Getting rid of negative FS posts from non-involved users...

[Jim Galli]

In any case, there is a term old country folk have for those who spend all their time worrying about bad things that might happen to people they assume are vulnerable. "Do-gooder." It is not a compliment. We have too much of an attitude these days of people needing to be protected from themselves. When you think about it, it is a patronizing and elitist attitude.

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."

Rick "who doesn't need or want a babysitter and assumes others feel the same way" Denney

AMEN Bro. Don't need any more do-gooders trying to help me, thanks very much.

My do-gooder tale. This guy has a bunch of ecclectic antique portrait and soft focus lenses from a collection so I buy one and shoot him a querry. "Got any Pinkham and Smith lenses?" He says "Yeah, but it's incomplete. It only has a rear element." Now I have knowledge, he has none. It's only SPOSED to have a rear element. I could have bought it for $700 bucks because he thinks it's broke. Here's the question for you do-gooders?

Do I tell him it's complete? Or do I PayPal him $700 bucks as fast as I can?

So I'm an idiot do-gooder and eventually purchase the lens for $2200. After that I decided it's NOT MY JOB to educate everybody about what they've got if they're too lazy and stupid to find out. My stupidity cost me $1500 and I'm just a guy making wages. $1500 is a ton of money for me.

[BrianShaw]

Here's the question for you do-gooders?

Do I tell him it's complete? Or do I PayPal him $700 bucks as fast as I can?

This "do-gooder" will offer you $500 for that broken lens you paid way too much for.

[Deane Johnson]

Jim Gallli's story rings true with me. I offered a lens on this forum at a set price I would be happy with. A member told me he would buy it for that, but I was underpricing it. I told him that I had offered it at a specific price and if he wanted it, I would stick to the price. He suggested I try for more first. I ended up putting it on eBay and got considerably more, which I was certainly happy with, but, I would have gladly sold it to the forum member at the original price.

I'm old fashioned. I grew up on an Iowa farm many years ago, and one's word was his bond. Honesty and integrity was what determined who you were.

[jeroldharter]

I'm old fashioned. I grew up on an Iowa farm many years ago, and one's word was his bond. Honesty and integrity was what determined who you were.

In my experience, many on this forum have similar values. That is why I like to buy and sell here.

[Mike1234]

The next time one of these non-do-gooders needs to have work done on their car I hope they can find an honest mechanic. And before someone jumps in and says I know too much to be cheated by an auto mechanic... let your wife or girlfriend take her car without you there to run interference. Ignorance is an excuse to cheat someone. Give me a break...

[rdenney]

The next time one of these non-do-gooders needs to have work done on their car I hope they can find an honest mechanic. And before someone jumps in and says I know too much to be cheated by an auto mechanic... let your wife or girlfriend take her car without you there to run interference. Ignorance is an excuse to cheat someone. Give me a break...

Sigh. There are services to rate mechanics. Wary and wise consumers use them. (Angie's List comes to mind. Word of mouth does also.) Those who get screwed usually put themselves in a desperate position and have no choice, such as by letting their car make terrible noises for two weeks before it breaks catastrophically, or by not following the maintenance schedule in their owner's manual.

But I fail to see the equivalence between that and someone who might have paid a hundred bucks too much for a camera lens. If something is being misrepresented, we've all agreed that it should be pointed out.

We've all been screwed at one time or another by misrepresentation, but the subject of this thread is people kibitzing about the price and value of an item they are not themselves prepared to buy at any price.

Rick "who once saw one of his rare tubas being offered for sale on ebay by Persons Unknown--now THAT brought out the big guns, messages to bidders, etc." Denney

[Mike1234]

Sigh. There are services to rate mechanics. Wary and wise consumers use them. (Angie's List comes to mind. Word of mouth does also.) Those who get screwed usually put themselves in a desperate position and have no choice, such as by letting their car make terrible noises for two weeks before it breaks catastrophically, or by not following the maintenance schedule in their owner's manual.

But I fail to see the equivalence between that and someone who might have paid a hundred bucks too much for a camera lens. If something is being misrepresented, we've all agreed that it should be pointed out.

We've all been screwed at one time or another by misrepresentation, but the subject of this thread is people kibitzing about the price and value of an item they are not themselves prepared to buy at any price.

Rick "who once saw one of his rare tubas being offered for sale on ebay by Persons Unknown--now THAT brought out the big guns, messages to bidders, etc." Denney

Word of mouth? You mean as in hearing it from a neighbor or other social group that an auto mechanic is overcharging? In a service sort of way, isn't Angie's List such a social group? Isn't this forum considerably more connected than Angie's List?

Heck, an auto mechanic can charge a couple hundred bucks for a standard oil change if he wishes. But that doesn't make it right when your wife (if she knows no better) hands you that bill. You're going to be very pissed off not only that the mechanic overcharged but that he took advantage of her vulnerability, aren't you?

[theBDT]

As much as I may agree with where some people are coming from in this discussion, hasn't the topic become theoretical at this point? Aren't the vast majority of sellers on this forum reputable? Is it really a common practice to find grossly over-valued (or under-valued) items in the FS section? I'm asking because I'd genuinely like to know.

I guess I can see both sides at this point. On the one hand, a potential buyer should do homework, lest they over-pay for something. On the other, a potential seller should also do homework, lest they be called out for over-charging.

Not that I was about to rush into the FS forum with all kinds of money and start buying up things anyway, but I certainly will be sure to be cautious wherever I decide to shop for my equipment.

[Brian_A]

There is an extreme difference between an auto mechanic and LF gear. You can go find accurate pricing for about any given lens or camera (With the exception of the more rare pieces) on a number of different sites. If you're shooting LF to begin with, you should already have an idea of what these sites are or know there are a number of people here that one could ask.

Market value is what someone is willing to pay for an item. If you're willing to pay $5,000 for a 90mm Schneider XL, then that's what you're willing to pay. Otherwise, go buy it somewhere else to try and find it cheaper. If you can't do any research then you are asking to be ripped off in the first place. If you're not unwilling enough to invest a very small amount of time on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, fleaBay, etc, then you're asking to be ripped off. You can generally go to used camera gear websites, which are very actively listed in a number of magazines, books and forums and try and figure out if you're getting a good deal or not. Your argument is completely without merit. We're talking about camera gear, not mechanics - of which there are much more specific (price-wise) sites to verify pricing on.

[Brian_A]

Aren't the vast majority of sellers on this forum reputable? Is it really a common practice to find grossly over-valued (or under-valued) items in the FS section? I'm asking because I'd genuinely like to know.

For the most part, the sellers here are fairly reputable, I've found. I've bought a number of things from here and never had any issues with pricing or quality. I've also been lucky enough to deal with the sellers who seem to get things to me in very short order.

Are there people out there who think that their gear is worth more than it actually is and try and sell it as such? Sure. On purpose? I don't think so. Maybe they just hadn't been paying attention to the direction of the market or if the market was currently flooded with that piece of gear in recent times, driving the price down. Maybe they were just trying to get their initial investment back.

I've also got stuff under-valued. I wouldn't say grossly, but I've gotten some good deals and seen many come and go. It's a fairly good place to find things to buy, imo. I've bought stuff over on fleaBay too, but I'd rather deal with someone here than there.

-Brian