Buying 24-105L off eBay... Stolen?

Kryptix

Kryptix

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I've been looking around for a 24-105L and I found one on eBay a few days on which was described as 'brand new' and 'not even opened'

I messaged the eBayer asking for more information and he said his girlfriend bought it from Jessops 1 or 2 months ago. He said he hasn't used it once and he's now selling it to fund his 24-70L. He said he has no receipt but the box is sealed. I originally offered him £600 but he said he'd accept £640 collected.

I'm going round his house on Saturday but I'm worried it may be stolen. Looking through his feedback, he sold another 24-105L the other day which was also brand new and un-opened. This time his brother wanted a 24-70L so he was selling his 'brand new' 24-105L.

Now you're probably thinking the same as I am.

What should I do? I imagine lots of lenses are sold stolen. Is it actually a problem? I'll never be able to prove it is stolen or it isn't stolen, but if there's no-way to prove it... Does it matter?

Now this may be genuine but I can't see it. What's your thoughts?

He's given me his home address so I'm feeling it may well be genuine.

I asked him and he said he works in a camera shop and managed to get the 24-105L for £400 so he sold it for profit on eBay. Fair enough...

But is there anyway I can check if this lens I'm buying is legitimate?
 
Try and blackmail him into giving you a discount? ;)

Hmmm, it does seem pretty dodgy. I guess I'd be concerned about whether I needed to deal with him again if it turned out to be faulty or something.
 
Lazlo Woodbine said:
Try and blackmail him into giving you a discount? ;)

Hmmm, it does seem pretty dodgy. I guess I'd be concerned about whether I needed to deal with him again if it turned out to be faulty or something.
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I just edited my original post whilst you were replying. :)

I can't work it all out personally. The first 24-105L was bought through the shop he works at and he sold it for profit. Now this is his own 24-105L that he bought 2 months ago but never used, and is now selling to get a 24-70L. He also said he has no receipt and can't remember exactly where he got it from, but he thinks it's Jessops. Apparently his girlfriend bought it and he doesn't know without asking her.

:thinking:
 
I would probably drop a pm to food poison and ask what he thinks, he works in jessops and should have a good idea on what price he can get it for.
 
fletch5 said:
I would probably drop a pm to food poison and ask what he thinks, he works in jessops and should have a good idea on what price he can get it for.
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Yeah but he said he won the rights in a competition to buy it for £400 or something. It's well complicated. :lol:
 
Kryptix said:
I just edited my original post whilst you were replying. :)

I can't work it all out personally. The first 24-105L was bought through the shop he works at and he sold it for profit. Now this is his own 24-105L that he bought 2 months ago but never used, and is now selling to get a 24-70L. He also said he has no receipt and can't remember exactly where he got it from, but he thinks it's Jessops. Apparently his girlfriend bought it and he doesn't know without asking her.

:thinking:
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Personally, if you think it's stolen, don't buy it. While in Barcelona once, I was 'offered' a carrier bag full of Canon kit for 50 euro while walking through the city - I just pity the poor sod who it had been nicked from earlier in the morning and walked away. I would have told the local police if I could have found one!
 
Furtim said:
Personally, if you think it's stolen, don't buy it. While in Barcelona once, I was 'offered' a carrier bag full of Canon kit for 50 euro while walking through the city - I just pity the poor sod who it had been nicked from earlier in the morning and walked away. I would have told the local police if I could have found one!
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Yes but any lens on eBay could be stolen. He's letting me go to his house. If it does turn out to be stolen I have all his details and everything, even proof he sold it to me.

It's not walking through Barcelona, it's completely different.
 
Don't you guys fret, FP has entered the building!

We do it at Jessops for a completely unreasonable £1039.
I think the trade on that would be around £980, something like that. At the very minimum we'd be able to get the lens for £880.

As far as 'won the right to buy it for £400'?
That's a complete load of tosh.

