Fungus On Glass / Ebay Scam With Fake Fungus?

[Kf6vci]

Hi All,

this is the first time I'm selling photo gear on eBay. This 4.0/210 mm was purchase NIB from a de4aler and it looked like that - new. I photographed it for the auction with a borrowed pocket Samsung camera, but the file size was about 2 MB.

A sand corn would have been noticeable on the lens, which, for the lasdt time, was absolutely mint

It sold for 92 Euros. Free shipping. Kind of disappointing. then the buyer claims there is "fungusd on the front lens".

I ask for macro photos and he is sending some weird stuff.

All I know is I never purchased a body for the Mamiya 645 system. Is this a known eBay scam? The guy wants to return the lens. Not a problem - but I hate scam artists and showed the evidence photos to a biologist.

Is this a way to blackmail a seller with 100% feedback? A trick to get a discount? Howe would you handle this? Would you wife it off - when I mailed the lens, there was not a speck of dust on the front lens surface. %#$%#$$@#

Closing, how serious a problem is this fungus? What if it is on lenses inside? How tough is it for a repair guy to deal with such an issue on Mamiya lenses? Can someone recommend a repair shop?

Happy Holidays!

Chris

[bridge]

Whats is his feedback record like?

[Kf6vci]

Whats is his feedback record like?

A: 371 and 100%, better than mine!

[Kf6vci]

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270496451885&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT

That white dot must be some reflection. I swear the lens surface was clean...

Chris

Apologies, not sure why the buyer's 300+ kb photos are appearing that small. Will try again to post them.

But as I looked at the lens surface from different angles, I'm positive there was no such "fungus" on it!!

[jandtaa]

Can't see it being a scam as the buyer stands to gain very little so write it off but explain to the buyer what may have happened. Just google camera lens fungus and you'll see that it is a very common problem, e-bay mention it in one of their guides to buying photographic equipment. Its caused by the lens being stored in dark and humid conditions, did you put a sachet of silica gel in the box to absorb moisture ? It's quite possible that the lens was infected with spores that have bloomed in transit.

ps. if you're selling camera equipment you might want to make sure that your photos of the equipment and not the packaging are in focus 

cheers J

[Kf6vci]

ps. if you're selling camera equipment you might want to make sure that your photos of the equipment and not the packaging are in focus 

cheers J

Point taken Thanks for the reply, I better do some reading. And yes, there was a small bag of moisture absorbing pearls with the lens. Chris

[tw25rw]

Do you still have paperwork with serial number? Maybe he has one which is damaged and wants it replaced cheaply.

[HorstSchlemmer]

Fungus can be everywhere!

[Kf6vci]

Well,yeah - I can read the serial number from the original files.

This suggestion makes sense, as the difference is incredible. Now the lens looks like it's caked with milky gunk.