is it safe to buy scopes from e-bay?

I think that it is a low risk purchase. Make a special request (and perhaps add $5-10) for super quantity of extra bubblewrap.

i

I bought a scope on ebay. A couple of pots were a bit noisy ( x and y adjust ) but otherwsie OK.

For that kind of money don't see how you can go seriously wrong.

Graham

Read the feedback others left for that seller. Especially look for negative feedback.

--
Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

I bought one once a tek whose model number I forget .. paid about $200+

This seller has 400+ feedback and 99% positive ... thers no issue here. Establish communication with him/her before the auction ends ... to know exactly what you are getting and how its being shipped

good luck

One neg and three neutrals, for reasons that don't look particularly bad.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

I buy a good bit of used test equipment on ebay. In general, its a good deal if you don't have unrealistic expectations. There are enough buyers and sellers that the market prices are usually reasonable for the condition of the equipment. If no one else is bidding, there's probably a reason and you should be careful. I have "won" items that the seller really didn't have in his possession, but never lost my money. Careful scrutiny, including after the auction and before sending money is important.

Remember that if you need 300 MHz probes, they can be a significant extra cost. Low bandwidth probes are cheap if that's all you need.

Good luck Steve

Right. Everybody who does a lot of business gets some negative feedback, even if only by mistake. Until a year or two ago, eBay had no mechanism for removal of feedback left by mistake. Someone left me negative feedback by mistake -- it was clearly a mistake and he acknowledged it -- but there's no way to make it go away. No way at all.

I sold a Tek 465 scope recently on eBay for a friend of mine. The purchaser was very pleased with it.

Leon

Don't know about that vendor (never dealt with them) but these people

often have Tek scopes for reasonable money and off-brand (Iwatsu, Trio etc) ones for next to nothing. I got a Tek 2465 off them and am 100% happy with it. M

Which is IMHO a good thing. Most negative feedback comes from people who are a pain in the ass anyway. Sellers having 500+ transactions with no negative feedback at all are also a little bit suspious to me as well. Nobody is perfect.

--
Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

hi, lot of advices. thanks a lot.

CMOS

No, but it depends on the kind of people they deal with and how well they handle the problems that inevitably do arise.

Bad sellers (and there are some) often have *far* worse customer satisfaction than the raw feedback number would indicate (because of fear of retaliatory negs), and good sellers can run into someone who is totally clueless and obnoxious, or who is outright dishonest. The category of goods is a factor in the type of buyer/seller too.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Right. If there's no negative feedback at all, it suggests he isn't really selling to the public -- that maybe he makes trivial sales to himself, under other account names, in order to accumulate positive feedback.

The "safety" is 200 percent seller and negative 1000 percent ebay as they do not give a rat's a** as to what happens; all they care about is their fee - which is true no matter who defaults or how. Contract?? Bullsh*t! One cannot afford plane fare and lawyer's fees for satisfaction.

Also feedback left for others, and look especially at how the seller handles a problem transaction.

Here's a quick and easy way to find neutrals and negs for a seller with lots of positive feedback, vs. paging through hundreds of feedback comments:

If it was mistaken, then people can see in the comment that he meant to be positive, and he can also leave a followup saying he meant for it to be positive. There's also the possibility of mutual feedback removal, usually done by those who want to remove the negatives they may have hastily left for each other (the comments remain, but don't count against feedback scores).

It's always wise to be cautious, and perhaps look at bidders to check for shill bidding (if there's one or a few low-feedback bidders that always bid only on one seller's auctions, that's a big flag there's shilling going on - report it to eBay) as one poster suggested might be happening, but no negs in itself isn't a major sign of fraud. I've been on the discussion boards, there have been sellers who don't get their first neg until after they have 1000 positives.

Could well be. My impression is that negative feedback is less common now than it was a few years ago. Also, it is easier for people to reconsider and remove it.