MPB question

[contadorfan]

Last night I bought a lens from MPB, and this afternoon they had a FedEx tracking number for me. That was certainly speedy! Delivery is in FedEx's hands now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've had no issues with MPB as well. I tend to go for "like new" condition items not only for cosmetic purposes but also increases the likelihood that the internals are working fine, whether it's a lens or body. Have bought two Nikon lenses through them: the AF-S DX 16-80mm F2.8-4 and AF-P DX 18-55mm F3.5-5.6.

They aren't the fastest to ship items out, but I believe they have an expedited option for a fee if you need the item right away.

 

[MoreorLess]

I would lay odds that this came about at the hands of a lawyer somewhere. Companies are needing to be more and more conscious of doing whatever necessary to cover the bases so to speak in the world of ever increasing law suits.

Personally I have nothing bad to say about MPB rating of and description of equipment they sell. Every single item I have bought from them was rated by them lower than I would have rated the item had I been grading.

It was the addition of the word “cosmetic “ to condition that made me ask. I’ve had no problems with my purchases from them; same goes with KEH and B&H’s used section.

Marie

Its definitely a switch but perhaps just to make the system a bit more clear? when you were looking at just condition then the grades could apply to both cosmetic and functional issues, by making the grade just cosmetic perhaps there just making it clearer whilst functional issues are much easier to list as specifics?

They do definitely seem to do(or at least did in the past) some testing as functional issues do get a mention but there is likely a limit to it. I'd expect something like a few quick AF tests and some basic image quality maybe taking a few mins but not really extensive tests of AF or for things like decentering.

 

[MoreorLess]

MPB rates the camera in two things : functionality and cosmetic condition.

If the cosmetic condition gets down (some bumps, paint going away, earased buttons, scratched screens, etc) the price drops.

If the functionality of the item is lowered (dirty lenses, hard to turn focus / zoom ring, broken screen, non functional AF or image stabilization etc) then the price is lowered again, and the defect mentionned in the product description.

If the camera or lens has a functional problem that makes it unusable (broken shutter, camera not turning on, no screens working), then it's sold at a heavy discount as "spares and repairs".

My guess would be the switch is to make that clearer, when condition applied to everything you could get the same grade for very different things, something "well used" for cosmetics and "well used" for functional issues.

Instead now you have Cosmetic condition and then functional issues listed separately. I can see the logic to that because cosmetics are arguably more suited to different "grades" because they relate to a lot of things and listing specifics would be hard. Functional issues on the other hand are much more likely to be one specific thing which can be listed.

 

[contadorfan]

Last night I bought a lens from MPB, and this afternoon they had a FedEx tracking number for me. That was certainly speedy! Delivery is in FedEx's hands now.