posted November 28, 2011 04:55 PM                   

This story has been shared before but was not yet given in detail since I haven't been able to make any test. Now since Christian has just shared his great find of bunch of hundreds films, I'd like also to share my story.

It was back on September 2011 when I found this ad:



I cannot upload bigger picture but it says "8mm Projector ELMO GS-1200 with Stereo Sound - Great Condition"

This is something that we have been familiar with and would like to buy if the price is right. Yes,...the price is the most important thing nowadays. There are couple on Ebay now with $1200 price tag which most of us will just skip it.

...but look at what the above ad says "$125"!

I could not believe my own eyes with that price because just for a ST-1200 it was already a real bargain.

But the ad was not on Ebay, so I couldn't find out the reputation of the seller. It might be just a scam that people would get ripped off eventually.

It was not the $125 that I worried so much but the cost of shipping to Canada (around $75) which would be added up on the top of the projector's price should I decide to go.

So I passed this add to give me thinking how I could buy this projector without need to sacrifice $200

Due to my work load I forgot this matter until another person found the same offer but now incredibly had the price lower to become $85 !!!



I could not believe my own eyes again that for a month the owner could not sell the projector for the amount he originally asked.

But then it came to my mind that perhaps this ad was just a real scam as I predicted before.

But since the price had been lowered to $85, I decided to give it go, especially (to be honest) I was not alone now. But now I made a new strategy by setting up a FedEx account so I would challenge the seller to meet with a FedEx courier.

So I called the seller and asked if he was OK to be paid by paypal (for the sake of protection) and he was ok.

So the situation would be:

• 1. He would not give the projector to the courier. I would loose my money....but that's OK, it was only $85 and moreover I could get a protection from Paypal.

• 2. He would give a box to the courier but it was not necessarily a GS1200.

• 3. He would give a GS1200 inside a box but not in working condition as described on his ad

• 4. None of above, and I was so lucky to get a GS1200 for $85.

posted November 29, 2011 03:02 PM                   

quote:

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Seriously: it sounds like a chance worth taking! To the average man on the street this is some ancient machine that is obsolete a couple of times over and is only good for home decor.

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Steve, that's exactly what was in my mind. But when he said to take payment via Paypal, will you still think the same?

Nowadays, everyone deals with paypal meaning he or she has involved in online trading...and that will not for an average man.

So the story continues:

----------------------------------------------------------

Since both FedEx and the seller stood on their position, I was in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know who could I trust. So better for my self to wait for 2 weeks in hoping that a miracle would come.

This waiting time also give me enough time to submit a complain to paypal. But remember Paypal has only 45 days for us to submit a complain before it gets expired.

After 2 weeks of waiting there was still no a miracle, and my FedEx online tracking still showed zero. But then I realized I sent "Express Way Bill" label (the most expensive service) via email to the seller but on the pick up day I ordered "Ground service" (the cheapest service).

FedEx explained that "Express Way Bill" used "Express truck" and "Ground Service" used "Ground truck". They Express truck would never pick up "Ground item" and vice-versa. So if I scheduled "Ground service" (hence ground truck arrived at seller's home), the driver would not collect the item because it was labeled "Express"

So it came to my conclusion that there had no driver ever pricked up from him.

I decided to give one last email to the seller and explaining the above conclusion. The seller replied and kept in the same position. So my last resort was to submit a complain to paypal.

But Before doing so, I tried to make another call to FedEx just for the sake of killing my curiosity, I asked, "can you check in your terminal if you find an unidentified item lying around?"

ps: that question sounds really silly and for most of people would sense useless. When I asked that question I also felt like to embarrass my self. But it was worth a try

But guess what is the answer:

quote:

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"Oh I am sorry sir, yes there was one big box without any name and destination and it came from the address you mentioned."

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quote:

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“The ground truck driver came to the address as scheduled and found the Express label attached to the box. The driver said because this was using the recipient’s account he could change the label in the terminal with “ground” label. After arriving in the terminal he didn’t follow that up and instead leaving the box unattended”.

---

So I asked the lady over there to follow that up now and I sent my account numbers. She said ok and it took 4 days to arrive. Everyday I watched my Computer screen on this FedEx online tracking to know where the box was.

And finally it arrived!!.

However.... the box looked too small for a GS1200. I have been collecting projector for quite long time and this box looked too short for any projector.



(it is only one and half of DVD case)

So although I was happy to receive the shipment, the situation no. 2 might be faced now, i.e the thing inside the box could be not a projector.

