Criagslist adventure that surprisingly worked out great!

I often scan Craigslist for lenses and read an ad in which the OP had gift card money in his Amazon account and was looking for someone who wanted to purchase an item on Amazon and he would discount it by 20% in order to get the cash out. I was a little leery of the offer but wrote him anyway. Turns out he's a student at UCSD and has $700 in a gift card and wanted cash instead of Amazon items. After a few emails he sounded very legitimate to me. So much so that after we got to know one another he decided for warranty purposes it would be best to send the item directly to me so that I would be the original owner (Nikon is sticky when it comes to these kind of things). My wife has the old 70-300mm ED lens from back in our film days but I've not been very impressed with its performance on the D7k. While everything I've read (especially from Mansurvos - see HERE) sounded like the newer 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6G VRII lens was wonderful for the price. So I went ahead and accepted this young man's offer and today the lens arrived safely and I can't wait to take her out for a spin. Just to be sure I'm not missing something, I put a call into Amazon to make sure this wasn't purchased with a stolen credit card or ? and turns out it came from a gift card and as far as they could tell it was 100% legitimate. All in all it worked out to $470 (plus $3.99 overnight shipping) for a $589 lens!

The moral of this adventure is that Craigslist can be a scary place sometimes and you certainly need to be careful when dealing with people there but now and then you can score some fabulous deals. Now I can't wait to take this new baby to the San Diego zoo and see just what this lens can do!

That's cool I have bought some things off Craigslist and have had good luck. Like you, I am very careful. Bought some golf clubs once that were worth at least a couple of hundred more than what they were selling them for. Went to pick them up and met the nicest couple ever, and now we're close friends. Congrats on your deal.

That was really gutsy! There are too many scams or con artists especially from Nigeria. I usually stay away from it. Congrats though.

Craigslist is where I got my D3000 from. I paid $325.00 which included the body, the kits lens, a memory card and a remote shutter thinger. After Amazon, Craigslist is my favorite place to shop.

I am in the process of buying a D3s from a seller on Craigslist he lives within an hour & half drive from me.This guy is selling all his camera gear getting right out of photography - I got a great deal on the D3s will check it out tomorrow and if is as advertised I will buy. Missed a great deal on a 70-200 2.8 VRII from him by a half hour

That is pretty cool that you helped a college kid out...I think I would trust craigslist more than Ebay!

A few weeks back there was a beat up D3 on the Tulsa craigslist for like $2300...I thought damn!

I've had allot of luck both selling and buying on craig's list. Picked up my Nikon 70-300vr in mint condition for $225. You do have to be careful though.

Very ballsy Dave. But you went into it with your eyes wide open and knew the risks up front - and best of all it worked out! A win-win situation.

Now what's he going to say to the person that got him the gift card when they asked what he bought? LOL!

Good for you. I'm glad that it worked out for you. You ran into an HONEST man on CL. There are many scam artists on the site. I've bought and sold items, but always with a face-to-face meeting before money is exchanged. I sold my D5000 on CL and met a guy who was a Captain in the Air Force. He was a great guy. We met a McDonald's and talk for over an hour about photography. We had a Craig Lister meet up with another at a local restaurant, where he was robbed in the parking lot. The crook took the item he was supposedly going to buy. He also took the guys wallet and other personal items. Be leery of Craig's List.

Where I live, we also have Craigslist, but the best one is Kijiji. I've gotten some great deals on Kijiji, such as an 18-105 VR for $200, in mint condition! I also got my D40 for $150 ! I've gotten camera bags really cheap, sold some things on Kijiji, and it's always a face to face deal and cash. Kijiji is also in the states, too, so some of you might want to look into it at eBay Classifieds (Kijiji) - Post & Search Free Local Classified Ads.