Would you buy a used E-5 if return is not accepted?

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

BigBen08 said:

BigBen08 wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

Click to expand...

I buy s/h off ebay a bit, but make sure that I can return it if unsatisfactory
I think that s/h cameras from sites like Amazon and Adorama are safer though

the amounts even for older cameras is still a fair bit of money if something somewhere goes wrong
buyer protection is to me a part of the package

KEH has a good policy, even before the sale. You can actually call and talk to someone who will personally check on the condition of the gear before it's shipped.

It doesn't really matter much what the seller's policy is regarding returns. Under eBay buyer protection policy, you can always return an item for refund if it does not match the claims made in the ad.

I have purchased lots of camera gear from ebay over the last few years. In the very few cases where the ad misrepresented the gear and the seller wasn't forthcoming, I simply filed a claim through ebay and returned the item for a full refund. It takes maybe a month to get your money back but it is fairly foolproof. Just make sure you study the seller claims made in the ad carefully.

I would check Keh or Adorama or B&H Photo for any used ones available.

BigBen08 said:

BigBen08 wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

Click to expand...

Does your "toying" means that if in a while you get borred... you will sell it away. Then buy used. But E5 price is still high. Good Luck.

Jakop

I agree that buying off eBay is not risky. I bought a used Nikon D3 for a unusually good price and it never arrived. I submitted a claim and was reimbursed within a month.

And you can also ask the seller questions on line and they will give you truthful answers. The whole eBay system is built on buyer and seller feedback. Don't buy from a seller with low scores or who has just started selling on eBay. Some say do't buy from someone who has less than 10 feedbacks.


Tom Kolenich

www.niceweddingphotos.com

BigBen08 said:

BigBen08 wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

Click to expand...

I dont buy anything for more than $5 (US) that cant be returned.

To do so is foolish, and even if Ebay will return your money, you have wasted your most valuable resource.(Time).

Cameta, KEH, B&H... all three have very good reputations with used/repacked/refurbed stuff.

BigBen08 said:

BigBen08 wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

Click to expand...

NO.

No...absolutely not. I've gotten a lot of great deals on Ebay, but about 5 percent of them, I got sent "junk" or they cheated me. Because of that, I do not make large dollar value purchases. One time my used Olympus DSLR camera was delivered to the wrong address (that wasn't the sellers fault, except the seller did not allow for a provision for the buyer to sign for the item upon receipt). Fortunately, the person found out who I was...also was honest...and had me pick it up from them. UPS delivered it to the wrong address during the Christmas season rush, and just dropped it off on their front porch with no required signature.

I also got lots of other examples of scam or fraudulent activity. One time I bid for a great price for an item on Ebay, and she said that she dropped it or damaged it somehow. So she didn't want to send it out to me for that low price, being that it was destroyed. Another time, someone just collected our money and only sent approximately half of us the items (a number of us bid for them). I found out about that, because I was home with an illness, and emailed everyone else to see what had happened. Other times, the wrong items are sent and I believe they do it on purpose. But because about 95% of the people give us good deals, we have to outweigh the good with the bad. But I would limit the risk to no more than about $200 (USD).

As mentioned earlier - items qualifying for the buyer protection policy are a safe bet. "No returns" is a policy against impulse buys and against you changing your mind, but if the item has been misrepresented - you can return the item via Ebay claim.


Plus, you have to pay via paypal.

I once bought a $800 50-200mmSWD which was never sent to me (seller sold it to the second bidder after me and tried to keep my money as well) - I got reimbursed and seller got suspended.

As for sellers - look at the number of feedbacks AND at the number of recent feedbacks.

A seller with a high feedback score for items sold 90 days or more ago can be fishy sometimes.

Feedbacks newer than 90 days allow you to check what the item was. This will protect you from scammers who collect high feedback by selling $0.01 virtual items, and then start scamming people on expensive stuff.

So good fresh seller feedback on other high value items is your friend.

My calculus would be something like this--1. how much is the standard Oly service charge for a body repair, including shipping and the use time lost? 2. what's a fair price for a clean used E-5 body? Subtract 1 from 2, then discount another 10% for your stress.

