Need possible buy help on german ebay

Post by **Rollef** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:57 pm

I don't have an Ebay account and I don't know how Ebay "works".

There is an item there I would like to get but I need help. If you can help me just send me a PM

Thanks,

Knut.

Post by aj » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:17 pm

Try joining eBay, it takes only a few minutes.

Frequently you can converse with german sellers in english. If not, don't buy from them. Agree on shipping before bidding.

Also be warned that untested means they have tested it be it didn't work. Goes for all eBay auctions

Post by **lastcoyote** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:25 am

yes, and always buy from those member who has as many as positive feedback and less Negative.

If you ask questions and they ignore you, don't buy from them.

Post by **pinetar** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:16 am

You must take action yourself in this case, no one can help or bid for you unless you drop off cash.

Just go thru the process, we all did.

Post by **Angus** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 11:36 am

I'd echo the advice here and say sign up for an eBay and PayPal account.

I've had some great deals with German eBayers, though you do find that in parts of Germany English is not widely spoken. My German is just about good enough, and web translators do the rest.

The German super 8 scene seems pretty vibrant and there are some amazing deals to be had. Do watch for people claiming they "don't know" if a camera/projector works...that goes for every country, they probably have a good idea that the item has a fault.

Post by **gianni1** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 11:47 am

Don't spend more than you are willing to throw away. Exceptions are for stuff like you know the seller personally or it's a "bricks and mortar" business.

Think of it as a fancy junk - garage - yard - boot sale - flea market - etc of hard to find items for Hobby use. It's a treasure trove for 8mm and super 8 cameras. Exceptions are for occasions like when NASA needs obsolete computer kit to read data from space craft deployed thirty years ago.

Gianni 8)

Post by **Rollef** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:08 pm

gianni1 wrote:Exceptions are for occasions like when NASA needs obsolete computer kit to read data from space craft deployed thirty years ago.

Gianni 8)

How fast we throw away yesterdays technology and move on to somethig "better".

Thanks for your tips guys. I appreciate it

Post by aj » Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:57 pm

After joining eBay and when you find an auction which you want to try your bid remenber to make up your mind about the max bid amount before it nears the end. The best and only bid strategy is to bid very late. I.e. 10 sec before the end of the auction. You have to calculate for the forms to fill out and the acknowledge screen which you should OK at named 10 sec. This way you prevent other bidders from receiving an email which may challenge them to enhance their bid and thus the end-bid higher. If you really start bidding routinely you could start using a bidding robot. These bid in the last 5 sec, they don't forget, are a sleep, want to sleep or don't get hold up in traffic. http://www.bidnapper.com

If the item is not from a routine seller check if you are welcome to bid from EU or Norway. Some sellers thinks crooks live outside their country even while they live in a country where 1% of the people is in jail.

Guess where. Also it is best to determine shipping and handling costs beforehand as some sellers have a way of charging plenty like Euro 10 for simple envelopes of Euro 0.25 or small standard boxes of Euro 0.70 I suppose this actually is a covert way of charging the auction fees to the buyer.

If you spot something really rare you may want to test the auction with a very low bid. That way you can determine if you may bid and seller has not excluded parts of the world with evil-doers or where seller fears difficult forms.

Also with rare items you better not discuss these before closing of the auction in public or with friends as these may want to compete for the thing and therewith raise the end-bid.

Post by **Termin8Anakin** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:04 am

I'm glad that my experience with ebay buying my S8 camera is over!

It's a gruelling process, but if you persevere it's well worth it, especially when your efforts nab you a good deal on a working camera!

Here's what I did:

1) Do LOTS of research.
Super8Wiki, and forums like this are an utterly invaluable resource!

2) Make a list of cameras that have the features you want.
Firstly, I stuck to cameras that were compatible with Kodak's E64T stock without having to manually adjust the exposure. Then I narrowed it down again to cameras that could shoot at 18fps as well as 24fps, since I knew that one day I was going to do sync sound.
I ended up having a list of about 15 cameras from Canon, Chinon, Nikon and Bauer.

