To ebay or not

[murph]

Tell me how you feel? Is used dive equipment on ebay a worthy risk? Or a waist of time? Some stuff worries me, other stuff seems too high priced, but occassionally... just sometimes... something comes up that seems like a good deal. What's your thought?

[nauifins73]

Knives, bags and stuff like that would be ok but I would worry about buying "life support" equipment. I'm not real mechanically savy so I rely on stuff purchased from my LDS

Just an opinion and we know what they are worth :)
Becky

[scububa]

I think you are right.

I am not a big ebay'er. Mainly be aware of the risks and decide how they fit you.

I have had some success with the classifieds on both bicycle boards and scuba boards. I bought a 10W HID and BP/W and have been happy with them. The light was used and the BP/W was new, being sold by an employee at a dive shop. Most of my gear I have bought from my shop or with advice of my instructor.

[MgicTwnger]

I have bought and sold a lot of stuff on eBay over the years and my wife had a buisness there. Here's a few tips:

Know exactly what you want and set up a search with emails. Sooner or later it will show up.

Check the seller's feedback. A return policy is nice too, but not critical.

Figure in the shipping costs to see if you are really saving money. Dealing with non-American merchants can be a royal pain.

Get any critical gear such as regs and BC's checked out at your LDS before diving. Don't tell them where you got it, eBay makes shop owners go balistic. Just say it's used.

If it dosn't fit or work out for you, you can resell it.

[nauifins73]

Do you get the magazine Scuba Diving? The Lessons for Life article in the January 07 issue is what I was thinking about.

[MgicTwnger]

Do you get the magazine Scuba Diving? The Lessons for Life article in the January 07 issue is what I was thinking about.
I just checked it out online: good stuff. I particuarly liked "Be frugal, not stupid". Any life-support equipment should be checked out before diving it, eBay or not. Paying top dollar is not a requirement.

[murph]

Good answers - thanks all!

[DeepDiverBob]

I would be very careful buying something online, and then bringing it into a dive shop to be checked out. Online companies are trying to put the dive shops out of business. The dive shops need to make their money too. I personally never have and never will buy any dive gear online. I will not support online dive shops. It will be very difficult for ScubaToys or anyone else to give me air fills when the dive shops are out of business. One last thing you need to remember, when buying a product, you arent just buying the item, you are also buying ther service and experience that goes along with it. For example, in your other thread you are talking about maybe buying doubles. A LDS will have someone there to answer questions, and support you after the sale. You buy online, its yours, no questions asked, have a nice day.

[sobfrogg]

I would stay away from things on ebay. However I have purchased a few things from this and other scuba forums. The latest item is a AL30. I was able to check it out and I was able to help out a fellow forum member:)
Most everything else has come from my LDS. What I like is when I do need a air fill or some quick service, because I have spent some money there(LDS) the owner is happy to help me out.
He has even helped me out with equip that has come from another dive shop. Sure he would have liked to sell me something but he did not have it in stock and I needed it that weekend.
Just my .5

[murph]

I agree with helping the LDS, I've supported mine a fairly great deal in my short time of diving... It's like taking my kids to Toy's R Us when I go in there...

[DJB_1965]

We have bought a couple of AL 80's on ebay....had good luck, but when we bought our original equip, our LDS gave us 10% off on all of it, now when we go back, he still gives us 10% off, and we can UPS everything back and forth if we don't want the drive. It's nice to be able to call, and have someone know you and your equipment, and make suggstions over the phone based on that.