Good Deal?

[dazedgonebye]

I've been offered a second chance deal on ebay for a lens I was trying to snipe on the cheap.
I don't think I can go wrong for the price, but I thought I'd ask for opinions.

It's a Calumet Caltar-S II, 8-1/4", 210mm, mounted in a Toyo lens board (which I don't need).
I'm figuring the Toyo board would sell for a little at least and the lens will be net to me for not much more than $100.
It is listed as excellent condition.

Any thoughts?

[Jon Shiu]

Are there good pictures posted? Is the seller knowledgeable and reliable? What is the return policy?

Jon

[Robert Oliver]

a lot of second chance deals from ebay are scams.... beware.

make sure the second chance deal is made from within EBAY, visible in your EBAY messages.

[dazedgonebye]

Only about 80 feedback for the seller, but all good.
Returns accepted if not as described.
I'm waiting for pictures (a stock picture was used).

[dazedgonebye]

a lot of second chance deals from ebay are scams.... beware.

make sure the second chance deal is made from within EBAY, visible in your EBAY messages.

Thanks,
I hadn't thought of that, but yes, the message is from within ebay.

[jnantz]

a lot of second chance deals from ebay are scams.... beware.

make sure the second chance deal is made from within EBAY, visible in your EBAY messages.


exactly

i wouldn't touch it with a 10foot pole ..
buying from a dealer is always better than eboo,
unless it is a known quanitity, like dagor77.

[Emil Schildt]

easy to solve: just write the seller and ask, whether he gave you this offer...

I've had these offers several times, and only one was legit..

[venchka]

Verify the second chance deal with the seller. Second chance offers: One more reason I swore off ebay.

Yesterday there was a perfectly good 203mm Kodak Ektar for $200 right here. Takes a lot of the worry out of dealing with unknown products on ebay.

Every indication that the Ektar is still available.

[Kuzano]

The things on this listing that bother me:

Last feedback 2 1/2 years ago.
Only 2 listings as a seller. All the rest as a buyer.
Can't gauge types of auctions, since feedback is fairly old.
Two negative feedbacks out of 80 trans.... translates to 96/97% positive

OTOH

The lens is made by Rodenstock and if the lens condition/coatings are good, it's worth the price. However, shorter lenses than 210 seem to be worth more. The shutter is an unknown, since the seller seems not to know much about it.

Remember that fraud on ebay is often perpetrated by finding accounts that are inactive and hacking them. That's where noticing that the time since the last feedback comes into play. This account seems to have been a relatively active BUYER account and then went inactive about 2.5 years ago. ?????????

I always check original date of membership, recency and consistent patterns of feedback activity, and ratio of buy vs sell activity.

If I wanted this lens, I'd probably contact the seller and pose all those questions. Nothing wrong with that. The worst you can do is piss off a questionable deal or scare off a scammer. You can't get any bad feedback out of it if the auction is not closed and the transaction completed.

[BradS]

minor point...the Caltar S-Ii is well known to be a Schneider Symmar-S. Not Rodenstock


I would not take the second chance offer - on this or any. Very likely a scam.

Besideds, you can do better.

[dazedgonebye]

I hadn't expected this much skepticism.

Point is taken regarding the low number of sales.
It is a second chance offer from within ebay, so I assume the seller is real.
I have messaged, so I should get confirmation on my questions.
After I sell the lens board, this is looking to be maybe $110 for the lens. Can I really do much better than that? (Assuming I'm not getting ripped off.)

[Kuzano]

minor point...the Caltar S-Ii is well known to be a Schneider Symmar-S. Not Rodenstock


I would not take the second chance offer - on this or any. Very likely a scam.

Besideds, you can do better.

S-II Schneider. The Rodenstock is with an N instead of an S.

[venchka]

Depends on the quality of the lens and the shutter. Carol Miller can fix the shutter for $50. Chances are, you'll have a $110 winner and the rest of us will be envious.

On the other hand, the second chance thing still bothers me. When I realized how easy and common it was for folks to get my information from ebay, I quit going there.

[Sevo]

YMMV - Symmars are not particularily vulnerable to Schneideritis (separation), as they don't have as agressively curved surfaces as the Super-Angulons, so chances are that the glass is fine.

On the other hand, Symmars in the most common focal lengths are very widespread, which makes them quite affordable - $110 for the glass alone is average or worse. If the shutter needs fixing, it would be no bargain...

Sevo

[Arne Croell]

YMMV - Symmars are not particularily vulnerable to Schneideritis (separation), as they don't have as agressively curved surfaces as the Super-Angulons, so chances are that the glass is fine.
Sevo
"Schneideritis" is not lens separation; it is small spots of the black edge paint detaching from the lens element rim, visible as white spots or "bubbles" at the lens element rim (not in the lens itself!). It has nothing to do with the curvature (as opposed to separation) and is in most cases only a cosmetic flaw, without effect on performance. Schneider lenses, including older ones, very rarely show separation, as opposed to early Rodenstock Sironars (1st version) from the 1970's where this is much more common.

[dazedgonebye]

Well, I'm less enthusiastic, but not completely disuaded.
Assuming the glass is good and the shutter works, it looks to be lower than the average deal.
Waiting for answers from the seller.

[Bjorn Nilsson]

Yes, if the sellers answer seems legit, the price isn't bad at all.
The last time I got a "second chance" to buy a lens I had already received the lens and was perfectly happy with it. The "second chance offer" also had all the warning flags up, as it was a plain text message from a totally different "seller", on another continent. What worried me then was how my email address came into the hands of the scamsters. Since then *bay have changed the way the bidding is displayed, which makes it's harder to make these scams.

//Björn

[Brian Ellis]

I hadn't expected this much skepticism.

Point is taken regarding the low number of sales.
It is a second chance offer from within ebay, so I assume the seller is real.
I have messaged, so I should get confirmation on my questions.
After I sell the lens board, this is looking to be maybe $110 for the lens. Can I really do much better than that? (Assuming I'm not getting ripped off.)

Given the fact that the seller has good feedback (don't care that much whether it's as a buyer or seller, the question is whether he's honest) and the 2nd chance is within ebay, for $110 I'd do it after first emailing the seller to make sure you're dealing with the seller. And no, for this lens in good condition you won't do any better than than that. I sold a 210 APO Symmar with a few scuff marks on the glass for about $350.

[David Vickery]

I use that same lens on my 8x10 and at $110.00 it is a great deal, assuming that you have, as others have cautioned, verified its legitimacy.

[IanG]

For the price it's worth a very slight risk, if there's in fact any any. I have the same Schneider lens and it's excellent, I paid more than 2.5 times as much and still had a bargain. The Caltar-S II is the Multicoated Symmar, I also have a 135 bought through this forum

Ian

[seawolf66]

Buyer Beware : I fell for a second chance deal and it cost me $987.65 USA Fund , Make DAM Sure its a real second chance deal ,check with ebay on it : Lauren

[dazedgonebye]

Well, not knowing the nature of second chance offers...it was sold to someone that didn't hesitate.
On to the next possible bargain.

Thanks all.

[venchka]

Interesting. The seller didn't go in order of next highest bidder?

No worries. That may have been one in a million legitimate second chance offers. Now go get the 203mm Kodak Ektar here at LFPF.