After last month’s foray into the world of buying camera gear by mail, I thought it was time to take on the newest marketplace for camera equipment — Internet auction sites. First, a confession: For several years, I have been an “eBay-er.” I have bought and sold camera equipment through eBay, and it has generally been a good experience.

A recent search for “Nikon camera” on eBay turned up numerous choices, including these. By clicking on any item, more details are instantly available.

In this column, I’m going to focus on buying camera gear on eBay. These tips, however, apply to many other products besides cameras, and there are many other online auction sites where you can shop for cameras and other equipment. I went online and, using several different search engines, looked for auction Web sites that had photo gear for sale. To get a sense of each site’s inventory size, I performed a search looking for Nikon camera gear. Here are the results in descending order, from the largest number of Nikon cameras and lenses listed to the smallest:

• eBay.com: 623
• Yahoo.com: 33
• MSN eShop.com: 32
• Amazon.com: 11
• Cameradirect.com: 0

Research what you’re buying

Knowledgeable shoppers can find some extraordinary bargains on eBay. The more knowledge a bidder has, the better the chances are that she will get a quality product at a quality price.

The first thing to do is to decide what you want. There are a few ways to do this. You can read some of my old columns and see what cameras, lenses and other products I have suggested for crafts photography. Or, you can visit a local camera store and chat with the salespeople to get an idea of what they think will work for you. You also can look through photo magazines for information about various products and their uses.

Most of the gear on eBay is used and at least a few years old. This is a problem because it will be harder to find information about these models. It is, however, also a blessing because it means you can get some extraordinarily well-made cameras at low prices.

Let’s assume I want to find a manual Nikon FM camera with a good 50mm lens, like the common f1.4 version. So, I go to the eBay site (www.eBay.com), and fill in the search box with “Nikon FM.” I discover that there are five FMs up for auction. The bidding is slow because these are older models which, although perfectly usable, lack some of the higher shutter speeds of later models.

TIPS FOR USING AUCTION SITES' SEARCH ENGINES

Using a search engine tool is a bit of a skill in itself. Search engines are literal little creatures that take us at our words. The search engine on eBay finds things by looking at every single title of hundreds of thousands of items. Once I was looking for a 39mm filter, and the search engine not only found camera lens filters, but it turned up a long list of car engine filters, scientific filters and hose filters. You won’t even get the same items if you do a search for a “Nikon 50 mm lens” and a “Nikon 50mm lens.” The space between “50” and “mm” may appear in some item listings, but not all. If you enter the term with the space, the search engine will not list the 50mm items (with no space). To find the exact thing you seek, you have to imagine all the different ways it can be listed, and try them all until you find it.

Before I bid on any of these cameras, I do two things. First, to get a feel for the final selling price of similar cameras, I turn again to the eBay “Search” tool and click on the “completed items” search, and type “Nikon FM.” In a few seconds I get a list of all the recent auctions of Nikon FM cameras. Most seem to have sold for between $175 and $225, and some of these included 50mm lenses. I now know what I can expect to pay for this kind of camera.

Armed with this knowledge, I go back to the list of current auctions and click on each item to read the full description and to see a photo, if one is available. An eBay auction page is full of information and links that can help you bid on the right items and to complete a successful transaction.

The top of the page tells you what the current high bid is and whether this is a “reserve auction.” When you see the word “reserve” in red next to the current bid, it means that the seller has set a minimum price for the item to protect themselves from unreasonably low bids. If the bidding doesn’t reach the reserve, there is no sale. Next, you are told how much longer the item will be up for auction. This is important because right after an item is listed, it may show a very low current bid that is nowhere near what the final will be. If, on the other hand, there are just a few hours or minutes left, then you will have a good idea what the final price will be. Next to that information, you can see the number of bids placed so far, and from where in the country the item is being sold.

Below all this is the seller’s eBay name, with a number in parentheses. This number is the seller’s rating, and if you click on it, you can read feedback about this seller from people who have purchased items from him or her. This is very important. As eBay has grown, this feedback mechanism has helped keep buyers and sellers honest. A seller with negative feedback might be someone to avoid. Negative feedback is a powerful deterrent, which many sellers will avoid at all costs. They will accept returns and refund money if the bidder has reasonable (or sometimes even unreasonable) concerns about an item to avoid getting negative feedback. Staff at eBay also patrols the site and tries to resolve disputes between buyers and sellers.

The seller’s name is followed by the highest bid, and this is followed by a list of the kind of payments this seller accepts. At first, one of the big problems with eBay was that buyers were required to pay most sellers with money orders or cashier checks. Many buyers were naturally reluctant to send these to people they didn’t know. Over time, many larger sellers got Visa and MasterCard accounts and a whole new business began as several online credit card systems were created (such as PayPal and BidPoint) especially for auction sites.

As you wander through the eBay site, you’ll discover that lots of items are sold by stores. Regular camera shops love to sell items through eBay since it allows them to reach motivated buyers they would never have otherwise been able to find.

After the payment information is a note about shipping that tells you how the item will be sent to the highest bidder, how much it will cost and who pays (usually the winning bidder) for the shipping.

About the item

Now we come to the item description. Read this carefully. It is how you will find out about a product’s condition. More and more of these descriptions include photos of the items.

Most sellers are willing to answer questions about the items they are selling. Under the seller’s name, you’ll see a link that says “ask the seller a question” — use it.

Finally, we come to the bidding itself. Whenever I bid, I set out with a firm high bid in mind. If Nikon FMs are selling for a high of $225 and a low of $175, then that’s the range for my high bid. If the camera is sparkling new — mint condition — I’ll lean toward the higher number; if it is not new or in mint condition, then I may go for a lower bid.

Sometimes, as with older cameras like the FM, you can find amazing bargains because buyers are all bidding on later models, like the FM2N. For example, a little over a year ago I got a little Nikon EM camera with a 50mm lens for about $87. A perfectly usable camera — which I have used to photograph crafts a couple of times. It was cheap because not too many people are interested in it. As a precaution, I had a camera repairman look at it, and his only comment was that the EM was a great, little, underrated camera that just keeps chugging along.

Buyer beware

Founded in September 1995, eBay has quickly become the nation’s garage sale. If I want a lens cap, filter, electronic flash or funny little gizmo, eBay is the place to look. Using the search tool, I can find almost anything.

When you buy at any auction site, always know your spending limit. And always ask yourself if you are comfortable with the seller and his selling history. If the item isn’t right — if the camera is not as described — things can get unpleasant. At any online auction, the first rule is caveat emptor — buyer beware.

Avoid getting into bidding wars. If you really want an item, bookmark it and return to the site a few minutes before the bidding ends. Sometimes people lurk around an item and wait until the very last seconds before an auction closes to swoop in and place a bid that’s just a few dollars higher than the last high bid.
If you don’t get an item you’ve bid on, look for another similar item and see when the bidding on it closes. On occasion, you may be outbid by the only other person interested in the item. So while they may get this item, chances are there is another item just like this one with no one to bid on it. Not only will this give you a chance to get what you want, but with the only other bidder now satisfied, you may be able to get your item for a significantly lower bid.

Just remember that an auction should be part serious buying and part fun. If you do a little research, check feedback and bid carefully, you can get great camera equipment at great savings.