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Buying gear on ebay - hints and tips

climberer

11-Jan-2007
11:56:08 AM

Am looking at buying some gear on ebay, due to good price. Apart from the usual things one should do when buying on ebay (ie make sure seller has positive feedback, confirm postage before bidding, use paypal, etc etc) is there anything else I should be thinking about in terms of buying climbing gear specifically? Am slightly paranoid in terms of making sure I'm buying safe gear (currently looking at draws). Have people had good experiences buying gear on ebay? Please share your thoughts... Cheers!

nmonteith

11-Jan-2007
12:01:32 PM

i have had nothing but good experiences with buying gear off ebay. just make sure you ask the seller
what sort of routes they climb (if they are a sport climber in the blue mtns i would forget it as they will
have taken heaps of falls onto the gear). If they are a bumbly sort of trad climber than the gear should be
relatvivly unused as most tradsters don't fall on their gear.

dino

11-Jan-2007
4:00:51 PM

Some secondhand gear on Ebay sells for nearly as much as new gear! And I think some people charge way too much for postage. Whilst you can do ok I think it has to be better to buy new. Shop around and you will be surprised.

Good luck.

tbp79

12-Jan-2007
11:12:20 AM

Tasch- are you aiming to purchase from ebay.com.au or ebay.com? ALL of the climbing gear i have bought off ebay has been from the USA site which includes shoes, carabiners and hexes. As a rule i always buy new gear except shoes which don't present as high a risk if they fail on the rock. Obviously gear is cheaper to buy from the USA site and i have never really had any problems with shipping or scams but there is still a risk. Good luck in your mission.

climberer

30-Jan-2007
6:27:53 PM

Thanks all for your replies. I gave up on ebay in the end as I ended up finding a great price on DMM Prowire draws from Needleports in the UK: http://www.needlesports.com/. Got them shipped free to my parents-in-law over there who'll bring them over when they come out in a week to visit. Would definitely recommend this company - they shipped them the next day and were great communication-wise. I don't actually think shipping to Australia would cost a lot, especially after you subtract the 15% VAT...

dave

24-Nov-2008
8:30:59 AM

I am always amazed each time I go on Ebay to see if there is any climbing gear on there. Every time there seems to be someone selling a buch of ancient and very dodgy looking gear at extremely high prices, and the strangest part is people are actually bidding on these items!
Half the gear would be 20+ years old yet the prices aren't that much below what you could get new gear for. Who buys this rubbish? Someone starting a climbing gear museum? I hope so!

heres some current examples:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pack-of-3-Used-KONG-1-CAMP-ALLOY-CARABINERS_W0QQitemZ270305210850QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Climbing_Equipment?hash=item270305210850&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Rock-climbing-gear-inc-pulleys-belay-plate-carabiners_W0QQitemZ160299179589QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Climbing_Equipment?hash=item160299179589&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Used-Italian-Brand-SCREW-LOCK-CARABINER_W0QQitemZ270304221414QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Climbing_Equipment?hash=item270304221414&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Nice to know this gear has 'no structural damage'!

There are 6 messages in this topic.