Can you trust a GL2 "deal" from E-bay?

[Markus Thomas]

I'm looking to purchase a GL2 this year. I've seen some really nice deals on Ebay (The one's that come with $1000 worth of extras), but I'm always hesitant buying anything this expensive from Ebay. Has anyone had any success/failures buying DV equpment (this expensive) on Ebay? Most of the consumer sites (pricegrabber, ecost, pricewatch, etc.) have comparable prices but the Ebay retailers always offer "$1000 worth of extras". Can this stuff be trusted?

[Alan McCormick]

To be honest, I would not part with that sort of money on ebay. There are many, many people who have been scammed for a lot more and you only need to do a few searches to find the evidence.

Find a good dealer and save up, best be sure than be skint and still not have your GL2.

IMHO

[Ken Tanaka]

Who could accurately answer such a question?

I'm sure there are many good deals and many wannabe petty criminals on eBay. See our online auction tips thread for some good advice on this subject.

[Stephen Sawchuk]

Originally posted by Markus Thomas
I'm looking to purchase a GL2 this year. I've seen some really nice deals on Ebay (The one's that come with $1000 worth of extras), but I'm always hesitant buying anything this expensive from Ebay. Has anyone had any success/failures buying DV equpment (this expensive) on Ebay? Most of the consumer sites (pricegrabber, ecost, pricewatch, etc.) have comparable prices but the Ebay retailers always offer "$1000 worth of extras". Can this stuff be trusted?

You probably would be able to get through a transaction okay. I was considering doing this for my VX2100. There were a few sellers, all who've sold thousands of things before, and have upwards of 98.9% feedback ratings. But, for the same price, I just went to B&H and bought it, knowing that I would actually get it.

You can get a GL2 for under $2,000 from B&H, including the rebate, which is better than those eBay deals, if I recall correctly. Those extras are usually pieces of junk, from what I've read. I've heard the case was too small for the camera, the tripod is made of the cheapest plastic money can buy, and the other accessories don't add up to "$1280+" (or whatever number they're giving you). I would suggest getting the most important piece, the camera, from someone you know you can trust. Then, if you want to get all those extras, those same sellers offer $99 kits, including everything you were about to pay hundreds for.

[Charlie Durand]

I have purchased several big ticket items on eBay.

The most expensive being $1600.

PayPal has some different options for fraud protection. I've used them for every transaction over $50. Plus lots of credit card companies offer their own protection in case of fraud. Check with your bank on what they offer.

I purchased my first MiniDV camera from eBay for $800. It came with $200 worth of extras which all turned out to be crap. The camera itself was a great price but the goodies were all worthless. That's where they made the money on that deal. Ever since I buy only what I'm looking for. I'll get accessories when and if I need them later.

One thing I make sure to check is the seller's feedback. Mainly to make sure they have feedback, and lots of it. It would be hard for someone trying to screw you to fake thousands of user's feedback responses.

But as another poster already said, you can go to B&H and get exactly what you want for more or less the same price. You get peace of mind that it's going to show up. Plus you have a service department available by phone is something shoudl go wrong. This is how I purchased my GL2 recently.

Good luck!

Charlie

[Kelvin Kelm]

Check out this website for the "worst possible scenario"

http://www.philterhouse.com/nikki.html

This Ebay seller had outstanding feedback, accepted PayPal and was Square Trade verified, but people still got scammed. Fortunately, I was not a victim since I paid with a credit card through PayPal. PayPal was no help getting a refund, but the bank came through. Do all of your homework, but always pay with a credit card to get the maximum protection.

[Thomas Smith Jr]

always pay with a credit card to get the maximum protection.

I AGREE! Pretty much every credit card company out now has a 0 liability GUARANTEE! Including Discover/Visa/MC and AmEx! Use your credit card and take advantage of it!

I was ripped off for $1015.00 trying to buy a VX1000 w/ mad extras. For a while I was succesfully buying 3ccd cameras at low prices (constantly scanning the newest additions to ebay. any auction with the 'buy it now' option enabled. buying them up before anyone else could really see them for low, low prices) and relisting them elsewhere for their ACTUAL value (which usually happen to be 300 to 400 bucks more then what i bought it for) trying to eventually save enough money for a DVX100. All was going well and I made a good chunk of change. Until I sent away the money to cover what would be my final ebay transaction. I communicated with the seller very much after winning the auction then, once i sent the money. the emails stopped. And i never heard from him again. Since I sent it on paypal, paypal was able to get back SOME of my money (about 25%. paypal gave me the reimainder of the money inside of the man's paypal account). I have filed reports with pretty much every organization I could. My local PD. The PD in the town the guy said he was from. The FBI. Ebay. Paypal. This was last December. I have yet to see one more dime for any of this. And this person had 12 good comments and 0 bad. I think he compromized a legit ebayers account and abused it. This whole thing taught me that this ebay/paypal thing is alot less scam-proof than they market it to be. I haven't used ebay since. A couple months later, the police dept in his town sent me a letter to tell me that he has been doing this same scam for a couple months now and that he now has a warrant for his arrest but he has fled the state. They even sent me pictures of both him (fat) and his girlfriend (ugly) who was also in on the shananigans.

Ken is right. There is no one answer to whether a good deal is gonna get you scammed or not. There are many legit great deals on ebay but there are 10x more deals that are jerks who are gonna rip you off.

I play it safe from now on. I stick to http://www.craigslist.org for good deals on used gear. Where I can actually go and see a tangible item and hold it and use it before actually handing the money over.

[Ian Hong]

I bought my GL2 on eBay from a company similar to the ones your probably looking at, and everything went very smoothly. It was an auction, I bought it for $1,800 including the rebate, and also bought a $200 four year Mack warranty. I paid over the phone with my credit card by calling the company directly. The GL2 came with a tripod (very low quality, though) and a vanguard carrying case. Make sure they're an authorized Canon dealer, if you want the rebate.

-Ian