So I carefully open the box and see what is inside it:



It is a black thing that was definitely didn’t show as a projector

Carefully I took it out and place it in different position…..VOILA…!!!:



Apparently the seller had placed the projector in lying position instead of standing like normally projector's.

So it does look a projector now. So I opened the bubble wrap and
finally:



Checking up everything with my bare eyes it looked OK to me. It has 1.1 lens attached to the projector:



Now time to try if it was in working order or not (situation in no. 3), but to be honest at this stage, I didn’t really care, because for the sake of the lens 1.1 alone, my $85 did sound a good deal. Also for a soft cover alone it did have worth something (I remember someone here would pay the soft cover for a sum of money),

The projector did look nice with 2 Supa spools I previously got ,



And my heart was beating hard when I put the Sound of Music to see if the projector was OK…..and here is the picture:



So, the projector did really work as the ad says, it had a very boom sound, and the stereo sound produced from “Sound of Music” was wonderful. The seller never lied, he was an honest seller and was a true gentleman.

Now about him, I later learned that he was not an average man like Steve's prediction.

He has even an Ebay ID with thousands rating and no negative feedback at all!!! Most of the time he was a trader (selling item for someone else).

So could you believe this that he did not even try to list this on Ebay??? ... but in fact lowering the price at craiglist from $125 to $85 for a projector that is normally sold for $700 at Ebay....

cheers,

--------------------
Winbert

posted November 30, 2011 03:24 PM                   

quote:

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It amazes me he did not try to unload it on Ebay. Nice going!

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Yes Barry I don't understand either, especially after knowing he is not new to Ebay.

Here is the screen shot of his profile on Ebay.



He has been with Ebay for 11 years (since 2000) much longer than me and most likely, all of us here.

He has 1113 feedback with zero negative!!

He is a top-rated seller.

He has five stars for all criteria.

and most important... he is doing a trading assistant for a living, who sells everything. So he must get used to check the street price before selling the item.

Still I get confused too...! but happy...

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Winbert

posted December 02, 2011 08:24 PM                   

quote:

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Winbert, sometimes it pays to take a chance, well done.

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David, you are quite right. In my life I experienced many weird things and most of the time, my colleagues will never want to do that or they think, I just wasted my time.

- I once lost a plastic bag full of chocolate souvenirs at the airport. I realized it when I was ready to board. I decided to walk backward using my previous path. No one will do this (either shame or think "it is just chocolate!"). After hundreds meter I saw someone was holding my plastic bag. I called him and asked him to give it back to me.

I learned not to hesitate doing some acts although many people will think it is irrational acts.

quote:

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Winbert,
You must be a good man....that kind of Karma showered like that [Smile] amazing. Great, great buy.

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...Claus I am just an ordinary man...

Although you may not too serious about good karma, I more believe this can happen because of my effort by spending so much time for searching.

Everyone want to get crazy like me just visit http://www.crazedlist.org/# to search ALL craiglist in the WORLD.... (but be careful there is a warning there about possibility to damage your computer)

I have proven this and even I often shared my story in this forum that once:

I found people listed films as Game Cartridges so sold for 0.99

found Films were sold at wholesale lot category for $46

bought 7 cartridges reversal film stock Ektachrome & Velvia only $20.5

bought Eumig 610Dlux, camera + editing + transfer gangs for $55

Now about GS....the above $85 is not the first one, not even the second one...it is the third one with peculiar price.

My first GS was a GS800 for $125 listed in Kijiji with described as 8mm

Then my first GS1200 was an ugliest one which was (approx.) $75 .

This is very rough/dirty projector with all body full of paint chips/rust. But not too long after I got GS1200 body only from Ebay to replace the ugliest part. I was quite assure at that time that this body parts were only one of kind to be sold (who want to scrap the GS body anyway).

I then found another peculiar listing of GS1200 that I won for $242 from Ebay because it was listed as VP. The price is not as fantastic as my $85 GS1200 above and yet it has missing cover.

But guess what....another member by the name Mike Tynus emailed me to offer the missing part for only .....$$FREEE$$ (just pay the shipping cost). You can see the picture on the above link at the most bottom page. So the second GS1200 has NOW returned to its beauty.

As I posted in another post that the fun of this hobby is not only to enjoy the picture but how can we find good deals.

I compiled my finds (film related or not-related) here:

My new toys....vintage items (TV, Radio, etc)

The above story wasn't meant anything other than to encourage members here to take different approach if you want to find good deals. Sometimes an act that was seen weird (non-conventional) by other people bring better result to us....that is what I teach to my sons

cheers,

--------------------
Winbert