If his girlfriend bought it from Jessops, we can pull up a receipt for a purchase where we take the customer's details for anything over £50.
If it's genuine he should have no trouble proving it.

If he does work at a camera shop, I don't see how he'd have gotten away with stealing 2x 24-105L lenses. Jessops would notice, and an independent photography shop would notice a hell of a lot more.
 
Just my tuppence worth,

In my quest for a 300mm 2.8, I came accross a new one that was stolen and no J3$$opps didn't know about it.

Remember, stolen goods always belong to the person they were stolen from and by law are returned to them, regardless of the time period.
 
If he can't remember where/when he bought a £1000 lens (even if he "only" paid £400) from I'd not touch it.

It's pretty easy to rent a house & spend the last week of tenancy selling stolen/damaged goods then vanish without a trace

If you really want this lens then visit him, write down the serial number, give him a £20 deposit and agree to pay the rest when you've checked the number.
 
I'd request a shot of the actual lens showing the serial number so that you can check the 'warranty status' with Canon.

Even if he refuses, the 'tone' of the refusal will speak volumes about the person you're considering dealing with.
 
mrgubby said:
If he can't remember where/when he bought a £1000 lens (even if he "only" paid £400) from I'd not touch it.

It's pretty easy to rent a house & spend the last week of tenancy selling stolen/damaged goods then vanish without a trace

If you really want this lens then visit him, write down the serial number, give him a £20 deposit and agree to pay the rest when you've checked the number.
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just be careful dealing with people like 'that'. if you suspect they are dodgy. probably better not getting involved in any face to face with them at all...
 
The auction for this item is still open, you could get there on Saturday and find it had been sold.

The last one went for £799, you could email the buyer and ask him about it (not sure if ebay allows that but it might be worth a try)

It does seem odd that her brother in law should have had two of these.
 
trapper501 said:
The auction for this item is still open, you could get there on Saturday and find it had been sold.

The last one went for £799, you could email the buyer and ask him about it (not sure if ebay allows that but it might be worth a try)

It does seem odd that her brother in law should have had two of these.
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It's only 15 miles away so not a problem, but he said he'll remove it today. I spoke to him on the phone an hour ago.

He seemed nice and careful, he also seemed quite genuine and was saying he'd prefer cash over bank transfer as he doesn't want to get done over. I'm gunna have to judge it myself, I think.
 
Kryptix said:
It's only 15 miles away so not a problem, but he said he'll remove it today. I spoke to him on the phone an hour ago.

He seemed nice and careful, he also seemed quite genuine and was saying he'd prefer cash over bank transfer as he doesn't want to get done over. I'm gunna have to judge it myself, I think.
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Yes, it has gone now.

How does he get done over by Bank Transfer? That sounds dodgy to me, but perhaps he just doesn't understand banks.

The advantage of cash is you won't have any trace so more likely that you get done over.

Is this the Brother in law you are dealing with now, not Charlotte?
 
The very fact that you are questioning whether the lens might be stolen says to me that you believe it is most likely a stolen item. Follow your instincts and leave well alone. I would love a 24-105mm L lens but at that price it's suspect and I would have serious doubts as to it's origins. To buy, or not to buy? definitely :thumbsdown:
 
if there are people here who work for jessops surely they would be able to confirm the serial number of a lens, and whether it was jessops stock originally. ?
 
We don't keep records of serial numbers, however we do keep record of purchases. Kryptix, if you can get the person who bought it's post code and last name or house number, you can find out if they did buy it from Jessops. Any Jessops employee can pull that up.
 
I feel a lot easier now. I just spoken to him on the phone again and he admitted it's the same lens. :lol: He said he bidded it up himself then won it, had to pay £60 fee's and left feedback for each other. :lol:

He said he's gunna ask his girlfriend to dig around for a receipt, but either way he has no problem in giving me his details for FP to check with Jessops.

We're gunna chat more about it later but it makes me feel a lot easier.
 
