Ebay - Oh Deary Dear

[John]

6" Telescope newtonian150/1400 XXL version, Megastar | eBay UK

OK this one just makes me sick-these guys are marketing themselfs as astronomers themself who know what there on about and care about what unsuspecting buyers buy, they have even included some pictures of what you can exspect too see with this wonderfull scope!!

I'm surprised at this one - these guys really are astronomers and supply top quality gear through their Telescope Services website in Germany. I've bought from them a number of times - top service and quality equipment.

They do try and inject a note of realism about magnification lower down the ad but I'm surprised that they are handling scopes of this type

The photos do depict what you could see though a decent 6" newtonian at a dark site so that's fair enough.

But not a scope I'd choose .....

[Madhatter]

I must admit i didnt even bother looking at there website, but thats quite shocking!! i guess these particular telescopes really annoy me because i recently got burnt by one myself.

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/141139-once-burnt-lesson-learnt.html

When u say decent 6" newtonian do you mean one with a parabolic mirror? the way these 1400 x 150 perform is so shockingly bad they dont even too start to compare too the pictures they have shown.

My jessops TA800-80 reflector gave me better views and iv ended up mounting that too the tripod from the 1400 x 150. admitidly the 1400 x 150 i bought was in awful condition, but even if it was spotless im pretty sure it wouldent be much better.

[John]

When u say decent 6" newtonian do you mean one with a parabolic mirror?....

Generally, yes, although a good quality spherical mirror can perform well at F/8 or slower.

[BAZ Senior]

That would just about make a good plant pot stand, oh no it wouldn't it would probably fall over, aahhh well.

Nice image of the trees at night as well.

[Daveb3650]

Now...... If you click on the 17 bids bit..... it lets you see a snippit of information about the previous bids.....

Er.... the person who has done the most bidding is a zero rated bidder - now i'm not saying that this could be a false account and i'm not saying that someone has been bidding on his own/friends auction just to hike the price up......but er....... it sure looks a bit ropey to me......

People tend to ask a lot of questions when they are buying scopes, this other bidder seems very very keen to bid....then bid again........then bid again......but not enough to win......

Aye, the good old days have gone when you could contact someone and give them some freindly advice to save them from ebay perils...

[JKB]

It cant be all that bad. Its just to easy to fall into the 'auction' frenzy or not actually know what your buying.

I have just tonight bought a Skymax 127 off EBay for £150. New unwanted gift. saved me £100 thats for sure.

Let's be honest. You wouldn't buy a scope from Lidl's would you...........

[davekermito]

I'm going to speak out for the seller here.

He/She may have larded it full of optimistic wording, but surely as an advert there is nothing wrong here. Rather than blaming the seller or trying to be ultra-helpful to potential dozy buyers, surely the buyer has take the blame for a pillock?!

I've happily sold tat for way over what I've paid for it and don't feel guilty one iota - anyone can do a bit of research before commiting a bid!

And as for dodgy bids? Using the wife's account to put in a free reserve doesn't hurt anyone but ebay, it's up to the buyer if they want to bid not the internet police.

I've got my tin hat on now just in case!

[BernieD]

EBay is not bad if you know what you want: personally I bought my second scope: 8" LX200, and a SBIG ST-2000XM on ebay... Both items were much cheaper than new and in pristine condition: most of the time astronomers take very good care of their toys...

[hayju01]

Grrrrr! me too, thats pretty much the scope I was caught out on except mine was unbranded and didnt have the 'fixed' barlow lense on the inside of the focuser so was only 750/150!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mind you mine wasn't the XXL ;-)

I dont know what irritates me more, the gaul of these people to post these items or the mugs (me being one) that get caught out!

[Pete Presland]

I'm going to speak out for the seller here.

He/She may have larded it full of optimistic wording, but surely as an advert there is nothing wrong here. Rather than blaming the seller or trying to be ultra-helpful to potential dozy buyers, surely the buyer has take the blame for a pillock?!

I've happily sold tat for way over what I've paid for it and don't feel guilty one iota - anyone can do a bit of research before commiting a bid!

And as for dodgy bids? Using the wife's account to put in a free reserve doesn't hurt anyone but ebay, it's up to the buyer if they want to bid not the internet police.

I've got my tin hat on now just in case!

Using the wife's account is called "shilling" and ebay will ban you if they find out.

i am sure a guy was prosecuted earlier in the year

[inksmithy]

And as for dodgy bids? Using the wife's account to put in a free reserve doesn't hurt anyone but ebay, it's up to the buyer if they want to bid not the internet police.

I've got my tin hat on now just in case!

