I want to buy an EOS 5D for sale. I have not heard of this selling method - is it legit ?

[mangurian]

How can you do this via eBay? I have not heard of this. A scam or ??

Thanks,

" I gave it to eBay who will deliver it to the next owner. The transaction will be made through them for our own safety because I can't deal in person. The best part about this is that you'll get 5 days to test the camera for free with no further obligation or fees. If you're interested in purchasing it just email me your full name and full shipping address so that I can initiate the deal through eBay and they will contact you to explain the procedure.On the invoice you can find delivery details, payments options and safety plans!"

[CaliforniaDream]

I have not heard of this and it sounds kinda ify to me.  I would not do it, but you could contact ebay to see if it legit. Uou can call them at 1 (866) 540-3229.

[Ray-uk]

In the UK and probably other countries also there are private companies who are registered as ebay sellers, these specialise in selling goods on behalf of individuals who are not registered with ebay. They charge the seller a fee on top of the normal ebay selling charges. They often seem to include the ebay logo in their advertising although they aren't officially part of the ebay company.

I would imagine the owner of this camera is selling through one of these companies and mistakenly believes that he is dealing directly with ebay.

It should be obvious who the seller actually is from the sellers description and feedback rating on the ebay auction. These companies usually state that they are selling on behalf of the owner on a commission basis, they aren't doing anything illegal and should be quite trustworthy. As long as you only make any payment through the geniune ebay auction and not directly to the owner then there shouldn't be any problem.

[wq9nsc]

The red flag for me is the returns policy because Ebay has several standard returns windows for sellers offering them but 5 day isn't a norm.  Once a return is approved, the buyer is supposed to ship it back within a 5 day window but that isn't the 5 day "test" period your seller is claiming.

A seller can within limits create a custom returns policy but since your seller claims to be using ebay as the middleman I think this sounds very sketchy.

As Ray stated, if you buy through the official ebay system the protection level is good but make sure that you aren't actually being directed to a spoof or scam site that is mimicking a part of ebay.

And I suspect the level of protection offered by Ebay and its captive payment system varies by country so check the regulations and consumer protections in your country.

As a hobby, I restore vintage ham radio gear and I buy a fair amount of stuff on ebay but I generally expect what I buy to be for restoration rather than in operational condition and in general I expect the product to be less functional than the seller states which is often the case.  The risk/return tradeoff for a fairly modern DSLR probably wouldn't meet my standards for an ebay purchase unless I had good information about the camera AND seller with a price low enough to make it worthwhile to take some risk.

Rodger

[shadowsports]

eBay is risky, plain and simple.  Have had some good experience, and some bad. 

Last experience.  Item received was not the item pictured.  Picture of item was "shiny and new"

Item received looked lke a rusty boat anchor from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.  I had to open a case, and go through arbitration.  I had pictures of the listing and item which helped, but still a pain.  Just a big headache.  Item was heavy.  In the end, I had to pay to ship it back to the seller, even though he clearly mis-represented the condition of the item.  I got my money back..  the trasaction as well as my negative feedback was erased (like the transaction never happened) and the seller got off scott free with no one being the wiser.  I'm sure he'll do it again. 

That was years ago now.  I don't care about white glove service.  Once the seller has your money, ebay makes it difficult to get it back if there's a problem.  I agree with wq9nsc's expectations..  all items should be considered "restoration" condition and might be less functional than claimed. 

For expensive electronics...  I wouldn't do it.  You may have 5 good experiences, but it only takes one to ruin it all.     

[ebiggs1]

Two things, I have no idea what the transaction you are talking about is, so the first question is why you didn't contact ebay instead of a Canon forum?  Secondly, no matter where you buy a used camera from if you don't know its history a bit, you are being foolish.  A lot can be hidden behind that leatherette cover.