3) Once I did the above, THEN I checked ebay for auctions on the cameras I wanted. Here's where you must persevere a lot.
You must check a lot of things on ebay:
- The seller: do they have VERY close to 100% feedback? Are they an individual, a store...? Where are they from? Check other items that the seller has sold. It may be valuable in determining if it's an OK seller.
- The description: How detailed is it? Check for signs of knowledge in what is being sold as opposed to copy/pasting info, as opposed to trying to make a quick buck hocking someone else's stuff. Are there photos? If not, ask for some.
Photos will be able to show you how good the condition of the camera is, especially the lens and other important parts.
If you're unable to get any of these details, look elsewhere.
- The price and the bidders: How much are the same cameras fetching in other auctions? Most of the time, the seller will set the starting price at something ridiculous, while others get their friends to make dummy bids to jack up the price. Set youself a budget, allowing for shipping.
- Shipping: Be wary of purchasing from overseas. You may have gotten the camera for a KILLER bargain, but shipping may end up being more than the camera itself, so be prepared for that!
- Frequency of Auctions: This is one other thing you must check: how often the camera you're after appears on ebay. Auctions for the Nikon and Bauer hardly appeared (to me anyway), so that narrowed my list down even further. It's also a relief to know that if you miss out on one auction, another will be around soon.

Now, I'm in the same boat as you here, Rollef: I don't have an ebay account of my own.
I had to get my friends to help me. The advantage of doing this from creating your own account is that my friends had 100% feedback, so the seller was more willing to deal with them than someone who has 0 feedback.

The camera I got, the Canon 1014 Autozoom Electronic, was fetching upward of $150 in most auctions. Others still are currently being advertised at $600-$700, and all this NOT including shipping!
I can proudly say that I got mine for $100, incl shipping!! I've yet to test it fully, but so far it looks and sounds great!
In terms of the auction itself, the description wasn't all that great, but the guy did know what he was talking about, even though he was selling a relative's camera.
It's totally up to you in how much you trust the seller. Everything I needed to know he provided a description of, and there were plenty of photos to check out.

There's plenty of risk involved, especially since demand for the popular models (and WORKING ones at that) is high. Sometimes you may end up getting a total bargain.

Good luck Rollef!

Post by **mattias** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:46 pm

yeah, bidding late sometimes means you lose something you really wanted and it can be considered unfair by other bidders, but it's the best way of keeping prices down. bidding early and several times only benefits the seller in the long run. there's also a strategy known as sniping, where you place a very high bid in the last second of the auction, thus almost always winning and paying no more than the second highest bidder plus the increment. this will win you more items, but it has an obvious downside if several people do it in the same auction. ;-)

/matt

Post by **Rollef** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:53 pm

Man, I'm whipped...
My boss (read wife) do not think it's a good idea that I get much more equipment at this time. The item i was looking for I may already have scored from some other place, and now I only need to sneek it into my house. "What? - no.. I have had this little thingy for ages, darling..."
I think it's best to wait a bit on the Ebay-thing for a while, but I really appreciate all the advice you dudes have come up with. That's what makes this forum so great.
Thanks!

Post by **StoneBuilder** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:57 pm

And watch out because it can become addictive and then you start buying things just for the sake of it - oh- just like the outside world. BNIB means 'brand new in box' and if anyone were to search ebaY after about 20:00 today, Sunday, using the expression 'film editor bnib' then, I'm sure, they would find a potential bargain of great magnitude!

Post by **Angus** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:07 pm

I know how you feel, my boss...sorry wife became sick of me having so many cameras. I sold some of mine a couple of years ago (the non-64T cams) but have bought two since then. I have all my booty delivered to my work address as theres never anyone at home to take a package. That way I can tell the wife I am keeping a couple of cams at work for now....gives me an alibi when I buy another!

Actually my last purchase really was to replace one I'd been using at work, dropped on a hard floor and broke.

Post by **Janne** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:21 am

Angus wrote:Actually my last purchase really was to replace one I'd been using at work, dropped on a hard floor and broke.

Of course, there was no way you possibly could have replaced that one with any other camera you already had.

Post by **camera8mm** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:18 am

i dont use sniping services but usally bid on what i think its worth or am willing to pay for it.
i've been out bid but the other buyer is usually paying for the outbidding.