Faulty camera, ebay, private seller, confused.

porto_bello

Camera design is far removed from the mechanical workhorses of the pre-1980s, many of which are still going strong. Digital cameras are highly engineered, complex instruments, with much inside that can go wrong.

Additionally, they are much more affected by extreme and changing temperatures than their predecessors and their cases are predominantly plastic, rather than old-fashioned metal, making these delicate instruments more susceptible to damage. Even with proper use and careful storage, faults can easily arise over time, which are often as expensive to repair as buy a replacement.

Ebay is great for buying many things below market price, but I would advise against purchasing digital cameras second-hand, especially from private sellers. The saving offered simply isn't worth the considerable risk of buying a camera with a fault and/or dying a month or two later.

lodzor

theonlywayisup wrote: »

You have a case open so cannot have another, do not close any case or you will lose out. You can only have an Ebay OR a Paypal claim, not both.

What status is your eBay case? If it hasn't been escalated, do it, adding your comments as you have above. Explaining that the fault is evident.

You will have to wait for eBay to review the case but they will soon ask you return the item to the seller. You must do this with special delivery and NOT recorded.

Add the tracking to the case and once it has been attempted/delivered or refused you will get your full initial payment back.

Do not close the case at all, it will close when the seller refunds.

Edit - I am not sure if you have a case open or not? You have only 45 days to open a case, from the date of purchase.

Hi, thanks for the fast response i hadn't checked back as i didnt expect such a fast reply :P Just after posting i tried to open a paypal case and as you stated it wont allow it. I have an ebay case open already and the seller has responded. IIRC i cannot escalate the case until 10 days have passed. Is it worth responding to the seller again, it looks like i should but it doesnt say i have to.

theonlywayisup

lodzor wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the fast response i hadn't checked back as i didnt expect such a fast reply :P Just after posting i tried to open a paypal case and as you stated it wont allow it. I have an ebay case open already and the seller has responded. IIRC i cannot escalate the case until 10 days have passed. Is it worth responding to the seller again, it looks like i should but it doesnt say i have to.

Having the case open is the main thing. Escalate it when you can and Ebay will ask you to return it to the seller via a tracked method. Use Special Delivery.

You may try and see if the solution Sambucus Nigra offers works.

Don't close the case. If you need more help, post here.

lodzor

Thanks to both of you, unfortunately i have tried the solution posted many times before to no avail and as this is my first dslr i have no second lens to diagnose the issue with. I will inform him that i will escalate the case in 10 days and then will see what happens. Thank you very much for the advice i feel more assured now

Lirin

As Sambucus said, Error 99 is a lens or a contact pattern fault, usually replates to the positioning of the lens, or battery faults. I can't help with Ebay/Paypal, there's plenty more knowledgable on here, so sorry for that.
Power it down, take the lens off, switch on, leave for a few seconds and pop lens back in again. Usually clears. Check lens and battery contacts are clean and any grease, dirt etc removed. Check battery is fully charged, and not faulty. Some Canon's don't 'like' certain lenses and have a slight tendancy to display this. Can also happen in warmer conditions when contacts separate as the plastic mount moves.

trukdiver

More on error 99 here

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=235767

Error 99 can be caused by different things on different occasions so it's impossible to say the seller knew there was a problem.

Do you know how many shots the camera has taken?

s30jok

go onto canon website and download the latest firmware for it, this may cure the snag!

shaun_from_Africa

go onto canon website and download the latest firmware for it, this may cure the snag!

The problem with doing this is that if it doesn't cure the snag and the seller somehow finds out that this has been done, they could use it as the basis for refusing to refund.
If they were to inform Paypal that this had been done and it was this that caused a problem, paypal may well side with the seller as the camera was not returned in the same condition as in which it was received.