Doubt on a sale

[Adriano Cimino]

Hello everyone,

the question is about an unusual selling practice and a possible "scam", I don't know if this is the right place to pose it. I happened to see an Aaton XTR on sale on Ebay, with this unusual picture: a cardboard telling you could only purchase the camera on Buy it now price. You have to contact them, then they put the thing back on sale for you to click the magical button. After one day the advert disappeared.

I actually had a contact by email (info <info@sjsal.com>). They answered, delivering a dozen of pictures of the camera, which appears to come from ICE Film (London rental house?).

Has anybody had a similar experience? Does anybody know this email address?

Thanks.

[Phil Rhodes]

Never seen that, but it seems shady as hell. The domain sjsal.com is parked (that is, it's been registered by a domain registration company, but there's not a meaningful website on it).

If they wanted to sell it buy-it-now, why wouldn't they just... sell it on eBay?

Seems to me they're at the very least trying to avoid eBay's seller fees, which is against the rules, and would leave you unprotected in the event of any shadiness.

Maybe contact ICE and see if they're missing an XTR?

[Steve Kendrick]

It's a con I'm afraid. This adverts appears every once in a while, they take pictures from real sellers then put them up as their own.

It gets taken down by eBay after a day or two.

Hope that helps, don't give them your money!

[Uli Meyer]

Yes, these do come up frequently and often with price tags that are too good to be true. They seem to mainly target people looking for film gear.

I believe ICE used to be the Aaton film camera rental house/seller in London back in the day. They still exist but it is all digital now, as far as I know.

[Jacob Robinson]

Adriano did you manage to see a serial number?

[Daniel J. Fox]

5 hours ago, Adriano Cimino said:

Hello everyone,

the question is about an unusual selling practice and a possible "scam", I don't know if this is the right place to pose it. I happened to see an Aaton XTR on sale on Ebay, with this unusual picture: a cardboard telling you could only purchase the camera on Buy it now price. You have to contact them, then they put the thing back on sale for you to click the magical button. After one day the advert disappeared.

I actually had a contact by email (info <info@sjsal.com>). They answered, delivering a dozen of pictures of the camera, which appears to come from ICE Film (London rental house?).

Has anybody had a similar experience? Does anybody know this email address?

Thanks.

This is a very well known scam. They steal images from other ebay items, they will list usually 100 plus different cinema lenses, high-end cameras super cheap and hope you pay for the item off ebay. Usually this is done on a hacked account, so there will often be other non-film items also for sale on the same account. 

 

 

[Adriano Cimino]

Thanks everyone for the answers. Yes, I contacted ICE Film telling them the serial number (which, by the way, is C2227). Still received non answers from them, though. It's a pity as it (that is: the pictured one) was a beautiful camera indeed.

Bye and thanks again.

[Robin Phillips]

if you're looking for a XTR Herman at cameramarket.eu has some available. I've had good dealings with him in the past, including on some expensive items. 

When it comes to ebay, NEVER follow up on an offer to buy outside of ebay. its 99% of the time a scam, and you will loose any ebay buyer protection as 1 it isnt even a sale through ebay and 2 it violates ebays terms of use 

[Tyler Purcell]

Yes I reported this eBay auction and many of the other ones this user posted.