Toronto Photography Meetup Group

So I was gear hunting and came across a post on Kijiji about a Nikon 24-70 2.8 for $1200. I messaged the person through email right away asking for pics and description on the condition as he only had "Mint Nikon 24-70 2.8. Local Pick up in Mississauga" in his post. The person still did not reply, whether he's gonna take some pics or something, so I'm assuming it's sold? The low price seemed sketchy to me..

On another note, I'm gonna be buying my first used lens, I'm curious to know what I should be inspecting. Dust, dents and stuff, and if you guys want to provide useful points when buying used lenses, that would be extremely helpful!

i can say i have bought a few things from kijiji and i have three rules
meet in public
meet in public
meet in public

i had one guy try to get me to come to his car to see the camera
i said nope he can go get it and show it to me in the coffee shop we met at
i did show him the money so he knew i wasnt scamming
he went to the car to get the camera and i am still waiting for him to come back lol

eh-em, I think he's not coming

If its' too good to be true, it probably is. There could be some sorta damage that the seller knows about that isn't 100% apparent when you look at it. I am usually wary of people who post very little info, copy spec sheets, or use official images. If they're gonna sell something for over $500 present it in a better way so you don't seem like a robot or a scammer.

Since you have a nikon. Try to find items that have a receipt, and make sure it was purchased in canada. If its bought anywhere else, warranty is not valid in Canada.

Although Nikon warranties aren't technically transferrable. I've brought several used lenses into Nikon Mississasauga for warranty work. Ymmv though, so keep that in mind as well.

I recently bought a used 70-200 VR I and the things I inspected were:
-condition of front element
-rear element
-cosmetics of the lens
-shake it to see if anything seems loose
-test out zoom and focus ring
-bring an LED flashlight and inspect the inside for any mould, or swirls on the elements inside
-dust is to be expected, especially from a used lens but you should still look out to see if there is a significant amount
-test the lens out to see if it is auto focusing correctly
-shoot at various apertures to see that the blades aren't malfunctioning

Seem to me the whole point of buying a VR lens would be the VR feature, yet you didn't test that?

The VR feature alone would not be the whole point of buying a 70-200 2.8 VRI. For me, anyway.
The f/2.8 has to count for something. Also, don't discount the 70-200 range.

Not even sure I'd know how to test VR; maybe @khanh's list item 4 -- if it doesn't sound like it's working, then maybe it isn't.

Otherwise, he's pretty well got the list of what to check for when looking over a lens used or new.

Thanks guys! will keep this in mind next time I buy a lens. When I bought my newest (used) lens I brought my cousin's partner and he assessed the lens as well, since he's been in the hobby longer than I have.. maybe that can be another point: Bring another photographer to assess the equipment.

Anyone is free to add other strategies regarding photography equipment when purchasing (ex. camera body, flash, tripod, strobes, printers, laptops, tv, and sofas..)

Meet in front of a bank could be a good idea too.
I usually meet first and then get the money from ATM.

That tends to not work well with any serious lens where the prices tend to be higher than a couple hundred dollars. Of course, you could still go inside and withdraw from a teller, but it all depends on your daily withdrawal limits, etc.

You can also increase your withdraw limit.
With TD, I increased my limit from the default $600 to $1200

i just about always meet at a starbucks or tim horton's., but one time i met in the lobby of a seller's suburban condo.

so far i've been pretty lucky with meet ups, the 5 buyers & 3 sellers i've dealt have always been very friendly

I've bought almost all my gear on kijiji and I haven't had a bad experience yet. Just meet in a public place thats logistically accessible for both parties and your set.

The biggest tell of a scammer is hesitancy to have meaningful conversation about the product or the meet.

There is no limit to withdraw from the teller. If you meet during the day or early evening with TD's extended hours (or hell, even on Sunday for the poor folks who have to work then) you can work it out. The last high price item I bought on Craig's was the Nikon 28-70 f/2.8 a while ago and we met during the day at a bank. Tried the lens out on my camera body and then went in and took the money out. Easy and fairly safe as there were a lot of people around.

I guess it all comes down to trying to be as safe as possible. I'm sure there are stories out there of people being robbed when trying to purchase high priced items.

This is the exact same for me. I haven't had any issues buying and selling over Kijiji so far. Most of the time if something seems too good to be true or the other person's behaviour seems fishy I would just call off the deal

When I bought my 17-55, the seller was kind enough to meet me in the middle - a parkinglot in front of walmart. At first he offered to have me inside his car, but then after reading noobclicker's experience I was like "oh hell naw" haha so I stayed outside to view the lens. Unfortunately the weather was still cold and the sun was down, so I was shaking.. haha it turned out the guy was just being kind to offer me a heated place to see the lens, good thing i didn't get sick from that one!

PS. His name was Bruce Lee :O

As I seller I tend to ignore emails without real names, and no phone #'s which I ask for in my posts on Kijiji/Craigs. Then I have people meet me in front of my place as it's busy and has security cameras, since I've been stood up a fair # of times by people. Obviously if you live in a house this is not a good idea.

I've hated when people have showed up to buy something from me for a few hundred $$'s, kept me waiting, then told me they needed to get $$$ so I needed to wait some more. There is no bank near me close enough to walk, and I live in a wealthy/low crime area, and I use my real name in my email, so I'm not sure if these guys were worried about being robbed or if they through I was going to accept a low ball offer which is all they came with. Not sure about the logic there, but when I buy something I don't play games with people.

As both a seller or buyer I hate using the phone so I don't tend to use it unless directly asked. Email is reliable enough for me for this stuff and talking on the phone too annoying. The major reason for this is people ask questions which I've already answered. "For sale is X comes with box" says the ad. On the phone they'll ask if it comes with the box.

Yes, I agree being explicit in post is necessary. I only ask for the number because I've gotten hundreds of emails from people stating "Do you still have it?"...etc and I can't take it anymore. Asking just forces a person to be more serious rather then getting emails from candy169, or whatever. I've had more success, so now on the rare occasion I buy something, I always send my #.

I still don't understand what that drives the logic of most people on craigs. It's not really an issue here or on ebay. Some people just have too much time on their hands.

Wait a minute... I met a nice Korean guy in March in front of the Bayview Village LCBO for a 70-200mm VRII and his name was Bruce Lee. He also asked me to get in his car.. a new grey Nissan Murano. Must be the same guy.

My Bruce Lee had a Camry and lived in the Markham area, must be different.. I don't know if his name was actually Bruce Lee, I forgot to ask