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Sigma Telephoto 500mm f/4.5 EX DG APO Autofocus Lens for Pentax AF | eBay

Yep you read that right.

If it wasn't because I'm currently in Afghanistan and won't be returning home for another 8-9 months, BUY IT NOW would already have been hit - $1500-$2100 off retail!



I REALLY want this lens, but I'd be a complete idiot to get it now and then have my family but it in the back of the garage for until Summer 2013


Hopefully someone has been in the market for this and has been waiting for the right opportunity...


Respectfully,
Heie

[vonBaloney]

Went for $3600...

[imtheguy]

Still...heckuva discount.

[nicolas1970i]

How can it have been on offer for $2.900 when it went for $3.500 "buy-it-now"?

I missed one (DG version but with the previous fragile coating) last year in Holland - the seller "changed his mind" and kept it after we agreed the price - for 2.600€ inc. a 1.4x converter

[baro-nite]

I've been following this -- it's Harish's copy. As great a deal as this was for the buyer, I'm sorry Harish didn't get a better price.

[vonBaloney]

How can it have been on offer for $2.900 when it went for $3.500 "buy-it-now"?

I missed one (DG version but with the previous fragile coating) last year in Holland - the seller "changed his mind" and kept it after we agreed the price - for 2.600€ inc. a 1.4x converter

I was wondering that myself -- maybe he upped the price before anyone grabbed it. Or if it was an auction/bin combo with a starting price of 2900 on the auction, the buyer probably figured 3600 would still beat the final price if it went to bidding...

[baro-nite]

Or if it was an auction/bin combo with a starting price of 2900 on the auction, the buyer probably figured 3600 would still beat the final price if it went to bidding...

Just so. Although the lens had been listed several times (3 that I saw) and the last included a starting price only slightly higher than the BIN price it eventually went for, based on which I wouldn't expect bidding to exceed the BIN price. But eBay psychology is a funny thing -- incremental bidders seem unwilling to open bidding when the starting price is high, but will jump in once bidding starts. Impossible to say, of course, but the lens might have fetched a higher price if offered with a low starting bid and higher BIN.

[panoguy]

I REALLY want this lens, but I'd be a complete idiot to get it now and then have my family but it in the back of the garage for until Summer 2013

Too bad - couldn't get an APO sent to an APO?

[Heie]

Too bad - couldn't get an APO sent to an APO?

Would you send a $5000 lens through the military mail service, which is prone to being stolen, lost, or damaged over the course of a month long journey of vehicular convoys and helicopter rides, and ultimately handled by disgruntled and angry soldiers at each step of the way? lol

Also, remember my update with the fire here on base? I joked about how I had my Pentax 1200mm destroyed in the fire....woe is me, I guess the Army would have to reimburse me for such a costly loss

But in all seriousness, I have no place for it here. It would have been completely foolish to buy it lol. Besides, that's $3600 that would have been taken away from my New Zealand fund during for my two weeks' R&R

-Heie

[panoguy]

Would you send a $5000 lens through the military mail service, which is prone to being stolen, lost, or damaged over the course of a month long journey of vehicular convoys and helicopter rides, and ultimately handled by disgruntled and angry soldiers at each step of the way? lol

Yes, I see your point. Since it's personal effects, it would be destroyed... so maybe it would need an appropriate Lens Coat first.

Don't worry, by 2013 there'll be a full-frame Pentax and other crazy stuff to blow $3600 on anyhow! (Though NZ sounds fun... but personally, I'm heading back to Iceland.)