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I could certainly try opening my own camera store here at EOSHD. Need a clear out and really would hate to be scammed over something like an Iscorama or Leica SL2. I think I will continue raising some awareness of how dangerous eBay is for sellers and then go my own way. Thanks for the support guys.

Yes, I would much rather pay a higher price to not deal with the stress caused by dickhead scammers. That time you never get back. Money can be made, time can't. So I take the hit and sell gear to shops with more consideration for what is needed versus wanted.

Ebay (and PayPal) is toxic as fuck. I don't know how anybody can use it. I tried to sell some unused camera stuff a few years back and every bid I got was fraudulent and some dickhead trying to get me to send a product before PayPal payment "cleared". Meanwhile E-bay takes seller fees. 🖕🏻 The whole experience is dog shit and after that I never touched the site again. Same with PayPal. They fucking suck too. If you factor in the time and stress, @Andrew Reid, that you had to deal with you are out much more than £1754.

After you make a sale immediately disconnect your banking info from ebay...never leave it connected perpetually.

MBP are great. I may offer them the gear I don't manage to sell through a Gear Store on my blog which I'm getting up and running. I got my 1D C back in the day from them! eBay is a great shame as there's a lot of very good sellers on there. But the platform just takes advantage of them and fails them all the time, and we are all getting pretty sick of it.

So often the case with so many things... Standards drop or they get taken over by negative elements and something that worked, ceases to do so. Or at least as well.

It would be nice if a YouTuber knew how to use a dictionary.... Unless Smallrig somehow found out that he was doing something nefarious....? Like not using a dictionary 😉

My only experience of eBay has been mixed and I try and avoid the place these days. Especially in regard to big ticket items. I think the trick of it is to really REALLY consider purchases in the first place and their longevity. Cameras I expect to run into the ground these days and if buying or selling used, go through a dealer. MBP make it so easy and yes, you might make a few quid extra selling (or cheaper buying) private, but near zero risk, returns policy, postage/delivery all taken care of and fast. I bought my used S1H from them recently using their EU division. It arrived from Berlin within 24 hours. I also sent them a piece of gear which they checked over and said had a small internal issue which downgraded their evaluation, so they are thorough. Anyway, sorry about your phones Andrew. It’s stuff like this that people seem to have issues with most on eBay, - techy gear with higher sticker prices.

Certainly seems like there's been an uptick of bad behaviour in COVID times recently. I was also the victim of postal theft in Berlin earlier this year, and my girlfriend was the victim of a serious identity fraud at the same time. Two cases were related. Police didn't bother to link them and never prosecuted. I even found the guy selling my stolen camera with same serial number and accessories later on eBay classified ads and so I set up a police sting where I arranged to pay cash on collection with him in a public place and he hands over the camera... I went there with the undercover officers and they did their thing. They did absolutely fantastic job, very skilful and forcefully arrested the guy - but as soon as the police bureaucratic detective department gets involved everything goes limp. I still haven't even had the camera back from the police after months as the guy won't admit he was handling stolen goods and now it has to be signed off by a judge. The back story is when this camera was ordered, it was delivered to a neighbour by incompetent DHL even though I was in. It had the very bad luck to arrive at the same time as the fraudster's goods we didn't know were being ordered from several online shopping sites to our address in Berlin! What I suspect these thugs do, is that they go round ordering a shit ton of expensive stuff on invoice using somebody else's name and address stolen from the internet, and wait for delivery by timing & monitoring it closely via online tracking. When it arrives they pounce... One of the delivery guys in Berlin was recently chased down a street in an expensive neighbourhood by a guy with an imitation handgun. In my case, some fucking jewellery the fraudster had ordered using my girlfriend's personal details was intercepted when the criminal sent someone round to bang on our neighbour's door, because DHL helpfully sign posted them to the right neighbour they had dumped the stuff on along with my camera at the same time. A delivery card hung on the outside door facing the pavement. Can you believe it!?! Zero fucks given for secure delivery. I was even in at the time and DHL didn't bother going up to top floors and knocking on the door. Our stupid neighbour handed over everything without checking for ID and that was that. Found the empty packaging later ripped open in our staircase and in a neighbouring apartment building. In this blog post, some poor guy has been through years of handling fraudulent eBay buyers... https://turbofuture.com/internet/How-To-Scam-People-On-Ebay He basically says what the tricks are they use. It is so easy. Pretty much describes the same things happened to me. These people know every trick in the book and know eBay let it fly and that the police don't deem it serious enough to prosecute. So basically eBay know there is a huge problem and do nothing about it. As long as buyers keep coming and the billions of revenue keeps stacking up, they literally don't give a toss. It is obviously a much more flawed platform than I thought and dangerous to trust. They advertise "Seller protection" on PayPal, etc. It's nonsense. Did't protect me. Didn't protect the other guy. If you do use eBay to sell expensive cameras I recommend taking everything off it immediately as this is now becoming a common occurrence.

Holy shit @Andrew Reid this is insane. I've often felt like a crazy person being so nervous to sell anything of value on eBay, but this justifies my fears. I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope some better resolution can come of it!

If anyone wants an insight into the other side of this unvirtuous circle then launch a product and watch the emails pile in. From the straightforward "can I have a free one if I do a review on my YouTube channel?" to the full on "I will say its great on my YouTube channel if you give me a free one and a cut of the sales" and all points in between. On sites such as this one below, you can register to boost campaigns for products that you have absolutely no idea whether work or not or even if they will ever be delivered and earn money from other people taking that risk : https://kickbooster.me/marketplace/ Sites such as that one are referenced in almost every solicitation email we've received regarding the PBC and then the AFX so its obviously all part of the game. Is everybody at it ? Its unlikely but there are clearly enough people who are very much at it so as to bring the whole thing into disrepute in my opinion. There is clearly a space then for someone to do absolutely straight reviews that demonstrably have no financial aspect to them whatsoever either through advertising or affiliate links. The problem with someone doing that is that there are so many people with vested interests in these inanimate objects - whether financial or emotional - that you then end up with this at your virtual front door if you are critical of it. On that basis, who the fuck would even be arsed doing it ?

Well the the 24-105 has a wider FOV and a longer one, but is 'only' F4 vs 2.8 Sharpness-wise, not a lot in it and I'm not really a pixel-peeper, but maybe a very slight edge to the Panasonic? The Panny has OIS which improves stability further, but the Sigma is smaller and lighter and doesn't extend as much when zooming. The Sigma is a nicer fit on both my S5 and S1H whereas the 24-105 IMO is a bit large for my liking on the S5 without a grip. Useable? Sure, but all day shooting a wedding... nah, grip. I'm still waiting to test the Sigma 65mm f2 (hopefully within the next couple of weeks) before committing to that as my principle video lens and then I'd flip the 28-70 over to the S5 full-time and that will be my pairing (S5 + 28-70mm f2.8, S1H + 65mm f2) but if that doesn't wok out, then I'll keep the Sigma zoom and use it as a 'dual prime' on the S1H and either get another 28-70 for the S5 or just keep using the 24-105. I do like the output of the 24-105 and it's flexibility and if it was either smaller and lighter by 25%, or same size & weight, but f2.8, it would be a definite keeper...but currently it's the size & weight that is preventing me from committing. And I know, I know, it's hardly a massive lens at just under 700 grams anyway, but by my standards, it's fking huge!

Panasonic could also do with getting a move on with their 1.8 primes as that could sway a lot of people.