Buying Scopes on E-Bay a Warning!

hangfire

Well-Known Member
Over the past 2 years I have bought and sold a number of scopes on e-bay without a problem but the last three have been a problem, I brought a monarch scope, it turns up in perfect condition but the image is not moving, I contacted the seller he apologised, told me to return it and refunded my payment and postage. ok a bit of a pain but no stress. So I bought another monarch, only a few months old, in perfect condition, that arrived, it was a grey import with scratches to the objective lens and marks in the coating, and once more the image won't move, here we go again contacted the seller, in this case he said he didn't know about the damage to the lens and the scope was working when it left him, and he stated no returns so hard luck your not getting your money back. I e-mailed e-bay who I have to admit were great, in no time at all I had a refund and the scope was returned. now this is the one I really kick myself for, I brought another, you would have thought I'd have learnt a lesson by now! this time a Leupold it arrived and appeared to be in A1 condition, crystal clear lens, not a mark to the body at all just two tiny chips to the paint on the adjuster caps, what used scope doesn't have those ,but wait for it, on turning the scope over there was a rattle, so I gave it a gentle shake and believe me my baby played with quieter ones, on to the seller, it was perfect when it left me, don't send it back I'll make a claim and I don't want them to be able to say it happened on the return, plausible and I'm helpful, but no mention of a refund, he called me later to say I have to make the claim and once more no offer of a refund, I asked him a few questions about the scope and his answers just didn't stack up, so once more over to e-bay, so learn by my mistakes only buy from reputable dealers on e-bay and only have contact by e-mail though e-bay itself, never enter into phones calls e-bay have no record of them! over two years I have brought and sold about 10 scopes, some have been from the US and if you disregard the last three not one has been damaged, the last two I'm sure have been sold by dishonest owners trying to ditch their junk on e-bay, oh and yes they both had 100% records so don't take that as an assurance
 
had two elites no problem off ebay, also bought a chinese rip off legend that the seller had claimed was legit bushnell, ended up with refund and free scope after I mentioned police for trading fake goods. it's on a rimfire doing good things now.

I realised later this guy was still selling chinese gear as genuine so reported him
 
just had a reply from the guy through the e-bay resolution centre, saying that he had it checked by a firearms dealer before sending it, and I believe that not! and he is trying to sort a claim out with the post office, and he will be as helpful to me as he can, no mention of a refund!
 
I have had all sorts of condition scopes arrive from the ebay Germany site and a lot of tight Germans are high on this ABG rule here (sold as delivered - no returns etc) I reckon IMHO they are mainly gunsmiths who take them off old guns and fit newer scopes to them then try for some extra dosh on the side selling the old tosh.
I will not be doing it anymore, it is a minefield.
Martin
 
I have just bought a pair if zeiss binos off eBay Not happy the seller had said there was a scratch on the eye piece. Scatch my a** bloody cracked. Plus the rubber eye cups were ripped and he forgot to tell me they did not even focus.
its sorted now bad feed back refund binos binned.
Cheers Andrew
 
The only problems with scopes off e-bay I had was a couple of new Nikko Stirlings, one dealer just refunded when I returned the scope explaining the fault (Uttings) the other refused to deal with the issue as did the Importer (Highland Outdoors). E-Bay were not much help either in this case.

Other than that I have not had a problem that was not sorted out by the vendor.

In fact I am having more trouble getting a scope I brought used not from e-bay sorted. Just packing it up to send back tot eh importer for the second time. Their recommended repairer cannot fix it. It's still impossible to get reticle and object in focus at any distance. So will see what they say this time.......

The repairer BTW fixed three old scopes no problem but this quality European scope :banghead:.
 
I bought my Swarovski Habicht 7x42 binoculars on Ebay from some bloke in Italy and they were one of the greatest bargains ever at £300. One thing you couldn't tell from the photos though was that the rubber armouring was heavily impregnated with the aroma of cigarillos. I think the guy who owned them before must have sat on his balcony chain smoking, looking at passing birds of one sort or another...
 
Hmmmmm was thinking of putting my Swarovski 8x50 on E-bay nothing wrong with it am just upgrading to a Ziess

might have to look at part chop
 
Was considering a pair of Leica binos off ebay, not sure if i want to part with that kind of money now though. I rarely if ever use ebay but this particular chap is highly rated with excellent feedback.
 
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