THE koala in Koala Numismatics, my dear Crumpet & I together at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. And me, well I couldn't be happier!!

Hello.  I Steve and I am the owner of Koala Numismatics (I am the one wearing the striped shirt).  I sell cameras and coins for a living here on eBay.  I have been involved in hundreds of transactions as a buyer and a seller so I know what I am talking about.  And I want to talk to you about:

The Subtle Rip-Off Rampant on eBay!

Like you, I work very hard for my money.  My company buys cameras, cleans them up, makes sure they work correctly, then re-packages and re-markets them.  If we do a good job, then we make a few dollars on each transaction.   I am an honest man and my feedback record will back me up on this.  There is nothing worse than getting ripped off on eBay.  Sometimes, the rip-off is blatant. You never get the item you paid for, for example.  But more often than not, it subtle.  The item isn exactly not as described, but clearly is not as good as described.  This is where big the problem is.  You can report it to eBay.  And the seller couldn care less.  Youe been had!

How pervasive is this?  A LOT more than you think.  Having participated in hundreds of transactions, I would estimate that this happens about 60-70% of the time.  This is only my opinion based on my real life experience with hundreds of people over the course of several years.  But, that right.  When buying a used digital camera on eBay, the chances are better than they are not, that the item is not as described.  You would not believe what some people describe as ike new   Now, I don believe that in every case it is intentional.  It is human nature to some degree.  Like a person who sells his or her house.  The seller almost always wants more than the house is really worth.  Also, like new is a subjective term open to debate.  But does it matter why?  Not really.  The bottom line is that you are having money stolen from you through the over grading of used digital cameras just as surely as if they put their hand in your wallet or purse and removed a $20 bill or all your bills without your consent.

Now you know why many people don even bother to photograph a camera they are selling.  Or if they do, you get one blurry, dark photo of a camera set strewn across a bed or a floor.  Do yourself a favor.  Don buy from these people. Period. Let raise the standard by which items are sold on eBay by not buying from sellers who are trying to hide something.  After all, it is what you don see that can turn an eBay transaction into a nightmare.

I, for one, am fed up with this nonsense.  So here is how I am going to make my business, different from the rest:

• ALL of my cameras are guaranteed to be AS DESCRIBED or you get your money back.  Simple as that. 
• ALL of my cameras are guaranteed to be free from mechanical defects for 14 days or you get your money back.
• EVERY listing will have unretouched, clear photographs of the actual item for sale, from every angle.
• EVERY listing will contain a complete and accurate description of the item for sale.
• EVERY buyer gets at least 2 e-mails from me after the sale.  One to tell you when the item is expected to ship and one to confirm shipment and provide tracking information.  Don you hate it when you buy something and you NEVER hear from the seller?  This is unprofessional.  You deserve better service!
• EVERY item you buy from me will be cleaned before shipment.  Don laugh. You would not believe how filthy some of the merchandise purchased here, has arrived.  Fingerprints all over the LCD screen, the lens.  Dirt on the camera body.  It is ridiculous.  I would never send an item to a customer of mine like this.
• EVERY item is carefully packaged and wrapped so you get it in one piece.  I will send it to you, the way I would wish someone would send it to me.  Again, the horror stories: several people have sent me cameras that were not even double boxed.  Can you imagine?  You don want an item costing several hundred dollars crossing the street, much less the country, like this.  And I know when NOT to re-use a box.  I am all for conservation, but some sellers don know when a box has reached the end of its useful life.  There is no excuse for this.  USPS gives boxes away for free.

Don make the same mistake as most people make and shop strictly by price.  That is the single biggest mistake a camera buyer can make.  That is how the bait and switch scam artists seem to thrive.  Everybody wants a bargain, a deal, the best price.  That how they get you.  They play on human nature which compels us to get the most for the least.  Spend a couple of extra dollars and buy from an honest, reputable dealer who stands behind what he or she sells.  You won regret it.  I know I won reach everyone, or most people even.  But if I save even 1 person from that awful feeling of having just been taken, this whole exercise was worth it.

So yes, I am promoting my store here and trying to sell cameras.  I have to make a living too.  But it is so much more than that.  You will either sense how sincere this message is, or you will just move on.  I have been on the wrong end of more transactions than I care to admit.  Learn from my mistakes.  Don get ripped off.  You don even have to buy from me, but take a few minutes, do the research, and know who you are buying from.

For everyone best interest, Koala Numismatics makes sure we know exactly the camera we are sending, so we will know if we don get the same one back.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  Happy & safe bidding!