Originally posted by andrewd Many sellers seem to have absolutely no idea what the word [mint] means.
I think they know perfectly well what it means. They just want the word to catch the eye of potential buyers to make them pause and look as they browse through the Ebay pages.
My understanding is that "mint" is like it came from the factory. It comes of course from the world of coin collection, the coin being as minted. Strictly speaking, for cameras and stuff, it should even include the box and packaging; that was how it tended to be when used gear was sold from a shop - the item itself was shown in the window, but when you bought it the shopkeeper would re-unite it with its box from the back of the shop.
I have seen things advertised as mint that were indeed totally unmarked and maybe hardly used, even boxed, but the sellers had modified them in some way that was an improvement, at least in their eyes, like adding a carry handle to a tripod. But modified cannot be not mint.