Buying gear from ebay

[steveh]

Has anybody got any advice and preferably any experiences of buying gear from ebay.:confused:

[Adrian Kelland]

I would only buy from someone local on the basis that I would want to look at it before parting with cash.

Also do a good bit of research of what the item would cost new, and factor in costs of postage and any servicing. Things get out of hand on ebay - people paying more than the price of items from online shops.

There are scams too, either stolen goods or goods don't exist. This is sometime the case with rebreathers - there are sometimes announcements on forums that a particular sale is dodgy.

Other than that I would say 'buyer beware'...

Adrian

[ardhill]

Has anybody got any advice and preferably any experiences of buying gear from ebay.:confused:
I only buy when I don't need to have a look-feel at the product. Usually this means that I know the brand and model.

Other than that, just take care like you should with an eBay items/sellers. I have bought loads of stuff off eBay (not necessarily diving related) and the vast majority go without any problems at all.

Do remember to ask any questions you need to before buying, it is no good assuming that the product does X, Y or Z when maybe it doesn't - check first.

Also check their feedback. I don't have a problem with people with a few neg comments say as low as 95% (depends on the number of sales). But if you get a number of people saying the same negative thing - beware!

[Tim Ahern]

Hi.

Have been using e-bay for a number of years. Personally I use Paypal and only deal with sellers who use Paypal.

[MarkM]

I buy all sorts of stuff on ebay, just had some bit and pieces turn up today to reapir some old BC's etc.

I have bought camera lenses, video camera housing, hoover bags etc.etc.etc.

Rarely had a problem with over 300 purchases.

Don't buy from newbies and only use Paypal (with credit card if poss).

[DaveL]

Over the years I have bought a number of diving items from Ebay and have had no problems with the actual items themselves however my Paypal account was hacked last year to the tune of £900. I now no longer buy from any seller unless I can pay by personal cheque (which can sometimes delay things by a couple of days).
Just my experience FWIW

[Craig]

I've had a fair bit of diving kit off ebay and so far haven't suffered (touch wood).

I always make sure I am completely familiar with the item I am buying so that I can ask the right questions. All the responses I have got have been truthful so I have known exactly what I have been paying for. But like someone else has already said, factor in the price of a service.

[jknights]

I have bought quite a bit of gear on eBay.
I tend to know what I want and search for it rather than just to buy by chance.

Dont forget though that the gear may have been mistreated and so it is a good idea to get it serviced or at least checked out. I am fortunate in that I have manuals and can do most of the stuff myself but spares need to come from your dive centre or local distributor some or all of which tend to refuse to provide parts to unregistered service engineers.