Buying camera body on ebay

Hello,

I've been itching to go full frame for some time now and I'd love to get my hands on a decent 5Dc. I would always prefer local sale so I could test the camera before buying it but that's not really an option here in Lithuania. It's very rare for someone to sell this kind of gear here. I tried the classifieds here on POTN but 99% of sales seem to be within Canada or US and those guys don't ship internationally.

So i'm considering ebay. I see deals like 500-600$ with shipping and that's really tempting. What would be the general advice in buying a camera body from ebay? Is it worth doing? I read horror stories about it but it seems sellers have it worse than buyers in there.

So yeah, I could do with some advice regarding this. Thanks!

Use a reputable ebay seller that has good feedback record. Make sure the photo is the actual camera and try get a shutter count if for nothing else to see the seller is serious

Read the feedback closely and see what else they have sold rather than just bought.
Ask them questions if you have any.Find out about warranties/returns
I would always assume if it sounds too good to be true then it is--generally.
Allow some money after buying incase you do need to have any repairs done or you need the charger,batteries,card​s etc.
Good luck

Trumper wrote in post #15608717
Read the feedback closely and see what else they have sold rather than just bought.
Ask them questions if you have any.Find out about warranties/returns
I would always assume if it sounds too good to be true then it is--generally.
Allow some money after buying incase you do need to have any repairs done or you need the charger,batteries,card​s etc.
Good luck

Thanks for sound advice. Yes, it's not the edge of my budged but I can't really strech it to 5D mk2 or my wife will kill me while taking high-res shallow DOF pictures of the action

Good idea. Maybe it would be sensible to see if the seller deals with photo equipment and contact them with some questions just to see if they actually have any idea about the item too.

Very rarely will someone sell legitimate gear international, because of the Paypal minefield. Cant be signed for on arrival so buyer fakes a claim for non delivery and gets full Paypal refund.
Bye bye camera- bye bye money.
Do a cash deal with someone in Poland or Finland and go and get it if travel costs are reasonable.

If seller has 100% feedback with say 50+ entries then they are probably safe.

Variations or quality then type of experience that is yours, is so variable on ebay that I can easily say God Bless You.
Due to so many scam by out of state buyers, ebay seller (And those good deals you quot) are rarely willing to deal with out of state buyer. So if you have someone in State that can get the camera and bring it to you, go for it. Also don't forget the factor of Local Custom and fees. Sometimes people pay twice fees as compare to what they pay for the item.