ebay..anyone used this Pentax seller?

Hi all,

Just spotted a dubious seller with lots of Pentax items called fototrader..lens caps price £4.75 just for post cost!!! they are in London and have made their feedback private, which is a shame because there are LOTS of negative feedbacks which might have made interesting reading..

Check out item number 7617894117

Anyone used them at all? any comments?

Cheers Steve.

When I come across scumbags like this, I send them a message asking why they are cheating on postage, and saying that I NEVER buy from thieves.

Altogether now..........

G

Hi,

I'd never buy off anyone who hid their feedback.. ever. As far as postage goes, I tend to just add that to the purchase price and see if it works out as a good deal. For instance, I bought a 15"-42" tripod a couple of weeks ago, just for day trips to Europe, as that is how Mrs Liam and I are going to spend a few Saturdays over the summer. I didn't fancy carrying the bigun, so this is a nice light small alternative. The postage was £8, but the tripod was only a quid!!!!

Don't get me wrong, this is no Manfrotto, but for change out of a tenner it's an absolute bargain, and perfect for my needs. If you add up the lot and it still works out a resonable price anyway, then it's worth it.

Cheers

Liam

[quote="bretbysteve"]Check out item number 7617894117[quote]

And insurance is an extra 0.80p

I've come across this guy, he buy's cheap and sells expensive.

I've sold a fair bit on Ebay and recently got a Neutral feedback based on my delivery time, one day late after the Easter break, and £8.50 postage. The item was my much loved Takumar 70-210mm, my first ever Pentax lens.

I don't remember the actual postage cost but it was around £4 + some pence. The guy had the cheek to give me neutral feedback without making any attempt to contact me during or after the auction. I'd actually made a mistake and priced the postage for one of the 1.2Kg Sony PTZ modules I've been selling recently. I'd have been happy to refund some of the postage, but not now.

Truth is, if you've sold on Ebay you'll know how much time is involved in the whole process. I'm one of the unfortunates who's had my local post office closed so now I have to drive into town, park, pay the arm 'n a leg parking fee, etc. etc. and it all costs money.

I'm not defending this guy fototrader at all because I think his main source of income is from Ebay and he ought to have a pretty slick operation, but the costs involved with Ebay's fees, Paypal fees, and the time, materials etc. for small items like lens caps just ain't worth the trouble.

For info, a 67mm clip-on lens cap from Pentax UK is around £4.40'ish and a 67mm PH-RBL petal hood is a staggering £27.00+ . . . and they charge £8 for shipping and handling. How on earth do they ever expect to sell small parts at those kind of prices and postage? Perhaps they don't want to.

Like Liam, I think of the postal charge as being part of the price and it's not just the value of the stamps but packaging etc. too.
I must admit that I prefer to see a reasonable starting price with a fair postage rather than a penny start and correspondingly higher p+p. At the end of the sale however, the final figure is what you pay regardless of how it's broken down and if you're happy with it then it's all fair enough!

They are currently offering no name lens caps quite cheap. If you order a few items the postage is insignificant, I just got a no name memory card (1 GB) for under £14 and a 52mm cap for £0.79 !

This guy bought a 50mm f1.4 that I did not need on an ebay auction a long time ago, then stole the images I had used for the auction and resold the same thing. I think he has changed his ID at least once.

7dayshop.com are good. They usually have good offers.