No need for a tin hat, but using another account to drive a price up does hurt someone.

Let's say bidder 1 puts a bid of 50 quid on something, meaning he is prepared to pay up to that amount.

His bid is successful and puts the current winning amount to twenty quid.

Shill bid comes in, drives the price to 30 quid.

Bidder 1 wins the item but pays a tenner more than he should have.

That's why eBay frown on it, not to mention legislation, which outlaws it I believe.

Alan

[cathalferris]

You wouldn't buy a scope from Lidl's would you...........

I did, twice for the ETX-70, the second time to replace the one that was nicked on me , and again when I bought a perfect condition LXD-75 at an absolute bargain price from someone that got that 6" as an unused present.

At least Lidl has a good returns policy...

[sbooder]

I find most power sellers scum! And no I do not feel a pang of guilt in saying that either. They sell tat at hiked prices, they never answer communications and they never leave feedback first (which surely if you have paid within the requested period they should, that is the only obligation the buyer has), so they can retaliate if they get negative feedback because the product is tat or it never turns up, they leave negative feedback just because they can.

I have not bought from a power seller for 6 years and will never buy from them again and I will work out away to spoil their fraudulent party.

[inksmithy]

...sbooder, don't hold back, tell us what you really think. Holding it in can be bad for you.

I know what you mean though, it can be irritating when they use their perceived position of power.

Alan

[Madhatter]

Sellers can no longer leave a negative feedback for a buyer-quite frankly i think its ludicrous. A buyer can waste your time, cost you money in lost listing fees , and yet you cannot warn other sellers about this..Another case of Ebay greed-from ebays point of view they dont want sellers blocking bidders with bad feedback as items will sell for less and they will recieve less final valuation fees.

There is a reason why a seller wont leave positive feedback first, and this is a Paypal scam when the buyer recieves the goods, then files a "chargeback" paypal will side with the buyer everytime and refund them strait away.. unless the seller has sent the item tracked and traced, recorded delivery isnt even enough, it has to be specil delivery.

the oviouse solution is send everything via specil delivery but buyers just dont want too pay for that 90% of the time.

Its a shame because what you say is right, once a buyer has payed they have done there part of the deal and should get positive feedback. But Sellers do have a genuine reason not too leave positive until they have recieved it.

[Carbon Brush]

Should this thread, or something very like, it be posted at the top of 'Beginners Help and Advice'? Interesting thought.

A few years back I did buy quite a few astro items fom 'the bay'. But I have to say the proportion of useful kit at sensible prices is now very low so I rarely look in.

The most amusing (to me) is scopes that are on an EQ mount adjusted for another country, eyepieces 2ft from the ground the end of 90 deg adapters. Then of course there are the very confusing issues of whether the scopes have lenses or mirrors - including at the location we refer to as the eyepiece.

The worst fraud attempt I saw was a TMB refractor for a couple of hundred quid. 1/10 of it's value. The seller had a high count, but no activity for several months. There was an obvious no-astro-knowledge description in the listing. I emailed the 'seller' asking about the lens test report and serial number, being the suspicious sod I am. No reply of course. I reported it to ebay as a dodgy transaction. The listing was removed about a day later. But they couldn't even acknowledge my report with a 'thanks'.

SGL For Sale section & Astrobuysell for me - whether buying or selling.

[Pete Presland]

Sellers can no longer leave a negative feedback for a buyer-quite frankly i think its ludicrous. A buyer can waste your time, cost you money in lost listing fees , and yet you cannot warn other sellers about this..Another case of Ebay greed-from ebays point of view they dont want sellers blocking bidders with bad feedback as items will sell for less and they will recieve less final valuation fees.

There is a reason why a seller wont leave positive feedback first, and this is a Paypal scam when the buyer recieves the goods, then files a "chargeback" paypal will side with the buyer everytime and refund them strait away.. unless the seller has sent the item tracked and traced, recorded delivery isnt even enough, it has to be specil delivery.

the oviouse solution is send everything via specil delivery but buyers just dont want too pay for that 90% of the time.

Its a shame because what you say is right, once a buyer has payed they have done there part of the deal and should get positive feedback. But Sellers do have a genuine reason not too leave positive until they have recieved it.

yep spot on mate! i sold an item to a guy in Italy he claimed he never received it (3RD time in as many weeks, looking at his feed back) he got full refund no questions asked,i get to try and claim from royal mail which is like the Spanish Inquisition and only for value of item not postage and only if i still have the receipt for buying it!

ebay make millions for doing jack all as for the art of shilling why would they worry every time the items goes up in price its more money for them!