I may not be interested in this or that lens and may not wish to buy the lens in hopes of flipping it in our Marketplace. But on occasion if I were to see a collection of lenses I thought was a very good price and surely someone here might be interested in it, post a link for lookers and see if someone wants me to ask questions and get them on their behalf. Yes it would require a lot of trust in both parties and perhaps effort without much reward on another's part. If people want something on CL, there are ways to search other areas. I've had people across the country inquiring about my listings.

05-27-2010, 09:40 PM	#6
Nowhere Matt Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Nowhere Land Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,362 Original Poster	Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number?

05-27-2010, 09:54 PM	#7
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by Nowhere Matt Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number? The PayPal account is an email address and she could only send money too it. On the OP, I saw a local ZX-50 and lens for $250. I don't see much local Pentax on CL so I don't worry about it.

05-27-2010, 10:51 PM	#8
alohadave Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Quincy, MA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,024	Originally posted by Nowhere Matt Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number? No, I mean legitimate buyers using PayPal buying for themselves.

05-29-2010, 11:55 AM	#9
Ed n Georgia Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Georgia Posts: 940	Originally posted by Nowhere Matt Oh you mean the secretary who is buying the camera on behalf of her boss and will pay you an extra $100 to ship it to somewhere in Asia and asks for your PayPal account or routing number? Oh, I know her. I sold her a lens for cash and local pick up. She informed me that she had made a payment to my paypal account and could I kindly ship the lens to somewhere in Africa. The payment, she claimed to have made, was sent to an e-mail address that I use exclusively for CL. I sent her back a note and told her that I had sold the lens to someone else and it was no longer available. She insisted that I mail her a check in refund of her payment. I told her to file a claim with PayPal. Never heard from her(?) again.