Are you tired of winning a 'nice' camera or one that the seller describes as 'appears to be in good condition' only to be disapointed when it arrives?

Often the shutter or lightmeter does not work properly, or the battery cover is stuck, or damged. Perhaps a part  of the trim is missing, or it has perished light-seals. Sometimes it's not even much good for spares.

Sometimes of course it works the other way about, and in item you bought just for spares, and listed as such, turns out to be in nice condition and fully working, or even near perfect! But I'm willing to bet that unless you are very lucky that does not happen very often!

The fact is that most of the photographic offerings on eBay do need some TLC to get them into tip-top working condition, and a great many need a little more than some. In fact many popular models are practically guaranteed to fail unless they are serviced very soon.

To be honest, it's pretty difficult to avoid getting dissapointed now and again when you buy from eBay. A large part of the problem is that many sellers are genuinely unaware that the camera or other photgraphic item is in fact faulty, and of course sending the seller negative feedback may be a little unfair. Of course you don't actually know for sure if that's true, even someone selling a number of cameras may be genuinely 'having a clearout'.

Unfortunately I still see a lot of items which should be sold as requiring some work, reaching unjustifiably high prices. On the other hand, most buyers are aware that they may be getting a turkey, and some are expecting that what they are getting is a bit tired whatever the seller says.

That tends to mean that prices are pushed down, so there is not much incentive for sellers to have their cameras serviced before selling them. So it's a vicious circle.

To avoid getting a really poor example, you can follow all of eBay's advice and check the sellers feedback and ask questions, and the recent changes to the feedback system may help there, but often you don't get satisfactory reply, and the feedback system can't really tell you if this seller really knows what they are talking about.

Even if you do this you still are not guaranteed to get a really fine example.

But there is a way.

All you have to do is buy from someone you can trust to sell you an item in tip-top working condition. More easily said than done! 

What you are looking for a seller who does supply serviced and reconditioned items, that are guaranteed to work correctly, and are guaranteed.

Achemic Photography offers cameras which have not just been quickly checked. Many of the cameras for sale have been completely stripped and re-built and all are sold with a guarrantee and subject to my no nonesense returns policy. So that you can be sure of buying a fully functional camera, which will give many years more reliable service. 

Also offered are a range of lenses and lens accessories as well as bags and cases and assorted spare parts.