Not sure where this goes, but I'll try here. I don't buy very much anymore on flea-bay, for various reasons, many of which are covered on this board in other forums.
On the buy/sell section of this board, I've had very good luck, in fact, perhaps above average luck - at least so far.
Where I have had problems is answering local for sale ads in the newspaper or on line - such as Kijijij or Craigslist.
Now here's the thing - for local ads, I always follow up with a phone call and talk to the person before driving over to see the stuff for sale. Still I get burned - sorta- because I end up leaving and not spending any money.
Some time ago one guy advertised he was getting out of large format, and told me on the phone he owned several 4x5s, including a couple of nice field cameras I wanted to look at. When I got there, all he had for sale was a beat up, over priced 4x5 monorail. His excuse was he never directly said the other cameras were for sale, only that he had them.
He looked upset when I started to leave, so I replied back that I told him before coming that I already owned a monorail and was looking for a feild camera, so what did he expect?
That was a couple years ago, and just this past week, i drove 90 minutes out of town to look at some darkroom equipment after talking to the guy on the phone 3 times. I asked what I thought were a lot of detialed question, but with hindsight, obviously not.
To make a long story short, the equipment I was interested in was absolutely filthy (dried, caked fixer on a couple of items), and the chemistry he said he had "lots of" were nearly empty jars. I was polite, declined any purchase, thanked him for his time, and left quickly. Then another 90 minute drive back home, so three hours on the road for nothing.
I've had a couple of other such experiences, not all 90 minute drives thankfully. But it boggles my mind that a person would give you a verbal description over the phone, and then when you arrive, it's something very different. Anything I have boought off this forum in the past - Jobo drums, tripods, 8x10 camera, lenses, etc, have all been either right on target with descriptions or better than described, and the irony is, I've talked to these people too by voice on the phone.
So I guess I am just blowing off some steam, but is it just me, or anybody else have similar issues?
joe
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