eBay fraud alert - Telescopes

[MikeyB]

If you were bidding or thinking about it for any of the eBay 24-hour Australian auctions today for 'Questar DUPLEX TELESCOPE BB coatings', or 'Celestron nexstar 11 schmidt-Cassegrain' or 'Meade 178ED APO Refractor OTA', their prompt deletion by eBay has saved you some trauma. These were all fraudulent, using a hijacked eBay account.

There were many similar fraudulent 24-hour auctions also underway today using the same account - all offering too cheap to be true, buy it now prices outside the eBay system, using Gmail contact addresses. All have now been deleted.

Please do not be tempted if you ever see an eBay auction with the combination of very short auction duration and too cheap price via direct seller contact outside eBay - this is a typical modus operandi with a hijacked account and there is no protection for unwary buyers under these circumstances. If think you've spotted a dodgy one, you can simply click the Report item flag near the top right of an auction page and select from the following drop-downs/check boxes, to let eBay know that you suspect fraud: they'll do the rest.

[AstralTraveller]

Thanks for the heads-up! :thumbsup:

[stattonb]

i would never buy a scope on ebay unless its a private seller and i can inspect it first just to many dodgy products on there when it comes to astronomy.

[that_guy]

why buy from ebay when you have andrews and bintel?

[Jen]

:eyepop: and IIS :D;)

[bojan]

Because of prices.
Both above-mentioned companies have some items priced.. well, lets say their prices are sometimes a bit inflated.

[Migmo]

Gee there are some scum humans on this palnet

[Barrykgerdes]

I buy a lot of items from ebay auctions but they are only collectors items that are not avialable elsewhere. I have not had any problems. Although I have sometimes paid too much I have also sometimes got a real bargain.

One thing to remember when buying second hand items that still have current new availability is to check the new price (and the supplier service /guarantee) against the value of the object when depreciated over its life time, I use five years for most items.

In the long run I have always found the main retail suppliers of the equipment with their so called "inflated" prices to be much cheaper when all is taken into account.

Barry

[bojan]

Well.. lets see:
Bintel, red dot finder, Adjustable Brightness, Four Reticle Patterns, All- Metal Construction, $89 (from catalogue)

ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Electro-Red-and-Green-Dot-4-Reticle-Reflex-Scope-Sight_W0QQitemZ170474194320QQcmdZVi ewItemQQptZAU_Hunting?hash=item27b1 0dc590
$33.99, delivered to your door.

Same thing... OK, bintel one has a stand (dovetail).... So the stand (piece of aluminium, more or less) is worth $45 ?

Some time ago they had Orion branded (all plastic) Red Dot finder for ~$80 (it is $49 now).. and I paid for the same thing on ebay (no brand) $15 + couple of bucks for p&h.

So, the reasons to go to ebay are obvious..

Of course, if I see questar offered for $50, and knowing that it was sold for ~U$2000 back in '80-ies) and the latest ebay offer is $4500 (quite reasonable).... something must be wrong then with the cheap offer :-)

[stattonb]

ebay is good for some brand name gear but there is alot of useless scopes that some beginners may be sucked into buying, i always thought andrews was the best for scopes and very cheap so now i only use ebay for brand name stuff like Orion and Plossl gear.
Shill bidding is another prob on ebay

[AdrianF]

My very first scope came from eBay 2 years ago. I believe I got a bargain 6" reflector on a dodgy tripod but I went to the local camera shop and bought an expensive tripod $199 for the tripod and believe it or not $18 Inc post for the scope. I had a lot of fun with this scope and it enabled me to see if I wanted to spend more money on better equipment, which I did. I passed the cheap scope on to someone else but unfortunately it was stolen from their backyard while they where inside having dinner.

Adrian

[ANDYB]

I have used EBay for various non astronomical items and have had no problems. I have never found anything on Ebay when looking atsro items but timing is everything. If a listed item seems too good to be true then it probably is.
Buying on ebay is a little like share trading- you have to know when your limit has been reached.