Someone got a bargain!

[ChrisEdu]

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

A new C9.25 XLT OTA just went for £500!

[Gadget]

Don't think the chap fully understood what he was selling though under item specifics

Features: Motorised

Brand: Celestron

Type: Refractor

Bundled items: Tripod

The only bit he got right was the Celestron brand

Looks like poor bloke took a bit of flak in the questions

Kevin

[ChrisEdu]

I know he did - I was one of the inquistors!

Got to admit, I was sorely tempted to bid, just for the hell of it. I mean, a new C9.25 for £500!!!! I wonder if the person that bought it intends to keep it or just flip it for a healthy profit?!

[Stephen]

O...M...G...

[saturn4me]

Damn.Looks like i was in the wrong place at the wrong time:mad:

[Crunchard]

There was only the 1 bid too ...

[barkis]

I'm a little suspicious about that. Maybe my instincts are wrong, but I can't fathom how he wouldn't know the value of the scope.

Other potential bidders must have had some trepidation too, considering the low winning bid. What's the price of a new one. about £1200 perhaps?

Ron.

[red dwalf]

I'll give him 600 pounds for it, nice 20% profit.

[John]

I'm suspicious too Ron:

- stock photo

- stock description

- last items sold for the past couple of months all private sales

The Q&A's seem genuine enough though....

Hope someones not going to be disappointed

[Daniel-K]

i saw this and didnt bid because it look dodgy

[appalachik]

The old adage says... if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

If you can't get to actually check out the goods, you could come to regret the purchase. My business has gone from strength to strength since the rise of eBay due to the amount of guitars that look great but turn out to play like rubbish. We get several every week to set up properly.

Jenna

[ScubaMike]

See the other thread.

I bought a C9.25 & CGEM off the same seller.

Paid £1500. Hand delivered and he waits around while you open to ensure you are happy with it.

So, in this case, it looked too good to be true, but it was true. And someone got a huge bargain because everyone else thought it was too good to be true

[John]

Thats great scubamike and you certainly got a bargain there but I still feel a good seller should include pictures of the actual item for sale rather than stock photos and a bespoke description rather than a cut and paste job.

He also added some confusion to buyers by including a tripod as a bundled item and motorised under features in the "Item Specifics" section of the listing. Oh and it's described as a refractor

I'm glad your deal worked out well though and it sounds like the buyer of this scope will find it worth the risk.

[barkis]

Us doubting Thomas's certainly don't wish to see folks being conned out of their money, but unfortunately it does happen.

Even the likes of Amazon are susceptible to unscrupulous merchants under their umbrella doing the dirty on buyers of so called bargains.

A cheap sale of Photoshop CS4 not too long ago comes to mind, and I hope those on SGL who fell victim to that one got their bread back.

A warning then was poo poo'd. "How could Amazon be anything but safe?", someone remarked. Unfortunately it proved to be a rip off.

Just be careful out there is all.

Ron.

[mert]

Seller looks genuine, 500 feedback, collect in person, cash on collection.

[John]

Seller looks genuine, 500 feedback, collect in person, cash on collection.

It's a new scope - I wonder what warrently he offers ?.

[mert]

It's a new scope - I wonder what warrently he offers ?.

Very true.

[philhas]

Non probably, its ebay so how's your luck...you pay your money you take your chance!

[ScubaMike]

I was told that if there is a problem, get back to him.

He provides a receipt, so you have proof of purchase.

I have no reason to doubt him, would have even less if I was picking up from him.

He must get these in from time to time, may be worth keeping him in your saves in ebay.

[philhas]

Well if you can look at it and do cash on pick-up its fine, the usual ebay con artists wouldn't offer that so you can't go wrong.

[John]

Well if you can look at it and do cash on pick-up its fine, the usual ebay con artists wouldn't offer that so you can't go wrong.

With respect Phil, a quick glance is not going to tell you that a complex scope is OK. It's only when you press it into use, star test it, run the GOTO in various modes etc that you find out that all is well (or not).

I realise that the subject of this thread is an optical tube but Scubamike has bought a complete scope and a pretty sophisticated one at that - personally I would want some certainly that I would get some proper support if things go wrong for at least the 1st year of the scopes life.

I'm probably too cautious though

[ScubaMike]

I've got a two year warranty.

I thought only one, but the seller told me it's two when I asked him.

Not really the actions of someone who intends to turn his back.

People have no issues buying second hand equipment - no warranty there, I don't see the difference (unless you are going to tell me that a new scope is more likely to go wrong?)

[Gadget]

At the end of the day if it all works as it should you have had a very nice buy

but i would be a bit sceptical about the 2 year warranty as I would think (maybe I'm wrong) that it would only apply to gear sourced from a authorized Celestron dealer and I very much doubt he is one

Did he mention at all how manages to get this stuff at such prices?

Kevin

[Ant]

At the end of the day if it all works as it should you have had a very nice buy

but i would be a bit sceptical about the 2 year warranty as I would think (maybe I'm wrong) that it would only apply to gear sourced from a authorized Celestron dealer and I very much doubt he is one

Did he mention at all how manages to get this stuff at such prices?

Kevin

And here lies the problem, hopefully your never have an issue, but if you do Celestron will look at the serial number and know that it was bought in another country (assuming that this is a grey import or similar) and will not fix it under warranty.

It isn't about the scope being stolen or faulty in any way - from what I've read the seem to be brand new and be everything you'd expect from a new item.

But it's the warranty that would be my major concern.

Ant

[johninderby]

I suppose it's always a risk buying second hand from eBay (or SGL or ABS) but you can get good deals if you're willing to accept that if something goes wrong you've got to sort it out yourself.

I picked up a second hand "as new" C8 SCT OTA recently from Telescope Outlet. Yes I paid more than it would have cost me to buy it on SGL or ABS, but it does have a proper one year warranty with it. Looked brand new and you couldn't tell that it had ever been used. Best 8" SCT I've ever looked through as well.

John