Provide wisdom or calm me down!

TooManyShots wrote in post #12131256
As long as he is paying by PayPal and you are shipping the lens to his PayPal address, you should be fine.

You wish.

What a great thing to do, buy a lens from somebody, list it elsewhere for more money, then have the seller drop-ship to the new buyer, and pocket the difference.

Was that what seemed to be happening?

EDIT: Nope, I looked into this. I don't see how a $75 difference would cover fees and shipping, plus his description says papers, but no pouch, etc. I will guess that the lens is a bit soft on his equipment, not having MA, and perhaps he is trying to find a different copy at a net zero expense with hope that the 2nd lens is better.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12133321
What a great thing to do, buy a lens from somebody, list it elsewhere for more money, then have the seller drop-ship to the new buyer, and pocket the difference.

Was that what seemed to be happening?

Don't know but usually it won't work out well since there aren't that many major message boards. If you are a POTN member, you may as well be on the FM message board. Still, if that's the case, it makes no difference between he decides to sell it after he bought the lens from the OP. It is only a scam if he either not delivering the lens to his buyer or not paying for the lens to the OP.

Refresh Image wrote in post #12132029
You wish.

Really? How else is he going to pay? How else are you going to ship the lens before payment has been received? Western union???

TooManyShots wrote in post #12133409
Don't know but usually it won't work out well since there aren't that many major message boards. If you are a POTN member, you may as well be on the FM message board. Still, if that's the case, it makes no difference between he decides to sell it after he bought the lens from the OP. It is only a scam if he either not delivering the lens to his buyer or not paying for the lens to the OP.

I dug into this a bit, and I amended my reply, I don't see any real issue here. It seems a bit strange, but a simple PM asking him what is going on would probably clear up the situation.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12133321
What a great thing to do, buy a lens from somebody, list it elsewhere for more money, then have the seller drop-ship to the new buyer, and pocket the difference.

Was that what seemed to be happening?

EDIT: Nope, I looked into this. I don't see how a $75 difference would cover fees and shipping, plus his description says papers, but no pouch, etc. I will guess that the lens is a bit soft on his equipment, not having MA, and perhaps he is trying to find a different copy at a net zero expense with hope that the 2nd lens is better.

I don't really get it either unless it is a situation where he wants to try his luck with a different copy of the same lens.

I had to go back and find the listing here since I more or less ignore sellers with ~100 posts.

bsmotril wrote in post #12128605
When you think about it, how is it much different than Amazon listing something that will be fulfilled by a third party.

Amazon is up front about it.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12133321
What a great thing to do, buy a lens from somebody, list it elsewhere for more money, then have the seller drop-ship to the new buyer, and pocket the difference.

Was that what seemed to be happening?

EDIT: Nope, I looked into this. I don't see how a $75 difference would cover fees and shipping, plus his description says papers, but no pouch, etc. I will guess that the lens is a bit soft on his equipment, not having MA, and perhaps he is trying to find a different copy at a net zero expense with hope that the 2nd lens is better.

To me, this is quite possible. Since he didn't cause you to lose a sale, or any harm to you, why not give this fellow the benefit of doubt.

Refresh Image wrote in post #12128580
Often people do it to remove the competition. He offered you a bigger price and a way to hold the lens till he 'arrives' in your town. You will reject good offers waiting for him to come and the rejected buyers would to to him instead. When i was selling my 70-200 on craigslist somebody tried to do the same to me, Something "I'll give you this very good price, but wait a week till I get a paycheck". Meanwhile he lists his own. I managed to check the guy and got the reply from the same e-mail.

And it was not your lens, it was his but similar to yours.

Of course this could be just a speculation

this is exactly the way i see it. the guy was not going to buy the lens at all. he just wanted the OP to put "pending" on the lens so people who wanted the lens would have to go to the other guy. he pretty much gets a free week to sell the lens without any competition if he pulls the same con on other people selling the same lens for lower price.

StealthFighter wrote in post #12136543
this is exactly the way i see it. the guy was not going to buy the lens at all. he just wanted the OP to put "pending" on the lens so people who wanted the lens would have to go to the other guy. he pretty much gets a free week to sell the lens without any competition if he pulls the same con on other people selling the same lens for lower price.

Unless he had really put alot of thought into this, he did not already own a copy of this lens. Too many questions asked that he would have known the answre to. His response to my PM was "nothing wrong with trying to make a quick buck. My intent was to buy it, use it for the weeknd and ship it to the person who bought it from me."

Again, no problem with him buying and trying to sell it for a higher price. Problem is he is selling something he does not own nor has made a firm offer ot purchase. What happens if you buy it from him, he buys it from me and UPS damages it in transit?

huntersdad wrote in post #12137008
Unless he had really put alot of thought into this, he did not already own a copy of this lens. Too many questions asked that he would have known the answre to. His response to my PM was "nothing wrong with trying to make a quick buck. My intent was to buy it, use it for the weeknd and ship it to the person who bought it from me."

Again, no problem with him buying and trying to sell it for a higher price. Problem is he is selling something he does not own nor has made a firm offer ot purchase. What happens if you buy it from him, he buys it from me and UPS damages it in transit?

Then there are refunds to the final buyer he would have to offer up. However, his ad is "best offer" at $750, your price was $675. Let's say he accepts an offer at $725 - $23 in fees - $20 in shipping (w/ins) = hardly any profit at all. That is alot of effort in logistics and shipping, and personally, I would have to make $40-50 on a deal like that to be worthwhile to me.

I agree, you don't post up a "flip" sale post until you have the equipment in hand though. That is pushing the envelope a bit.

There is an easy fix for anyone in the OP's shoes... first come first served. No holding or 'sale pending'. The "buyer" either buys it or they don't.

You hate to be a jerk like that, but the majority of the laws and rules we live under in our society are in place precisely because a few jerks tried to work the system and ruined it for everybody else.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #12137060
Then there are refunds to the final buyer he would have to offer up. However, his ad is "best offer" at $750, your price was $675. Let's say he accepts an offer at $725 - $23 in fees - $20 in shipping (w/ins) = hardly any profit at all. That is alot of effort in logistics and shipping, and personally, I would have to make $40-50 on a deal like that to be worthwhile to me.

I agree, you don't post up a "flip" sale post until you have the equipment in hand though. That is pushing the envelope a bit.

That is the bottom line. Even if you have paid for something and it is in transit it would be wrong. Way wrong if you are still negotiating with the original seller.

The flipper in this case is being totally selfish and does not show any regard for anyone else.

TooManyShots wrote in post #12133418
Really? How else is he going to pay? How else are you going to ship the lens before payment has been received? Western union???

Reading comprehension problem. Just reread the post you are answering too and rethink if you got it right.

I guess I have been wrong then ;-( Even if you bought a kit from B&H/Adorama and trying to list the lens before you got it in a day or two?

mpix345 wrote in post #12138106
That is the bottom line. Even if you have paid for something and it is in transit it would be wrong. Way wrong if you are still negotiating with the original seller.

The flipper in this case is being totally selfish and does not show any regard for anyone else.