Kryptix said:
He seemed nice and careful, he also seemed quite genuine and was saying he'd prefer cash over bank transfer as he doesn't want to get done over. I'm gunna have to judge it myself, I think.
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Not sure I would be visiting someones house with a pocketful of cash when I suspect them of selling stolen goods. Nice mugging opportunity if you ask me as he knows you will be carrying it on arrival.
 
Mike.P said:
Not sure I would be visiting someones house with a pocketful of cash when I suspect them of selling stolen goods. Nice mugging opportunity if you ask me as he knows you will be carrying it on arrival.
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I'll be with a friend and I was planning on leaving the cash in the car.
 
Mike.P said:
Not sure I would be visiting someones house with a pocketful of cash when I suspect them of selling stolen goods. Nice mugging opportunity if you ask me as he knows you will be carrying it on arrival.
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Very true, make sure you go with someone else if you do decide to buy.

[edit] DOH... beat me to it
 
Kryptix said:
I'll be with a friend and I was planning on leaving the cash in the car.
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Hello Mr Plod...


some **** has just knicked my 50D, car & £600......


oh, he's got my mate in the boot of the car as well :shake:



:lol:
 
Dont forget that lots of consumer photographers are buying the Canon 5D2 with the lens as a kit, the trying to sell it on at profit, which is fair enough, but it could explain his reason and it may be genuine, but as others say, proceed with caution.
 
Diego Garcia said:
Dont forget that lots of consumer photographers are buying the Canon 5D2 with the lens as a kit, the trying to sell it on at profit, which is fair enough, but it could explain his reason and it may be genuine, but as others say, proceed with caution.
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It's a boxed lens so can't be the part of the 5D2 package, but fair point.
 
I bought my 5D mk I from RGB in Middlesbrough in came without the 'kit' 24-70mm, got a bargain so couldn't complain :) and yes Pete is right, the kit lens and the 5D both came in white boxes within a bigger decorated box!
 
I've got something similar on the go at the moment. Set of alloy wheels/tyres a guy has advertised on a couple of fora, he says he can send me pics of each wheel and I can pay by BT and he'll ship them to me as soon as payment clears.

Sounds fine, but the trouble is he's only 4 miles away and isn't keen on dealing face to face :suspect: :police:

With regard to this lens, ask him the name of his girlfriend and which branch she bought it from and get FP to run the details through the system.

Rather than being "stolen" I bet it turns up as having been genuinely bought from Jessops, but with a dodgy card or something like that....
 
I might be tempted to turn up and say I work with the Police [we all do.....!] and therefore i have to be very careful. Please get the receipt from your girlfriend, see what his reaction is. Does he have any other kit, what camera etc?
 
I'm sure MPB had an excellant condition one last week for £649 (gone now). I'd rather buy from them than ebay.

There's a few seem to be coming in at the moment, so it might be worth registering an interest with them.
 
I have looked on E-bay lots of times, but the whole idea of buying gives me the collywobbles. I think of it (probably wrongly) as an online car-boot sale.
 
getsmiley.php


This sellers story sounds 'dodgy' to the Stratosphere!

I would not touch this 'opportunity' with a bargepole fitted with an extension!

 
As stated, shops keep records of sales.
Even without a receipt they will have records.
Places will accept bank statement also showing transaction.
They could take it back if it wasnt Dodgy.
As also stated if you buy then report it you loose your cash as item returns to original owner, no reward.
 
@Paddy

Canon do (and I believe Nikon also) sell lenses on outlets on ebay. These are worth considering, (I think), you get a years warranty from the manufacturer.
 
Paddysnapper said:
I have looked on E-bay lots of times, but the whole idea of buying gives me the collywobbles. I think of it (probably wrongly) as an online car-boot sale.
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If you buy off an individual then that's what it is, albeit with a bit more protection depending on payment method.

Companies that sell on ebay are covered by legislation (as are companies that sell at car boot sales)

You can pick up real bargains on ebay and real rubbish, again like car boot sales.

What is wrong with car boot sales?
 
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