Ovidiu Predescu's Weblog

Price too low to be true

I noticed on eBay that Canon EOS 1Ds is being sold for prices as low as $1,200, which is way too low to be true. The lowest price I was able to find in a respectable shop was around $7,200. What is even more amazing is that some of the kits being sold on eBay also include a 1Gb IBM micro-drive and the Canon 16-35mm L lens, which alone is more than the asking price for the camera. Anybody knows what is the deal with these offers?

Update (October 30, 2003): Bob Atkins has a great article on photo.net about avoiding scams when buying photo equipment. He mentions not only eBay scams, but also "Scum of the Earth" photo stores with prices too good to be true.

Update (November 15, 2003): Somebody setup an auction on eBay explaining all about the camera scams. He's actually selling a photocopy of the instructions to conform to eBay's policy of listing actual items. Very nice!