That's the most I'd pay.

Cheers,

Rick

goblin - Did you ever get that 50-200 SWD?

I got one and might be tempted to let it go for $800 NET...though I'd like to maybe keep it with this E-3 that I got at the same time as a pair. The pair never seem to miss focus...really odd?

Anyhow, best wishes for the end of this year and next of course.

Dan

While I respect Thomas K and have to agree that I have never actually been ripped-off through EBay, my general experience has been that if there is the least irregularity with a transaction its crude automated procedures are extremely frustrating and seldom worth the trouble.

The best and safest deals there tend to be from brick and mortar retailers who also sell through the internet.

As for the E-5, though, I can confidently say that it is unlikely to disappoint you. Somehow, although it is so much like the E-3, it manages to make so many mostly small but significant areas that it manages to be a substantially better camera. As the way its price has managed to stay so much higher tends to indicate.

I agree with Thomas. You can buy from eBay if you're careful. Don't buy from a new seller. Don't buy from anyone with a less-than stellar rating. Look for lots of recent feedback from people who bought from him, where he/she was the seller.

You have to ask lots of pointed questions. Ask about condition, operation, any faults, marks, scratches, unworking features, number of shutter clicks (tell them how to find it if needed), ... and so on. Ask them if they've tested it recently and to what level of use. There should be plenty of good, sharp photos showing every side of the camera. Think of and ask all of the things you'd expect from a good used camera. Get a commitment about every question. If any of the answers seem lame, incomplete or impatient, ask the same question again or take a pass.

Ask for and expect to be able to return the camera within 7 days or so if anything is not as described. "No return" can mean two things. Either it is as is with no guarantees, or you can not return it if it is as they described. The latter is fine so long as you have a clear understanding of the condition. They don't want it returned if you decide you don't want an Olympus E-5.

That's the perfect way for someone to unload an item that has undisclosed problems.

On an expencive item I always ask them a question. If they never respond, they likely won't respond when there is a problem either. Another thing is look at their feedback. If they get a negative or two I look and see if they give some snotty response to it. That is VERY telling about a seller more so than someone complaining. That said, I have never been "burned" buying on ebay.

I'd rather buy from someone on a forum. I've purchased thousands of dollars of photography and motor-cycle accessories from various forums and never been stiffed. I jokingly attribute this to the old cliche "Honor among Thieves".

I've been less fortunate purchasing off of Ebay but always got my money back by filing a claim with paypal. As always, YMMV.

BigBen08 said:

BigBen08 wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of buying an E-5. I'm turned off by the $1600+ new price, so I'm considering used. Ebay has a few, but many sellers say returns not accepted.

I'm curious, would you buy an expensive camera off ebay if you can't return it?

Click to expand...

I would not let it stop me, if everything else looks OK. I have bought and sold a lot of cameras on Ebay. It has allowed me to try most of the Olympus DSLR line at modest cost. I was burned once buying an E-510 from an utterly dishonorable seller and had to slug my way out of it through the Paypal/Ebay process, but came out OK in the end. (The last act act was that she tried to use Ebay feedback to flame me as the buyer, which isn't allowed, and was deleted by Ebay.)

As a buyer I have often contacted sellers to ask questions about why the too-good-to-be-true item is so good. You can tell a lot about the replies--I don't buy unless I'm comfortable with the story. I have had some wonderful successes this way and very, very few bad experiences.

I bought my E-5 on Ebay. It had only a few hundred actuations and was being sold by a seller who said that his photography business was failing. It is basically brand-new and works well.

As an individual seller I always select "no returns accepted" simply because that's expected by both buyers and seller. If it's a commercial seller maybe that's different. If they are repeatedly selling the same item they should be aware of defects, whereas the one-time seller might not have that perspective. At any rate those are the typical expectations.

sd40 said:

sd40 wrote

As an individual seller I always select "no returns accepted" simply because that's expected by both buyers and seller.

Click to expand...

I don't agree with that. I've sold many expensive items with a 14 day return policy. I think it gives the buyer some peace of mind, and might encourage more and higher bids. Of course this is just my opinion.